Playtest scam?

[E4zyGrom]

A guy named ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ added me saying "XD i'm not a bot, just noticed you had Unrecord in your wishlist" and then proceed to copypaste a /code-like text saying that i've been invited to a playtest and to press a link below to participate, then linked me a steamcommunity.playtest/ link.
I mean, i'm 95% sure it's a scam, since it's not even dev's account, but jsut to be sure i'll ask here.
Was it a scam or did i missed some kind of an announcement?

[Deco]

Give me the link in DM. I will check.

[E4zyGrom]

Originally posted by Deco:

Give me the link in DM. I will check.

I'm sorry, i didn't archive it

[Goose]

most certainly a scam, this isn't how they notify you if you got a playtest invitation. instead you get a notification directly from the steam app if i recall. anywhere else it is bound to steal your account.
this goes the same for any other scams within dms that give "rewards". if it's too good to be true, then then it is.

[Goof]

Yeah read the dev's update released in January. He explicitly states that early access and playtests WILL NOT be available and anything or anyone that tried to replicate it will just be a "virus, scam, or a ripoff"

[Maviba]

Probably an attempt to steal your account.
Don't click any links, and playtest invitations usually aren't given via steam DM,

Ypu should change your password.

[Deco]

Ironically, I got the same link just the other day. They must've seen my reply to your OP and thought I am some idiot. Yea it is a scam, it wants you to sign in to your steam account to play Unrecord lol. It's just a phishing attempt. Stupid. Steam would never do that, everything would happen directly from your notifications.'

[Tryyton]

definitely a scam. you might also want to check links in detail, they always have a difference to the original steam page. when in doubt ask the dev on e.g. X.

i do a lot of playtests and none was or will be done through steam messages! if it is a playtest on steam, you can ask for access, if it is outside of steam there pretty much is an NDA effective and there often a sign-up needed, but that's through the dev's/publisher's website or a company doing playtests. so yeah, never click links if they are not from a friend and you are 100% sure they were not hacked.

e.g. "vote for my team/group/whatever" is also always a scam, and also shows that the account was hacked. report those and also let others on your friendlist know about it. one friend who was hacked only knew after i told him on discord.

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Yes, this is pretty much guaranteed a scam. This part all but confirms it:

Originally posted by E4zyGrom:

steamcommunity.playtest

Here's some important info on checking so-called domains and subdomains. The actual domain, or the name of the website if you will, is the one that comes right in front of the (dot)com. Or (dot)org, (dot)net, (dot)de, (dot)be and so on...

Check the domain, or website name, of this very forum. In the address bar of your browser it reads steamcommunity(dot)com. So the domain is steamcommunity, which is official, secure and Valve-owned.

Now check the link you were given. It reads playtest(dot)com (assuming it's com), so the domain name is actually playtest.

Everything that comes in front this domain separated by a dot is a subdomain. So steamcommunity is a subdomain for playtest and not the actual domain

Thus the question becomes, is playtest(dot)com a trusted website? I'd say that's unlikely given it is not associated with Valve and even uses "steamcommunity" as a subdomain name in order to trick people.

Hope this was informative to you, it's a pretty easy way to quickly identify scam sites at a glance if you know which is the actual domain

[E4zyGrom]

Originally posted by Supermettbube:

That is very insightful, thank you

[Hass]

I clicked a link like this today. I hope I didn't lose my account cause I didn't send any data

[Tryyton]

Originally posted by Andrew:

I clicked a link like this today. I hope I didn't lose my account cause I didn't send any data

why? trust me, no dev does it like that, that's why steam has the playtest button. otherwise pages like Lurkit.com offer playtests, but you have to be content creator.

better change you password and activate the steam guard if you didn't do that already. what was the page of the link? i'm curious. don't post the whole link, just the name of the page without the .com or whatever. thanks.

[(fooiz) 12.97x camp woodwind]

i too recently receive one that was like:
https :// then steampowered.app with some (numbers) .com/playtests/invite/(numbers)

not sure if it is real or not, i didnt click on it either

update: i changed my password just in case

[Tryyton]

Originally posted by (fooiz) 12.97x camp woodwind:

i too recently receive one that was like:
https :// then steampowered.app with some (numbers) .com/playtests/invite/(numbers)

not sure if it is real or not, i didnt click on it either

update: i changed my password just in case

the *.app is already wrong.

i am a playtester, and if you didn't sign up for a test, or are already in some playtest databases, you will not get contacted by anyone legit, never! not in a comment or a steam message! like i said, on steam devs have their storepage playtests where you ask for access. that's how it's done. otherwise you have to be e.g. on a discord related to playtests, but then you'd get it in discord too.

edit: good decision to change the pw. i guess you already use steam guard as well!? if not, time to install it.

[mare]

this scam also comes up in instagram ads too

[Tryyton]

Originally posted by mare:

this scam also comes up in instagram ads too

most of insta ads are questionable already.