Beware of Fake “Valorant” Beta Key Generators That Are Actually Malware
- Scammers are distributing fake “Valorant” beta key generators that are basically keyloggers.
- The malware launches a Riot Games account login page with the sole purpose of stealing the user credentials.
- Valorant will remain at closed beta until some moment in summer, so forget about playing it at the time being.
Riot Games’ upcoming 5 vs. 5 FPS game “Valorant” is one of the most anticipated titles right now, and players are “dying” for a chance to test it out. Malicious actors and scammers have noticed the eagerness that is building up for a large number of people and saw a chance to dive in and try to spread malware via fake Valorant beta key generators. Sophos researchers were the first to notice this new campaign and took on Twitter to warn players yesterday.
Fake #RiotGames #Valorant game-key generators being distributed.
It’s actually a stealer, stub grabs a 2nd stage keylogger from pastebin. @malwrhunterteam @JayTHL @PlayVALORANT pic.twitter.com/nXKzRc8W7O— Albert Zsigovits (@albertzsigovits) April 15, 2020
Once the players install and run the fake Valorant beta key generators, they are requested to enter their Riot account username and password credentials. If they do, their data will be sent to the scammers. Some claim that the actors are throwing legitimate/working keys in the mix too. This way, the rate of infection increases thanks to positive comments made by players. For now, Riot Games hasn’t provided an official statement on the matter, while the first point in time when this hacking tool appeared remains entirely unknown. What this means is that the victim count could be in the hundreds or thousands, as no one knows right now.
Riot Games has acknowledged the early success of Valorant, and last week, they announced they are increasing their server load capacity by 25% to accommodate the surprising demand. As for the number of people who tuned in on Twitch to watch live gameplay footage, this reached the impressive figure of 200,000 viewers. All of this has fueled rumors about the expansion of the beta testing to more players, which the scammers tried to exploit by releasing the fake beta key generators.
For now, Valorant remains at closed beta and will stay like that until at least this summer. Whatever key generators you find online are only trying to steal your Riot account credentials, so you shouldn’t even bother giving them a try. If you’re stuck inside and looking for something similar to play, just pick CS:GO or Overwatch. Valorant is actually a title that combines several characteristics of these two games. If you’re looking for something free, though, Team Fortress 2 on Steam would be your best choice right now.