Do not buy Escape from Tarkov on Steam – nasty scam is pulling players away

The hardcore shooter Escape from Tarkov currently only runs on its launcher from developer Battlestate Games. If you spot an offer on Steam, don’t touch it – it’s a brazen rip-off.

In the last few weeks you have been able to buy the uncompromising shooter Escape from Tarkov on Steam on a deceptively real game site.

However, it was a nasty rip-off. Escape from Tarkov hasn’t been available on Steam before, and it’s unclear if it will ever make it to Steam at all. The fake game page is no longer accessible.

You could also have problems with the version of keys from key sellers. Some of the keys have a “region lock”, so they can only be used in certain regions.

If you want to get Escape from Tarkov cheaper, then wait for a sale. Battlestate has often offered the shooter at reduced prices in its shop, with discounts of up to 25%.

The wipe at the end of December 2022 brought patch 0.13 with the Streets of Tarkov map. Check out the trailer for more info:

EFT’s Steam page looked deceptively real

What did the rip off look like? On the Steam page you could hardly tell that it was a fake. The US site PCGamesN reports that only the system requirements did not fit. In addition, there was no indication of the current beta status of the shooter.

However, this is information that you only know about if you already know the game. For a player with no background knowledge, this was very difficult to see.

Steam’s return function should keep the damage within limits if problems should have arisen.

What do scammers get out of it? Apparently they wanted to earn easy and quick money in this way. You actually got access to the game, but that didn’t go through Steam, but also through the usual Battlestate launcher.

The fraudsters could have gotten access to the game cheaply or with unfair means in order to increase their margin. But it could also just have been a bad joke.

We have put together a complete overview of the prices and editions here: How can I play Escape from Tarkov and where can I buy it?