MagicCon: Amsterdam attendees picking up their badges today got an unexpected surprise when a faulty badge activation link redirected them to the Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
Better known as “Rick Rolling,” the practice of using disguised hyperlinks to stealthily redirect users to the 1987 pop classic has been an eye-rolling, yet harmless form of internet trolling since the early days of YouTube, but it’s unlikely that anyone expected it to show up in such a curious place.
Images posted to X (formerly Twitter) by Ivan Ojeda show a MagicCon: Amsterdam Creator badge with what appears to be a sticker prompting attendees to follow a link to activate their badges adhered to one side. According to Ojeda, the issue was promptly mentioned to on-site staff, but their initial response was to continue encouraging use of the link on the badges. Then, approximately two hours after the issue first surfaced, Wizards of the Coast (WotC), issued a statement on X acknowledging there was an “issue” with the badge activation link, and provided a new link for attendees to use.
At this time, no further details have been released to clarify how the link on the badges was compromised, and WotC has not mentioned if there is any cyber security risk involved with the old link. As such, it’s recommended that those with access to the compromised link refrain from checking out the redirect and just enjoy the song on YouTube instead.
