GTA 6 Early Access Is Not Real, But The Scam Sites Are

With GTA 6 only a few months away and shaping up to be the biggest entertainment launch of the year, scam websites aren’t wasting any time attempting to fleece people of their cash. Building on the game’s hype and the eagerness of some people to play it early, some sites are offering “VIP” access to GTA 6 ahead of launch, all for the low price of several hundred dollars. The only part of GTA 6 that will be available early is the option to preload it, which might account for some of the confusion around its launch time.

This is a scam, as Rockstar Games has no early access promotion for GTA 6 in place. Unlike games such as Control Resonant or Gears of War: E-Day, neither of GTA 6’s editions offers such an option to play early, and any site offering such a deal is looking to pull a fast one. The biggest red flag with these sites, which dress themselves up in the same neon-soaked aesthetic of GTA 6? The fact that they want you to pay in cryptocurrency, not exactly the safest form of payment to use, given how there are very few guardrails to protect you.

According to Malwarebytes, these sites will usually offer people something along the lines of “VIP Digital Access” or an “Exclusive Early Access Preview,” utilizing fancy AI-generated assets designed to make them look as legitimate as possible or pretending to be part of a Mr. Beast partnership. One scam site even uses Lego to lure people in, promising them a Lego Lamborghini set, Mr. Beast minifigure, and an in-game Lego-inspired Lambo to use in GTA Online, all for the cool price of $275 in Bitcoin, USDT, or Ethereum.

And if you pay, you get nothing but buyer’s remorse, as the scammers make off with your cash. That site offering the audacious Lego and Mr. Beast bundle deal has gone offline, but there’s a good chance that it has managed to scam a few people before the plug was pulled. So what’s happening here?

There’s no denying that GTA 6 has an absurd amount of hype behind it, and it comes at a time when early access to video games has become more commonplace. As mentioned above, several upcoming games will offer consumers the chance to jump in several days early, so it wouldn’t be uncommon to imagine that GTA 6 would have a similar deal in place. At the same time, these sites are also leveraging FOMO, using suggestive wording to emphasize scarcity and override your decision-making process by making you believe that this is a limited-time deal–similar to your Temu app whenever you open it up, and your eyes are flooded by spinner wheels offering short-term discounts.

Throw in a generally professional website, and you can understand how people are deceived. For now, it’s worth paying attention to the warning signs. Unless Rockstar says otherwise, there is no GTA 6 early access, there are no secret downloads of the game available, and don’t expect to be able to grab a copy of the game in the wild, as physical editions will be nothing but a code in a box. If a website offers early access and wants you to pay–preferably in crypto–close the tab and your wallet.

GTA 6 launches for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 19, and official preorders are now live for it.