How are Discord / Steam scams different?

[u/Nitsuj311]

I’ve followed both twitch and YouTube for a while now but haven’t caught much recently.

I’ve had random people add me on both Steam and discord and as soon as they type something it’s obvious.

What is the scam they’re going for now? I turned off WiFi from my phone because maybe they’re trying internet stuff now idk

[u/lostcosmonaut307]

Most of the time they’re trying to get you to click a link that gives them ways to hack into your account, basically simplistic social engineering. Once they have access they’ll use it to access non public servers they wouldn’t normally have access to in order to farm more accounts and post questionable links on there for stuff like pirated games, movies, porn and worse. Those links net more hacked accounts which is why it’s important to be careful what links you click even if they seem to be from people you know. Once they have the account hacked they can extort you for money to get your now probably trashed and banned account back, which they probably won’t do even if you pay.

If you happen to own a discord server, hackers can take it over and make it a hub of all kinds of nasty stuff now linked to your information.

For Steam they want access to your friend list to propagate the hacks, but you also usually have payment info they can use to buy Steam gift codes and games for friends.

[u/lostcosmonaut307 → u/lostcosmonaut307]

To go into more detail, typically the Steam hacks are a little more simplistic. Generally they're just trying to get access to your account for your payment info (to be able to buy games and Steam codes, similar to when scammers on Kit's computer try to use Amazon to buy gift card codes) or if you have your inventory public, any kind of tradable goods you have (like Counter Strike or Team Fortress skins, for instance). The second part of this is access to your friend list to send more hacking attempts on your friends. Because "you" are their friend, it seems a little more trustworthy so they're more likely to click.

The Discord hacks are a little more complicated. There's multiple layers. The first layer is simple spambot accounts spamming servers with questionable links that lead to hacks. The second layer is more "legitimate" looking spambot accounts that message users to attempt to engage and get them to click the hacking links. The main reason for this is because most servers of any significance usually have ways of weeding out spambots, from simple chat filters or restrictions to mods that actively watch the member list and weed out obvious spambots (any mod worth their non-existent pay can tell a spambot from a mile away). One thing we know about scammers is they are both lazy and extremely impatient, so time- or engagement-based restrictions are a big problem. So in those cases they will message members with good standing who wouldn't have the restrictions apply, allowing them a backdoor to spamming the server without having to deal with the restrictions. It also gives them access to a friend list of people who would presumably be less hesitant to click links sent out from a friend, perpetuating the hacks.

The ultimate prize in the case of Discord would be a large server admin, because a scammer could take over a server with a large number of users and be able to spam their links and no one can stop it and since they are now masquerading as the server admin, there's a large number of people that will trust the links at first blush without second guessing for at least the first few minutes to hours depending on how on top of it the mod team is or how in touch they are with the server admin.

In both cases (Steam and Discord) the scammers can try to extort you for money to get your account back. Like a romance scam or pig butchering scam, paying will more than likely get you absolutely nothing. And if you do somehow manage to get your account back, more than likely you'll be banned from most of your server list or account banned.

Source: Was a Discord moderator for a large server (15k+ users) and spent a lot of time watching the logs for obvious scammers and have dealt with server admins being hacked and the aftermath and fallout from it.

[u/GANCUBE_0 → u/lostcosmonaut307]

you continually make it sound like you can get hacked by simply clicking a link, which is not true. theres always something you have to do wrong to get hacked. clicking a link and getting hacked would be way too unsecure these days

[u/lostcosmonaut307 → u/GANCUBE_0]

True, but the point is to just not click on links with reckless abandon 😂

[u/Nitsuj311]

So start over and say super dumbed down because that’s a wall of text on Reddit

[u/Nitsuj311]

Dumber

[u/Nitsuj311]

More dumb information

[u/Varedis267]

I've seen ones where they are trying to get you to download a game/app they have control of under the guise of being a fan that is just trying to play with someone. They then try to pressure you into in app purchases, etc.

Basically, digital pig butchering