‘The Last of Us’ fans warned of scams involving fake PC games

Ahead of HBO‘s The Last of Us TV adaptation debuting this week (January 15), newcomers to Naughty Dog‘s franchise have been warned to steer clear of fake sites offering non-existent versions of the game.

• READ MORE: HBO’s ‘The Last Of Us’ live-action TV series: cast, release date and everything we know so far

In a report, antivirus provider Kaspersky has shared that it expects HBO’s adaptation to be a “real boom,” though warns that viewers who have never heard of the series before – and are unaware it is currently a PlayStation exclusive – are vulnerable to criminals who are offering fake PC versions of the game.

Kaspersky says it has already discovered a site offering downloads for The Last of Us Part 2 on PC – despite it being a PlayStation exclusive – and in reality, is peddling malicious files to players.

The company also reports the existence of a phishing site that offers an “activation code” for The Last of Us, which will not arrive on PC until March 3 this year. Site users are then reportedly prompted to select a “gift” with the game – ranging from a PS5 to a Roblox gift card – along with their bank details, which then end up in criminal hands.

“Instead of offering pre-access to the series, cybercriminals have chosen a different path and are distributing malicious files under the guise of a game,” commented Olga Svistunova, web content analyst at Kaspersky. “This shows that gamers, especially the new ones who don’t yet know enough about cybersecurity when playing, are among the main target audience for cybercriminals, and they will come up with more and more ways to exploit them.”

To avoid these scams, Svistunova recommends buyers “check if your coveted game is available on the platform offered, download games only from official app stores and don’t forget to use a trusted security solution.”

As for the TV show, we awarded The Last Of Us four stars out of five in our review, describing it as an “apocalyptically good video game port.”

In other gaming news, a CPR touchdown celebration featured in Madden NFL 23 will be removed following American football star Damar Hamlin’s mid-game cardiac arrest.

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