Uh oh. A number of reports around the web are claiming one thing: people are using GTA V mods to distribute malware.
GTA Forums member aboutseven wrote a post this morning detailing their discovery of an errant program on their computer. Looking into it further, they found that the file came from a GTA mod—and it was sending and receiving information across the internet. The culprit? A very popular mod known as “Angry Planes,” which spawns a ton of kamikaze aircrafts in GTA V. The mod has been making the rounds across YouTube, social media, and gaming sites. It also happens to put a keylogger on your computer according to GTA players.
Since then, players are claiming they’re finding similar harmful files on a few other things, such as No Clip. We’ve also seen one report flagging a GTA Vice City mod manager, and we’ve contacted the site hosting it to ask for details. (Update 8:30pm: for clarification purposes, according to Virus Total, a website that analyzes files for potential viruses, popular “GTAV Mod Manager” by Bilago is clean). (Update 5/18 4:36PM: The proprietor of the website hosting the Vice City mod manager assures me that the installer is clean, and that the flagging was likely a “false positive.” )It’s possible that there are other GTA mods that carry viruses, but these are the ones we’ve heard about so far. If you’ve downloaded any of these, it might be worth getting rid of them, running any anti-virus software that you have, and changing your passwords on whatever services you use. Thankfully, some of the sites hosting these mods are taking them down.
For the rest of us, it’s worth noting that while GTA V mods are booming right now, there’s always a risk of downloading something unsavory if you’re not careful. Never download anything you’re not sure about, or that comes from a potentially sketchy source.
Thanks for the tip, Jordan.
Correction: this story originally mentioned that a GTA V mod manager was being discussed as potentially having malware. As we noted in an update above, the mod installer in question was for Vice City. We apologize for the error.