The download finished. He disabled his antivirus—as the "Readme" file instructed—and ran the setup. For a few minutes, it seemed legitimate; the installation bar filled up, and a desktop icon appeared. But when he clicked "Play," nothing happened. His fans started spinning at maximum speed. His mouse began to lag.
The "crack" wasn't a game at all. It was a sophisticated piece of malware designed to steal login credentials and use his high-end PC to mine cryptocurrency for someone else. Leo hadn't saved sixty dollars; he had traded his digital identity and the health of his computer for a file that never intended to run. The download finished
As he began the grueling process of wiping his hard drive and calling his bank, he realized the "free" game was the most expensive thing he’d ever tried to buy. But when he clicked "Play," nothing happened
Leo had been staring at the Assassin’s Creed III Remastered store page for an hour. He wanted to experience Connor’s journey through the American Revolution, but his bank account was empty. Frustrated, he turned to a search engine and typed: The "crack" wasn't a game at all
While the progress bar crawled, Leo felt a twinge of guilt, but he pushed it aside. It’s just one game, he told himself. The big studios won't miss my sixty bucks.