Skyrim Scammery

Everybody loves dragons, and everybody really loves hunting these endangered creatures through their natural habitat before plunging about five hundred spears into their evil, cattle stealing hearts.

And so it came to pass that Skyrim would be released this weekend. It also came to pass that people would make fake websites and try to convince Elves, Orcs and vertically challenged guys with axes to fill in surveys and install things in return for free games which never materialise. Hitting the download buttons on all of the following sites will present the end-user with various surveys, offers of Adware and the occasional +10 damage modifier.

Searching for "Skyrim download" in Google gives us results as early as page one promising riches but delivering bundles of Rocks Fall, Everybody Dies:

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"The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim full version download for free", claims Mashgaming(dot)com. Hitting the link takes you to another website - links(dot)downloading(dot)im - and serves up Ye Olde Survey Box:

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Here's another example of the same site, but this time presenting an Adware installer:

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Elsewhere, there are the typical Youtube scams you've come to know and hate, or at least roll your eyes at:

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I think they really want you to fill in those surveys. As the launch date for Skyrim is 11/11/11, you can bet there'll be the usual gamut of scams similar to the above doing the rounds - and the Mashgaming site listed above is now the second result in Google UK for "Skyrim download".

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Somewhat spectacularly, they nudge an official download site - Direct2drive - into third place with empty promises of games, goblins and gold.

And you still won't have killed any Dragons.

Christopher Boyd (Thanks Matthew)