06 Jul 2025 - AJ
I’ve spent more than I care to admit on mobile freemium games. I’ve primarily kicked the habit, but I understand the impulse to pay to win. Freemium game designers are good at getting you to spend money. Sound familiar?
Nowadays, depending on which phone OS I’m using (I switch between Android and iOS every few years) I have either Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass. They scratch my gaming itch, and I can spend hours finding and playing new games. I occasionally download freemium games, but I’ve only found one or two that don’t annoy me with constant requests to spend money and are happy with a one-time payment to cut out ads. Those are my keepers.
But the scam for this week goes far beyond how much a rip-off play-to-win freemiums, especially a lot of gatchas, are. Technically speaking, it is less of a scam than some, because you do get some sort of product. But these people rely on the desire to “not let the team down” to get you to send money to them still.
And I hadn’t heard of it before a scammer decided to grace my Discord account with a friends request this week.
One of the many Discord servers I lurk on is the official Discord server for Coral Island, which is essentially a 3D Stardew Valley with an ecological focus that I got into. I don’t often get a chance to game between work and other responsibilities, but it’s fun hanging out with fellow fans and keeping updated on the game.
Again, I’m a lurker, and so I was a bit surprised when someone sent me a friend request (I have my settings set to shared servers only), and the shared server was the Coral Island one. I figured this was going to be one of two things: someone meant to message/friend the person right above or below me in the list - it happens, especially with busy servers where people are constantly going in and out like that one. Or it was going to be a scam… likely a fake reporting scam like I’ve covered before. Honestly, I did what I advise people not to do which was engage with a potential scammer.
The conversation went something like this:
Me: Hello, we’ve never talked before, is there some reason you’re sending me a friend request?
Scammer: Hi, do you play IK?
Me: I’ve never heard of that game.
Scammer: Oh, sorry, I had you mistaken for someone else.
Me: That’s okay. What’s IK?
Scammer: Infinity Kingdom.
Me: Thanks!
The “Oh sorry, I had you mistaken for someone else” had me on instant high alert because that’s the way certain other scams start, but I couldn’t figure out the scam angle since it hadn’t turned into the fake reporting scam. That’s why I asked for the name of the game to see if I could figure out the angle. A rapid google search later with the game name + “scam” showed me all I needed to know, with people being approached just like I had been. The scammer was apparently having multiple conversations so they didn’t get to the befriending part with me (my first message probably alerted them to the fact that I would not be an easy sell), and I blocked them before it got further. As a colleague of mine is fond of saying, no harm, no foul.
So thanks, I guess, to the scammer who chose the wrong server and the wrong potential victim, and I hope I can prevent others from falling prey.