PSA: Steam did not just gift you Far Cry 2

The activation link in the very convincing email (seriously, it looks legit!) goes to a third-party site. We can only imagine the malice awaiting us on the other side of that link, so if you were also the recipient of this email, know that IT'S A TRAP!












Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Envoy @ Feb 20th 2009 10:05AM
Why didn't you link it to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNLuq0lW50k
Envoy @ Feb 20th 2009 10:07AM
OR http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckhasegf2wA&feature=related
Lee @ Feb 20th 2009 10:13AM
I just got this and it was legit. The game hasn't appeared in my account yet but the Nigerian assured me it will be soon.
rov947 @ Feb 20th 2009 10:34AM
haha, love it!
Nigeria @ Feb 20th 2009 12:01PM
You cut me deep, you cut me real deep just now.
LaughingTarget @ Feb 20th 2009 12:33PM
You sure it's a Nigerian prince? If it's just some random Nigerian and not a member of the royal family, you got scammed. Ask for a picture. If he doesn't look like Eddie Murphy in a fast food uniform, change your password immediately!
MarkHawk @ Feb 20th 2009 10:15AM
This isn't the first time this has happened. You guys ran an article about a month to 6 weeks ago on this right?
Courtney @ Feb 20th 2009 10:21AM
Can you post a pic of the email? Would love to see how close it is to the real thing.
David Hinkle @ Feb 20th 2009 10:37AM
Ask and ye shall receive:
http://media.blogsmith.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2009/02/farcry2steamscams.png
Courtney @ Feb 20th 2009 10:49AM
Thanks! That does in fact look really legit. It seems that the quality of phishing emails has really gone up in the last couple of years.
Zertoss @ Feb 20th 2009 10:57AM
That does look legit. This is why it's important to always check the links in any email you receive, especially if it's something like this that you weren't expecting or seems too good to be true.
Thanks for the heads up, Joystiq.
David Hinkle @ Feb 20th 2009 11:25AM
Yeah, it looks really good, although hovering over the second link (game activation) shows the true URL, which leads to the third party site in question.
Ryoga Vee @ Feb 20th 2009 10:30AM
IT'S A TRAP!
AkaMagi @ Feb 20th 2009 11:07AM
http://downlode.org/Creative/Writing/Notebook/Illustrations/itsatrap.jpg
Someone had to post it, right?
AkaMagi @ Feb 20th 2009 10:55AM
The part about "if you're new to Steam" and needing to install the Steam Client first sends up a big red warning flag in my mind. If I wasn't part of Steam, and didn't even have the Client installed yet, how would Valve know who I was to "gift" me?
Sidebuster @ Feb 20th 2009 11:21AM
You're right. I didn't really think of that. Then again, if I got that email I would just log on to steam to see if it was in my list, cause you know... that is how gifting works in steam.
Zertoss @ Feb 20th 2009 11:34AM
I thought you could gift people with just an email address.
*Googles* Yes, apparently you can, and if they don't have a Steam account, they can click the link in the email to make one.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6262-QXCN-0755
AkaMagi @ Feb 20th 2009 12:57PM
Zertoss
Yes, you can gift someone as long as you have an email address.
My point was, if I wasn't already a Steam member, how would they have my email address in the first place? This wasn't a "gift" from a friend of mine, it was a "gift" that was supposedly from Valve.
Zertoss @ Feb 20th 2009 2:08PM
Ah, I see what you're saying. I guess I misunderstood your first post.
dark_inchworm (on Steam!) dark inchworm (on XBL!) @ Feb 20th 2009 10:56AM
Nigerian scammers and Far Cry 2 are both based in Africa.
Coincidence? I think not.
GenBanks @ Feb 20th 2009 11:32AM
I bet you there will be some unfortunate person who happens to be gifted Far Cry 2 for real today, but deletes and and blocks the email assuming it's the scam :p
ScottG13 @ Feb 20th 2009 2:30PM
Just buy it. Its awesome.
Hashbrown Hunter @ Feb 20th 2009 4:36PM
It's TOTALLY Jack Thompson seeking vengeance for his disbarment. Duh.