By Sagar V. Mankar Helldivers 2 recently became the latest victim of fake Steam listings designed to trick players into purchasing the wrong game.
Community manager Twinbeard took to the official Discord to warn players that several fake Helldivers 2 Steam pages were promoting different games disguised as the original game.
How Did the Scam Work?
By changing the store listing information of existing games on Steam, scammers were able to make it seem as if their games were actually Helldivers 2.
This included changing the game title, assets, developer name, publisher, screenshots, images, and all links.
The goal was clearly to capitalize on the hype for the real Helldivers 2 and fool easy players into spending money on the wrong game.
Spreading the Word and Taking Action
After becoming aware of the situation, Twinbeard urged players to avoid anything other than the two genuine Helldivers 2 listings.
They also reached out to Steam to have the fake pages removed swiftly.
Thankfully Valve acted quickly, pulling down the fraudulent listings soon after being contacted.
A Wider Issue for Steam
While the fake Helldivers 2 situation was dealt with rapidly, it appears this may be part of a larger trend.
Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld, reported a similar sudden wave of fake games on Steam during its peak – including one posing as Palworld.
Last Epoch and Escape from Tarkov are also being impersonated.
With the discovery of a potential loophole that enables store page information to be altered, Valve now faces questions about security.
It seems scammer developers were able to change crucial details without detection to make their games seem like something else entirely.
How is Steam not picking up on this
There should simply be a restriction where only 1 listing gets to have the name it has
Just so there’s only 1 Helldivers 2, and its the actual game
— Puncake Lena (@ItsHojoz) March 1, 2024
Be careful if you’re going to Steam to buy Helldivers 2. This is the actual listing: https://t.co/kCVtuPoKH9 https://t.co/LQwfJmuQ0x
— kyanos (@KyanosTiger) March 1, 2024
Two indie games on Steam were disguised as Helldivers 2 last night, in an attempt to scam players.
Almost every element of the Steam listing was changed to mimic the hit, including developer and publisher details.https://t.co/NNjY4zJeYb pic.twitter.com/sKIOOmozF6
— VGC (@VGC_News) March 1, 2024
hey everyone, i have just been told that there are not only one, but two fake helldivers 2 listing on steam
one of them made it to the special tabs on the front page, please be careful when u make your purchase, the real game is not currently on sale! pic.twitter.com/SHvjgW315p
— ꒰Uwasa 🐷💰 ♡꒱ (@UwasaOink) March 1, 2024
Preventing Future Scams
Hopefully, the attention garnered by the fake Helldivers 2 listings will push Valve to close the loophole and introduce more rigorous checks before changes go live.
This should prevent future attempts to create misleading store pages.
For players, remaining vigilant around official channels rather than clicking unknown links is key.
And for developers direct communication with their community is invaluable in combating scams.