Looking through the official Valorant discord and browsing through the LFG chat, I noticed a message from a certain discord user named grunt that was offering services to help boost your game’s FPS and reduce input lag.
Magic FPS Boost / Ping Reduction?
Since I already researched as much as I could about FPS optimization, I was curious enough to try and find out what exactly grunt had to offer.
I sent him a message asking to optimize my setup, without asking the specifics grunt replied that it would cost $29.
I asked him if he had a portfolio or some sort of website where I can get more details on these “FPS Boosting” services. The only other social account I was offered was his twitter account @relogfn:
As you can see in the bio it mentions:
“I do FPS Boost, Ping reduction, input delay reduction, Remove Stutters. Works for All Games”
This all looks very appealing to someone who wants to get the most out of their PC and optimize their game in hopes of achieving that extra 1ms of advantage.
Pulling the Trigger
I decided to give this guy a chance send him $29 for his services. Before I even sent the payment, the first red flag appeared. Grunt was adamant on making sure the money is sent as Personal Payment / Family and Friends.
Coming from the cryptoverse, this is a common tactic used by service providers who want to make sure money received cannot be charged-back via a paypal dispute.
Another red flag, was the fact that grunt wanted to use a RAT (Remote Access Tool) like TeamViewer in order to give me those “FPS Boosts”. Under no circumstance should you allow a stranger remote access to you desktop because they can execute scripts in a matter of seconds.
I had to go back and forth for over an hour convincing grunt to help me optimize my setup via a discord stream only.
Finally, we get to the part where I join a voice call with grunt on my discord channel. The first thing he tells me to press is Alt + Tab + z, he had to make sure I wasn’t recording this.
Right off the bat, the aggressive and paranoid vibe was a telltale sign that nothing good will come out of this. What’s more, is grunt invited two of his buddies who were supposed to help me. Instead, they were all pressuring me to get TeamViewer or another RAT.
Lesson Learned
At the end of the day the only services I received from Mr. PC Optimizer is to uninstall background programs. The conversation ended with grunt telling me it will take 8 hours to do the optimization via discord and 5 mins tops on anydesk (another RAT tool).
The lesson from this, is don’t ever allow any stranger online to have Remote Access privileges on your PC.
Best case scenario:
The best that could have happened by utilizing these FPS Boosting services is I would have found new ways to reduce input lag and optimize game performance.
Worst case scenario:
The worst that could have happened is I let a stranger remotely access by desktop via an anonymous IP, execute a script that infect my PC with malware, steal my identity and bank info, and empty out my bank account.
Verdict:
So are FPS boosting services on discord worth it? A hard NO, no amount of input lag reduction or fps optimization is worth an empty bank account.
If you have been burned by FPS Boosting services, please join my Discord server and share your experience. While I simply lost $29, there could be people out there that fell victim to lost much much more.
