The game's virtual currency, as the creators promise, can be exchanged for cryptocurrency. Its launch on the exchange — listing — was announced for June, and then for July. Game coins are given for visiting the game, clicking in the game — «tapping» — on the game character hamster and completing various tasks. Game coins are also paid for the player inviting their friends to Hamster Kombat via a referral link. For each new player involved, according to the principle of a financial pyramid, the creator of the referral link receives a reward.
The exchange rate of game coins to cryptocurrency is still unclear. But already hundreds of thousands of people in Russia and other countries around the world are dedicating all their time to playing Hamster Kombat, mining them. Among them are children and teenagers: the game has an age limit of 18+, but in practice the age of «tappers» is not strictly checked.
The fascination with the application is not so harmless. It can harm the player's health and deprive them of not only game money, but also quite real money. Scammers have quickly responded to the «hamster fever».
A blow to the hands and mind
Scientists note that excessive involvement in the game can lead to problems with mental and physical health.
Thus, according to Rimma Gamirova, leading researcher at the Neurocognitive Research Laboratory of the Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication and Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology and Medical Genetics of the Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology of KFU, entering the game every three hours to receive bonuses, which its creators recommend, leads to sleep disturbance, fatigue, and nervousness.
The game can be especially dangerous for those who have autolike traits, impaired communication and connection with reality. And prolonged exposure to the computer can provoke epileptic seizures in patients with epilepsy, physical inactivity, additional headaches and much more.
Hamster Kombat, as Gamirova notes, can help the development of gambling addiction and other addictions, like other similar games. Some serious diseases may also worsen. In particular, these are:
- writer's cramp — a type of muscle disorder in which a person's hand involuntarily tenses and contracts muscles when writing
- paroxysmal dyskinesia — movement disorders in which a person experiences attacks of involuntary movements and pathological postures. In this case, the person is conscious, but, for example, cannot control the movements of their eyes, fingers, arms, and legs during an attack.
The fact is that the player has to stay with their smartphone. And hold it in their hands in approximately the same position for many hours a day. Psychological stress from the game is added to the physical stress on the muscles, and it is by no means useful.
According to doctors, too active a game in Hamster Kombat can lead to the development of various pathologies of the wrist joints. The player may begin to feel pain, numbness, tingling, tingling, burning in the fingers on the hand from the first to the fourth. Also in these places may appear hygromas — formations under the skin with a thin capsule and transparent or yellowish liquid inside.
Often, people who perform work associated with increased fine motor skills for a long time are at risk of developing inflammation of the wrist joints, soft tissues and main nerve trunks (the so-called carpal tunnel syndrome, the formation of hygromas or inflammation of the tendons). This is an occupational disease that previously haunted typists in editorial offices, and now computer operators and manicure masters.
According to him, with monotonous, monotonous work, which includes excessive enthusiasm for a mobile game, posture disorders, vision impairment and psycho-emotional state also appear. And people need medical help.
Another expert from KFU, Associate Professor of the Department of Clinical Psychology and Personality Psychology of the Institute of Psychology and Education, Inna Krotova, notes that Hamster Kombat puts players into a state of trance. They shut themselves off from any other activity, information and people around them. In addition, the game is addictive and creates a dominant habit of «clicking — waiting». According to Krotova, one should take into account «restrictions on social maturity», they concern «all those who do not have a high level of self-control and understanding of cause-and-effect relationships».
A blow to the wallet and security
The fact that Hamster Kombat can harm its players both psychologically and materially is also said by specialists related to the financial sector. In particular, in an interview with Moscow 24, banking market expert Andrei Barkhota says that the game is addictive and takes up their time. In addition, there is a possibility that players will be able to receive what they have earned far from the amount they expect.
There is a risk that the funds will actually be placed on cryptocurrency exchanges, but with a huge commission. For example, half of the client's funds go into the pockets of the organizers, and the rest is placed on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Scammers of all stripes have also become active. On social networks and Telegram chats, you can find hundreds of ads for quick pumping in Hamster Kombat, cheap addition of hundreds of game friends via a referral link, for which you can get game coins, deciphering game codes and other ways to earn more on the «hamster».
Cyber police from the Department for Organizing the Fight against Illegal Use of Information and Communication Technologies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia remind players of the need to be vigilant.
The most common are cases of fraud in terms of cheating referrals. When friends and relatives to whom you can send a link run out, players go to special exchanges or Telegram chats. There they buy game «friends» from scammers, to whom they allegedly sent a link with an invitation to the game. The first purchase works, and coins come to the players for the allegedly invited Hamster Kombat players. With a larger purchase of referrals, scammers disappear, taking the money.
The second common scheme is the theft of Telegram accounts and personal data of players.
Scammers, through various sites, slip users who have not yet managed to register a link to their bot, disguised as the official application of the developer. When entering it, attackers record personal information: geolocation, data about the wi-fi point, account passwords and contacts. This scheme and similar ones are dangerous in the future. For example, if you link an online wallet to a hacked account, all the funds that end up on it will go to the hackers' accounts with minimal effort on their part.
Finally, the Russian developer of technologies for combating cybercrime F.A.C.C.T. recently identified about 200 resources that use Hamster Kombat to gain access to victims' crypto wallets using special programs, drainers (from English «to drain» — «to drain/drain», — approx. ed. www1.ru). This is another way for scammers to profit from Hamster Kombat users.
It is known that game coins can be withdrawn in the form of cryptocurrency. And therefore, a number of players pre-link their TON wallet to the original applications. But instead, people connect to the applications of attackers. Scammers thus gain access to all operations with the wallet — in particular, it becomes possible to withdraw funds through drainers.
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