Leo realized that by chasing a "free download" of a commercial game from an unverified source, he was risking the health of his beloved PC. He didn't want to deal with stolen passwords, identity theft, or a computer locked by ransomware.

There were no active community reviews or verified checks on the files.

Eager to play, Leo opened a search tab and typed in "carnage-racing-pc-game-free-download-full-version".

The downloaded file extensions were often listed as .exe or .msi inside a double-zipped folder, which is a classic way to hide malware.

Leo was about to click the very first link when he remembered the advice his older sister, a software developer, always gave him: "If a paid game is being offered entirely for free on a random website, proceed with extreme caution."