A Redditor has discovered a scam on Discord in which a bot claiming to be a Twitch representative contacts you, asks to "join your server" which is supposed to grant you access to Discord's premium Nitro Games service. Clicking the link invites a bot into your server, letting it spam other users there and even kick them off it. But the implications of a bot accessing your profile - with all the permissions you have to give Discord for the app to function properly - could mean a lot more trouble than visible on the surface.

Reddit user u/TheGlowingTorch first posted their findings on the r/discordapp subreddit, but the post has since been removed, supposedly for violating two rules. One of them says there is no "advertising, self-promotion, spamming, selling, trying to buy, trading, or begging," and another asks users to follow a link to report something that may have violated Discord's Terms of Service. However, an archived version of the post shows that the user had actually written it up as a warning to other users - but the post has not yet been reinstated.

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In their case, the bot cost them a server consisting of 30,000 people, but u/TheGlowingTorch adds that, "That's not all the damage I know of." However, in the comments, user u/PurpurPolarBear claims that, "There's a flood of them, it's not just this one." A number of other users also add that they have been contacted, either by this exact bot or one similar to it, but there are no mentions of more damage being done.

via Reddit

A message from Damien Mason, Digital Privacy Expert at ProPrivacy, shows that they're also aware of this scam and warning people to stay away from it: "The biggest giveaway, aside from the poor grammar is that Nitro Games doesn’t even exist anymore (...) Discord is aware of these scammers and plays whack-a-mole by renaming fake accounts, but more continue to pop up thanks to the platform’s current naming system. Overall, Discord needs to do more to safeguard users, particularly children."

Whether Discord can completely prevent this sort of scam from happening - and how they would attempt something like this - is currently unknown, although considered highly unlikely. This means that the app will always be unsafe in a way, relying on your common sense and interest in maintaining your privacy to protect you and other users. While this instance may be solved, one way or another, others will surface again soon enough. All you can do is remain distrustful of most things you read - especially if it sounds like it's too good to be true - and remember: nothing is ever free.

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