This week I made a friend. I did not want one, I did not ask for one, and by the end of the conversation they wanted me to install software on my computer. Here is how it went, because it will go the same way for you, and the ending is worth knowing before you get there.
The wrong person
It started with a Discord direct message from an account I had never seen. It was clearly meant for someone else: a first name that was not mine, a reference to something we had apparently discussed. I said they had the wrong person. Normally that is where a mistaken message ends.
Instead: "Oh, sorry! Haha. Well, nice to meet you anyway. Where are you from?"
That is the tell, and it is worth pausing on. A real person who messages the wrong stranger says sorry and leaves. A person who wants to keep talking to a stranger they just met by accident has a reason, and the reason is not friendship.
The friendliest person on the internet
Within a few messages I learned that they were very pleased to meet me, that they had always wanted to visit America, and, this is a direct quote, that I was their "first American friend." I have been on the internet for a long time and I have never been anyone's first anything. It was flattering for about a second.
Then the questions. Do you play games? What kind? Do you play on your phone or your computer? Have you heard of this one? It is really fun, my friends and I play every night, you should play with us.
Every reply of mine, however short, was met with enthusiasm and another question. Nothing I said mattered much. The conversation had a destination and it was going there whatever I typed.
The ask
The destination was a download. They wanted me to install the game. When I said I did not play that sort of thing, they said it was easy, and sent a link. When I did not click it, they explained that I would need an "emulator" to run it on my computer, and sent a link for that too. Then the sign-up: create an account, and when it asks, enter their ID so we would be on the same team. They sent the ID. Twice.
And then the pushing. Did you download it yet? It only takes a minute. Come on, it will be fun. Are you there?
This is where I stopped replying, blocked the account and reported it. Here is why.
What it actually is
Security companies call this the "try my game" or "test my game" scam, and it has been running on Discord for years. Malwarebytes described one campaign in January 2025 in which strangers messaged Discord users asking them to try a new game, and the "game" installer was a program that steals saved browser passwords, session cookies, credit card details, cryptocurrency wallets, two-step backup codes and the victim's Discord login. That last one matters: with your Discord account, the scammer messages your friends as you, and the whole thing starts again with people who trust the sender.
The "emulator" is part of the same trick. Emulators that run phone games on a computer are a real category of software, which is exactly why it is a convincing thing to be told to install. The file in the scammer's link is not that. It is whatever they want running on your computer, with a familiar name on it.
The ID is the other half. Sometimes the game is real but the sign-up goes through the scammer's referral, so they are paid for you; sometimes the game is a fake that will shortly need you to buy something to help the team. Either way, you are the product.
And the opener, the message meant for someone else, is the same one used in the "wrong number" text scams that the Federal Trade Commission lists among the most common text scams. The mistake is the door. The friendliness is the foot in it.
The signs, in order
- A message meant for someone else, followed by a wish to keep talking.
- Fast, warm flattery from a stranger. "First American friend" is a line, not a feeling.
- Questions that steer toward games, apps or money within minutes.
- A link to download something, anything, from a person you met today.
- Instructions to install a helper first: an emulator, a launcher, a "client", a zip file with a password.
- A code, ID or referral to enter when signing up.
- Pressure. Repeated asks, "are you there?", "it only takes a minute."
Any two of these together is enough. All seven is a script.
What to do instead
- Do not download anything sent by someone you met in a DM. Not a game, not an emulator, not a screenshot, not a PDF. If a game is real, it is on Steam, on the app stores or on the maker's own site, and you can find it yourself without their link.
- Do not enter anyone's ID or code. It exists to pay them or to attach you to them.
- Stop replying. You do not owe a stranger a conversation, and every reply teaches them what works on you.
- Block and report. On Discord, open the profile, choose Block, then Report. It takes ten seconds and it helps the next person.
- Tell the kids. This scam is aimed at gamers, and a teenager is more likely to get the message and less likely to see the shape of it. Show them this article.
If you already installed it
Treat the computer as compromised. Disconnect it from the internet. From a different device, change the passwords for your email, your bank and Discord, in that order, and turn on two-step sign-in. Sign out of all sessions on every account that offers it. Then have the computer checked before you use it for anything that matters; our guide to a hacked email account covers the order of the steps, and the same order applies here.
The stern part
I would like to say this is obvious. It is not, in the moment. The person is friendly, the request is small, the game sounds harmless, and saying no to an enthusiastic stranger feels rude. The scam is built on exactly that feeling. So here is the rule, and it has no exceptions: nobody you met today gets to put software on your computer. Not for a game, not to be friends, not because you are their first American anything.
If you are ever unsure whether a message, a link or a download is what it claims to be, ask us before you click. That question is free, and the answer, more often than you would like, is "no."