Tap a hamster, win cryptocurrency.
In just a few months, that formula has attracted at least 150 million players worldwide to the game Hamster Kombat, according to its developers.
As with anything that promises potentially easy riches, though, the rodent-tapping app also has drawn attention from authorities in multiple countries.
Hamster Kombat, based within the Telegram messaging app, is a “clicker game.” Players repeatedly click on the screen to earn in-game currency. Keep tapping the hamster in combination with in-game effects, and the cooler it looks, gaining new clothes and accessories.
To motivate players, the developers offer a faint promise that one day the virtual coins will be placed on an exchange, allowing conversions into real money.
In places where Telegram is popular — including Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine — interest in Hamster Kombat is particularly strong. Government officials from all three have similar opinions of the game, and they’re asking users to stay away.
Each country, however, has a different reason.
In Russia, local authorities have cited potential financial risks due to Hamster Kombat’s promises of easy earnings, as well as its potential dangers for children. Some Russian critics of the game have labeled it a “pyramid scheme.”
“You need to remember that you can’t make big money in such a simple way. Treat it like a regular game and save your time,” said Anton Tkachev, a Russian lawmaker responsible for information policy in the country.
“The creators of this game did not set entertainment as their goal — they care about earnings, including from advertising,” said Irina Volynets, commissioner for children’s rights of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan.
Earlier in June, Russian media reported that the parents of a 14-year-old boy from the city of Tyumen in Siberia reached out to psychiatrists for help, as their son set an alarm every three hours to score maximum points in the game.
In Uzbekistan, authorities have threatened players with 15 days detention or a fine if they attempt to withdraw in-game currency to crypto exchanges and trade it for regular money, according to local media reports. Uzbekistan has tight restrictions on the acquisition, sale or exchange of cryptocurrencies.
Ukraine has a different reason to be wary of Hamster Kombat. The Ukrainian state Center for Strategic Communications (StratcomCentreUA) warned earlier in May that the play-to-earn game could be dangerous due to its apparent links to Russia.
Who runs the hamsters?
Hamster Kombat’s account on Telegram has nearly 39 million followers, and its pages on YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) have 25 million and 8.5 million, respectively. None of the accounts mention a game studio or a corporate parent. Recorded Future News emailed a public relations address associated with the game but did not get a response.
According to an investigation by the Ukrainian media outlet Ain, Hamster Kombat is registered by RU-CENTER Group, one of Russia’s largest registrars of domain names and hosting providers, which is part of the local media group RBK.
“Russian companies are obliged to store users’ internal data on servers and provide them to security forces on demand, and this poses a threat to Ukrainians,” StratcomCentreUA said. “Their personal data can be used for unknown purposes.”
According to an investigation by the Russian independent media outlet The Bell, one of the game’s co-founders is Russian IT entrepreneur Eduard Gurinovich, founder of CarPrice, an online platform for selling vehicles.
The Bell, citing anonymous sources familiar with the game’s developers, reported that Telegram itself is among the beneficiaries of Hamster Kombat and likely uses it to promote the messenger and generate traffic. Telegram has not responded to a request for comment about this claim.
Telegram’s co-founder, Pavel Durov, previously promoted a similar clicker game called Notcoin. In this game, users could earn a game currency called “notcoins.” In May, the cryptocurrency Notcoin was minted on the TON blockchain and listed on all major crypto exchanges. Its current market capitalization is $1.62 billion.
“All of a sudden, Notcoin users who just played this game for fun could convert their in-game currency into real money,” Durov said.
Hamster Kombat also has hinted that it’s preparing for an exchange listing but hasn’t mentioned specific dates.
A target for scams, too
Hamster Kombat also has attracted the attention of scammers, according to Russian cybersecurity firm F.A.C.C.T.
Earlier this week, the researchers discovered a campaign where hackers are using the game to gain access to victims’ crypto wallets using drainers — a type of malware designed to siphon off digital assets into the drainer operators’ wallets.
The hackers are also trying to take over players’ accounts by asking them to log in to a fake Hamster Kombat bot, according to F.A.C.C.T.
“The scammers couldn’t miss such a fat hamster,” researchers commented on their findings.
