So there's a new Premium Race video on the GTASV YouTube Channel. Personally I can't be bothered with Premium Races, but I checked it out because... I don't know, I guess I was procrastinating again. Either way, video ends and I go to the comment section because comments on GTA videos are always interesting.
At the top is someone who's apparently found "a fast guide that can get a lot of Ca$h!". The only times I've made - excuse the pun - ill-gotten gains it's been through glitches and issues presented by the game, most notably At The Races and my cocaine business being able to extract Supplies from thin air (eat your heart out, InGen) and I'm.. let's say well out of poverty. But I decide to check out the link for curiosity's sake.
Immediately, something smells fishier than that restaurant on Route 1. "100% Safe", "AntiBan-Ghosting™", "Updated Everyday" etc. is all proudly put at the top of the page. Following that is a space where you enter your UserID or Email and a text saying the page was last updated today. Below this are the sliders where you determine how much money and RP you'd like injected into your account, a checkbox for AntiBan-Ghosting™, a button to press to make magic happen and a comment feed taken from Facebook.
I don't judge a book by the cover, so engage the F12 button (I may not be an expert, but I've got the basics down).
- For starters, the "Last Update" thingy is simply set to display whatever you set your system date to.
- The sliders actually slide, but (and this is where my lack of expert knowledge kicks in) they don't "feel" right. Besides, surely something like this would use a text thing rather than a slider?
..but the fishiest of all (we're talking Atlantis-levels of fishy here) is that Facebook comment section thingy. Leave F12 for a moment, and try to reply to one of the posts.
Doesn't work.
Click the name of a user to go to their FB profile.
DOESN'T WORK.
Click "Add Comment" to warn people they're likely giving away their ID to hackers.
GUESS THREE TIMES.
It's actually static text that's been made to *look like* FB comments - blue text, the font, underlined when you hover over it etc., but with profile pictures likely taken by previous victims and a time-since-posted thingy that's pulled from their 🤬
So just for the heck of it, I enter a username consisting of random letters and the minimal amounts of money and RP (I'm just looking to test it). It launches this little "screen" on the website where it comes up with all sort of fancy stuff, like "Connecting to GTA server", "Importing Resources from Modifier" and all, where, funnily, it takes the exact same amount of time for any string to appear *every time*.
Then you have to complete two of those verification thingies where you can win a MacBook Pro or an iPhone 7.
And here's the best part of all: guess how many likes the YT comment has?
334. (though that could be some sort of like-bots. The YT channel who posted it seems fishy as well. Mainly because even I have more subscribers than them (they're at 0, btw))
So this is the state of this "GTA Community". Thanks, Mr:censored
IE.