There is a Starfield open beta scam on Google right now, and gamers should be cautious to avoid it. This Starfield scam is just the latest of many open beta scams, which try to trick players with promises of free, exclusive content, only to steal their personal information.
Starfield is one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2023. Its developer Bethesda is responsible for Skyrim, which is still one of the most beloved games ever, despite being released over a decade ago. Now, Bethesda will venture into outer space with a completely new franchise. Starfield will also be a day-one offering on Xbox Game Pass, allowing Xbox and PC gamers to explore a whole galaxy. However, players still have to wait for a long time before they can finally play it, which makes them targets of scams.
The new Starfield scam is simple, yet deceptive. It tricks gamers into participating in a fake beta ahead of the release of Starfield. Originally spotted by PC Gamer, the scam can be found via a sponsored link on Google, which shows up when someone is searching for Starfield. The website is named “bizongrow dot com,” and will redirect the user to the page of "starfięld dot com," which uses the accent to confuse potential victims. On this second page, the player can find a button to download the demo, which will probably install malware instead. Obviously, gamers should not click on the link. The website that hosts the scam was registered at the beginning of April, and it has been live for over a week so far. At the time of this report, it was still not removed.
Unfortunately, scams involving beta tests are far from uncommon. Back in March, a fake beta invited players to try out Counter-Strike 2. Much like this current scam, the goal was to get private information from players. In this case, to steal their Steam login information.
Gamers who really want to play Starfield will have no choice but to wait until September, ignoring all offers for beta tests that do not come directly from the official Bethesda or Starfield website. Due to its late launch, Starfield will have fierce competition with other games, such as the eagerly awaited Spider-Man 2, or Baldur’s Gate 3, which are all set to be released quite close to each other. However, this will probably not stop players from enjoying it after waiting for so many years.
Starfield will be released on September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: PC Gamer