Anonymous cryptocurrency is at the center of the new scandal involving massive data leaks from the highly anticipated game Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6). A group of hackers hiding under the pseudonym CyberLeek has made unprecedented demands to be paid 400 Monero ($XMR) to establish contact and negotiate an advertising partnership.
After the game's publisher Take-Two Interactive sent court orders to tech giants Microsoft and Discord to de-anonymize the criminals, the hackers launched a peculiar "advertising auction." For 400 $XMR (approximately $168,860 at the current exchange rate), anyone can purchase a personalized ad slot on the next stream where stolen GTA 6 materials will be showcased.
Contact with the cybercriminals is conducted exclusively through the decentralized, privacy-focused messenger Session. Of particular note is the hackers' stipulation that they will not advertise fraudulent projects, gambling, or pornography.
Monero is not the only cryptocurrency in demand among the criminals. Previously, they promoted their own memecoin, CyberLeek (CYBERLEEK), through their broadcasts.
As a result, the token showed abnormal growth, surging nearly 39,000% in just one week. They openly state that the higher the market capitalization of their cryptocurrency rises, the more new gameplay footage and GTA 6 source code will be leaked online.
According to the hackers, their true goal is to punish the gaming industry for anti-consumer practices, including unjustified price hikes for games while distribution costs decrease, aggressive DRM protections, and forced server shutdowns for old projects. The money raised through Monero and memecoins is allegedly intended to fund "future attacks on the industry."
This position is not shared by representatives of the legal initiative Stop Killing Games, who are also fighting against the same issues in the industry. They criticized the hackers' actions, urging the audience not to send them cryptocurrency:
end-contentDo not send these people your money, no matter how much you sympathize with their actions. It is illegal. Using criminal methods to prove one's point is unacceptable and does nothing to protect our rights as consumers. It is the thousands of ordinary developers who worked hard on the project that suffer the most from these leaks.
