FBI Investigates Steam Games Linked to Malware and Crypto Wallet Theft

Summary

The FBI's Seattle Division is investigating a malware campaign that infected multiple Steam games between May 2024 and January 2026, stealing browser data and draining cryptocurrency wallets from victims. The malicious games—including Lampy, Lunara, PirateFi, Chemia, Tokenova, BlockBlasters, and Dashverse—were promoted via Discord and Telegram, with reported losses exceeding $150,000 from a single title and one streamer losing $32,000 during a live charity broadcast.

Full text

Security Gaming MalwareFBI Investigates Steam Games Linked to Malware and Crypto Wallet Theft FBI warns gamers after malware hidden in several Steam games stole browser data and drained cryptocurrency wallets between May 2024 and January 2026. byDeeba AhmedMarch 16, 20262 minute read The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is currently trying to track down gamers who may have been targeted by hackers using the Steam platform. The FBI’s Seattle Division has gone public with the investigation after discovering that several Steam games hosted on the site between May 2024 and January 2026 were carrying hidden software. These programs were designed to quietly scrape personal data from web browsers and empty cryptocurrency wallets once installed The Games Involved It is worth noting that some of these games appeared safe when they first launched, but a sneaky update later added the harmful code. The FBI has officially identified the following games as part of the threat: Lampy Lunara PirateFi Chemia Tokenova BlockBlasters Dashverse (also known as DashFPS) While these weren’t exactly household names, the financial damage was massive for those who played them. In one case, a streamer lost $32,000 during a live charity broadcast. Reportedly, the total community losses from just one of these games, BlockBlasters, could be as high as $150,000. How the Scam Spread and What to Do Now The hackers didn’t just wait for people to find them on the Steam store. They were active on Discord and Telegram, basically grooming players by recommending the games in chat groups. The scam often didn’t end with the download; once the game was on a victim’s computer, the scammers would sometimes follow up to ask for verification codes to get even deeper into the victim’s accounts. While Steam has already removed these titles, the FBI is still searching for anyone who downloaded them to help build their case. They have released a voluntary form for victims to fill out, asking for details like Steam usernames and the dates the games were played. This is a standard part of the FBI’s legal duty to identify victims of federal crimes and offer support or restitution where possible. Snippet from the FBI’s website In a comment shared exclusively with hackread.com, Kevin Kirkwood, CISO at Exabeam, gave some perspective on why gamers are such an easy target: “It only makes sense that bad actors would drop malware inside of games. Folks who are looking at games aren’t necessarily thinking about the downstream ramifications of loading something that is ‘Free!’ when it could install something that exposes the system. Kids, sometimes at a very early age, are playing games over the internet from their parents’ computer, or on the same network as the rest of the computers in the house. The kid sees “free game” and equates it to fun and not risk. The bad actors see “free game” any time someone downloads the app.” Downloading games through Steam is generally safer than using anonymous file-sharing sites or unofficial third-party download platforms. Steam operates within a regulated infrastructure and can remove malicious titles, investigate abuse, and cooperate with law enforcement when criminal activity occurs. In contrast, many third-party download sites have little oversight, and some even profit from distributing bundled malware or adware, giving them little incentive to address security risks. (Photo by appshunter.io on Unsplash) Deeba Ahmed Deeba is a veteran cybersecurity reporter at Hackread.com with over a decade of experience covering cybercrime, vulnerabilities, and security events. Her expertise and in-depth analysis make her a key contributor to the platform’s trusted coverage. View Posts Cyber CrimeCybersecurityFBIFraudgamingMalwareScamsecuritySteam Leave a Reply Cancel reply View Comments (0) Related Posts Read More Malware Security New PyStoreRAT Malware Targets OSINT Researchers Through GitHub A new malware called PyStoreRAT is being through fake OSINT tools on GitHub targeting IT and OSINT pros. Read Morphisec's report detailing how it uses AI and evades security. byDeeba Ahmed Read More Security Big Data Requires New Approaches to Cybersecurity By 2023, the volume of data generated worldwide had reached 120 zettabytes, and information flows continue to grow… byLyudmila Chicherova Security Android Malware Android users worldwide hit by sophisticated Google Play malware A new Android malware campaign dubbed PhantomLance has been found infecting users from... bySudais Asif Security Technology How to Protect your Device from Meltdown and Spectre? The devastating discovery about security flaws (namely Meltdown and Spectre) identified in various generations of Intel CPUs, probably… byWaqas

Indicators of Compromise

• malware — Lampy
• malware — Lunara
• malware — PirateFi
• malware — Chemia
• malware — Tokenova
• malware — BlockBlasters
• malware — Dashverse