When the file finished, it wasn't an installer. It was a ZIP file named LVC_v5.2_Full_Activation.zip . Inside sat the "Keygen.exe."

He woke up four hours later to a notification on his phone. “Your password for [Email] has been changed.” Then another. “Suspicious login detected in Moscow.” “Purchase of $800 confirmed: Digital Gift Cards.”

The website was a graveyard of pop-ups. "Your PC is infected!" "Click here to claim your prize!" Leo navigated the digital minefield with the practiced hand of someone who had done this before. He found the green "Download" button—the one that looked slightly less fake than the others—and watched the progress bar creep across his screen.