Streamer loses $32,000 after playing scam Steam game during charity livestream

The internet contains multitudes. For every person willing to donate to a streamer with cancer to raise funds for their treatment, there's a scammer looking for an opportunity to steal it all. That's what happened to streamer 'RastalandTV', who was raising money for his cancer treatment on crypto streaming service pump.fun. A viewer hopped into his chat and asked him to play their game live, in return for a donation. Rastaland downloaded the game, BlockBlasters, from Steam and started to play. Before long, he says the money he had raised had all been stolen.

Valve removed BlockBlasters from Steam after Rastaland shared his experience in an X post. "I can't breathe, I can't think, im [sic] completely lost on what is going to happen next, can't shake the feeling that it is my fault," he says.

BlockBlasters seemingly contained malware, although we don't yet know its exact nature. The most common scams involve keyloggers that track your passwords as you type them, or software that allows hackers full control of your PC, which they act on when you're offline. However, many cryptocurrency commentators are calling this a 'crypto drainer' tool that specifically targets your crypto wallet.

RastalandTV, who has stage 4 cancer and was fundraising for treatment at the time, broke down in tears when he realized what had happened. BlockBlasters looked like a totally legitimate game. It had been published on Steam in June, and, according to the Wayback Machine, had 114 reviews landing it a 'very positive' rating, although some claim these are fake.

In the hours since Rastaland's plight went viral, numerous crypto personalities have reached out to donate to his fundraiser. Alex Becker, who boasts 1.3 million followers on X, sent the full $32,000 to a new, secure wallet. Many others have donated, too.

While people believe they have tracked down the scammers, crypto transactions aren't reversible like those of a credit card or similar. This incident highlights some of the problems with cryptocurrency and arguably Steam's moderation policy.

PCGamesN has reached out to Valve for comment, and will update this story if we learn more.