However, this string also serves as a warning. The inclusion of "exclusive" often signaled a trap. In the era of ad-revenue-driven piracy websites, random keywords were often stitched together to attract search traffic. A user searching for this specific string was just as likely to download malware or a survey scam as they were an actual game patch. It exposes the risk inherent in the "shadow market"—the pursuit of free software often came at the cost of system security and privacy.

FM12 was famous for its internal protection. Cracked versions often suffer from a bug where players' attributes randomly drop to 1, making the game unplayable.

Many old cracks are bundled with modern trojans or miners.