"Epic Games is the disease, this is the cure": A trojan that can delete Fortnite from PC

Fortnite V-Buck scams are nothing new to the community. By now, most players know how to spot a scam, ignore it, and get on with their gaming experience.

However, malicious programmers launch new schemes every day to target vulnerable gamers in unique ways. Late last year, YouTuber Siam Alam demonstrated a new trojan horse aimed at the Fortnite community.

---

A Trojan that rids your PC of Fortnite

The above video demonstrates the trojan in action and also shows a few lines of its code, one of which has the hidden message:

"Epic Games is the disease, this is the cure."

For those unfamiliar with the term, a trojan, or trojan horse, is a piece of malicious software disguised as something to steal a user's information or wreak havoc on their system. A trojan is not a virus because it does not replicate itself. It just executes a set of tasks. That is it.

Disguised as a program to generate V-Bucks for a Fortnite player, the downloadable Visual Basic application removes Fortnite, the Epic Games launcher, and blocks epicgames.com via the user's hosts.txt file if they click the "Give V-Bucks" button.

Image via Siam Alam

The trojan code is not complicated. Any novice of Visual Basic could write such a program. Even the interface, which contains nothing more than a quick logo, an input box, and a button, is somewhat amateur. The program also requires that it be run as an administrator to work correctly.

While there are probably players desperate or gullible to fall for such a trick, this trojan feels more like a proof-of-concept, or a statement, than anything else. Still, players should always be wary of such programs that offer them free V-Bucks, competitive advantage in Fortnite, or other such wanton desires.

If something offering Fortnite goodies seems too good to be true, it probably is, and will cause more headaches for players than worth.