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A scam is when a Steam user convinces another user to make a deal (trade, gift or market transaction) under false pretenses. Scams usually involve deception in order to convince a user that they are getting a good or fair deal when in fact they are not.
For more information on scams please read below, view the Recommended Trading Practices article and the Steam Item Restoration Policy.
Do not trade for anything that cannot be added into the trade window within Steam. The most common examples of these scenarios are the following:
For more information on trading please read the Steam Trading FAQ, Recommended Trading Practices, and the Steam Item Restoration Policy articles.
A user tells you they will trade you a specific item, and the item they put in the trade box looks like the item, but isn’t as valuable as the original offer.
A user offers you a specific quality CS:GO item, but the item in the trade box is of a lower quality. Often the item switch is made in a counter-offer.
A user offers a trade that includes a lot of your low value items (cards, crates, etc.), but also includes a high value item hidden somewhere in the middle.
A user spams trade offers requesting high value items for nothing or little in return in hopes that you mis-click and accept the offer.
Please click here to learn how to report a scammer.
A user attempts to convince you that in order to get an item from them, you must complete a portion of the trade outside of the Steam trade window.
A user convinces you to forward your confirmation email to their email address. They then confirm the trade using the link in the message.
A user offers to send you money in the form of PayPal, PaySafeCard, Steam Wallet codes, etc. The scammer usually sends you a fake payment code after the trade is completed.
A user offers to send you a game’s CD Key in exchange for your items. The scammer usually sends you a fake CD Key after the trade is completed.
A user offers to duplicate your items, but first you have to trade away your items. After receiving your items, the user blocks your messages and keeps your items.
A fake gambling bot tells you that you have won an item jackpot, but in order to receive the items, you must first accept their trade offer. After receiving your items, the user blocks your messages and keeps your items.
Please click here to learn how to report a scammer.
A user wants you to trade an item to a known friend for verification. The user will give a made-up excuse to convince you to do this, such as needing to make sure the item is not a duplicate or to ensure the item is not bugged. The user will then spoof (impersonate) your account and requests that your friend return the item.
A user request to use a middleman to make a trade and a fake middleman (impersonating a known middleman) takes the items.
A user requests to use a middleman to verify the quality of an item or to ensure the item is not a duplicate. After you trade the item to the middleman, the item is not returned.
A user impersonating a trading website bot or Valve/ Steam representative requests that you trade your items to so that they can verify that the items are not duplicates. The message from this user usually includes a threat to ban your account if you do not comply.
Please click here to learn how to report a scammer.
A user offers to send you Steam Wallet funds by buying one of your low value items at a high price in the market. Most of these offers are done using fraudulent funds.
A user will offer you a trade but only if you trade away a “scarce” item that you will need to purchase on the market. The user will usually give you a reason as to why they cannot do it themselves (i.e. the seller will not trade it or chat with them). The item was listed by the scammer using an alternate account at well above its real value.
A user tells you that an item from a game that you probably don’t play or know anything about is worth a lot of money and offers it to you in exchange for some of your items. The user provides a link to the Steam Community Market that shows a similar item worth a good amount of money. However, the item that the user is offering you is worth very little.
Please click here to learn how to report a scammer.
A user includes a fake payment receipt that installs malware on to your computer after opening it.
A user convinces you to install malware hidden in a voice communication, anti-cheat, or other type of software by claiming that they need you to install it so that you can play in a tournament.
A user convinces you to install normally legitimate desktop sharing software or purpose built malware and uses it to take full control of your computer.
A user requests that you verify an item or your account by installing a Steam Guard update and takes full control of your computer.
A user wants to trade with you or wants you to be on their competitive team and sends you a link to a website that looks just like Steam. After you log in (providing the hijacker with your login name and password), you are either prompted to install malware disguised as a Steam update or malware is automatically installed onto your computer.
Please click here to learn how to report a scammer.
A scam is when a user deceives another user into willingly (at the time) completing a trade, market transaction, or sending a gift. After the trade is completed, the person who was scammed either doesn’t receive what was promised, or the items involved are not what was agreed upon.
A hijacking is when an account or a computer is taken over by someone else without the account owner’s permission. This is often done with malware or a virus. In some cases the hijacker will convince a user to hand over their login information by providing a fake Steam or a third-party trading site. Hijackers most commonly steal accounts to gain items or games, and sometimes commit fraud. Hijackers often use stolen accounts to commit more hijackings. In these cases, we lock the account until the rightful owner contacts us about the hijacking.
For more information on hijacked accounts, please see the Reclaiming a Stolen Steam Account article and the Steam Item Restoration Policy.
If you were scammed, please use the Report feature built into Steam:
If evidence exists that the Steam user is a scammer, Steam Support will ban the account from using the Steam Community, including Trading and using the Steam Market. The length of the ban is dependent on the severity and quantity of the scams. In some cases, scammers will be banned permanently. If a scammer has multiple accounts, all of their accounts may be subject to the ban as well.
In some cases, scammers will hijack an account and use it to commit scams, fraud or more hijackings. In these cases, we lock the account until the rightful owner contacts us about the hijacking.
Our community assigns an item a value that is at least partially determined by that item's scarcity. If more copies of the item are added to the economy through inventory rollbacks, the value of every other instance of that item would be reduced.
We sympathize with people who fall victim to scams, but we provide enough information on our website and within our trading system to help users make good trading decisions. All trade scams can be avoided.
A trade ban prevents a Steam account from using the Steam Community, including trading and using the Steam Market. A trade ban can only be applied by a Steam employee. Trade bans are mainly associated with accounts that commit scams.
Upon receiving a trade ban the offending account gets placed into probation as well. Probationary status allows other users to determine if a user has committed scams in the past so they can make better decisions about whether or not they want to trade with previous scammers. Probationary status does not prevent users from trading.
By limiting the provided data, Steam Support prevents malicious users from learning how to avoid getting caught in the future. Steam Support relies on several data points to arrive at a decision to ban or lock an account. Users intent on committing malicious activity, most often done to other users, are constantly trying to gain this data to use in future scams, fraud and hijackings.