The FBI Detained 21-year-old Florida on suspicion of organizing a major campaign to steal cryptocurrency through fake video games on the Steam platform.
According to U.S. prosecutors, Zaire Wilkins, along with several unidentified accomplices for two years, placed games on Steam, disguised as ordinary entertainment projects. Among them are BlockBlasters, Dashverse, Lampy, Lunara and PirateFi. Externally, these games looked completely working: they could be downloaded, installed and run. But there was a malicious code inside.
According to the investigation, after installing such a game, the malware penetrated the victim’s system, stole passwords and other personal data, and then gained access to cryptocurrency wallets. In this way, the attackers infected about eight thousand devices and hacked about 80 crypto wallets, stealing a total of at least 220 thousand dollars in cryptocurrency.
The promotion of fake games was engaged through Discord, LinkedIn and Telegram - platforms where it is easy to find an audience of gamers and create the appearance of a legitimate project.
Back in March, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported on the search for a hacker involved in the distribution of infected games via Steam, and asked the injured users to provide information for the investigation. The developer of the platform, Valve, has already removed several games from the catalog that detected malicious code, including PirateFi, have been discovered.
Wilkins' investigators were helped by the chain of financial transactions. The FBI has installed a cryptocurrency account associated with the scheme and tracked payments from it to buy gift cards, including for the food delivery service Uber Eats. Requesting data from Uber, the agents found out that these cards are tied to the account issued on Wilkins, known on the network under the pseudonym Sibeleth.
After that, investigators received a warrant for a search of his dwelling and seized the MacBook, phones and other devices with digital wallets. The detainee refused to testify.
In order not to become a victim of such a scheme, experts recommend downloading games only from verified publishers, pay attention to the reviews and date of publication of the project, as well as not to store large amounts of cryptocurrency in wallets connected to devices on which third-party programs are installed.
According to U.S. prosecutors, Zaire Wilkins, along with several unidentified accomplices for two years, placed games on Steam, disguised as ordinary entertainment projects. Among them are BlockBlasters, Dashverse, Lampy, Lunara and PirateFi. Externally, these games looked completely working: they could be downloaded, installed and run. But there was a malicious code inside.
According to the investigation, after installing such a game, the malware penetrated the victim’s system, stole passwords and other personal data, and then gained access to cryptocurrency wallets. In this way, the attackers infected about eight thousand devices and hacked about 80 crypto wallets, stealing a total of at least 220 thousand dollars in cryptocurrency.
The promotion of fake games was engaged through Discord, LinkedIn and Telegram - platforms where it is easy to find an audience of gamers and create the appearance of a legitimate project.
Back in March, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported on the search for a hacker involved in the distribution of infected games via Steam, and asked the injured users to provide information for the investigation. The developer of the platform, Valve, has already removed several games from the catalog that detected malicious code, including PirateFi, have been discovered.
Wilkins' investigators were helped by the chain of financial transactions. The FBI has installed a cryptocurrency account associated with the scheme and tracked payments from it to buy gift cards, including for the food delivery service Uber Eats. Requesting data from Uber, the agents found out that these cards are tied to the account issued on Wilkins, known on the network under the pseudonym Sibeleth.
After that, investigators received a warrant for a search of his dwelling and seized the MacBook, phones and other devices with digital wallets. The detainee refused to testify.
In order not to become a victim of such a scheme, experts recommend downloading games only from verified publishers, pay attention to the reviews and date of publication of the project, as well as not to store large amounts of cryptocurrency in wallets connected to devices on which third-party programs are installed.
