Steam's fraud detection platform Report suspicious activity on Steam
Steam's fraud detection platform Report suspicious activity on Steam
So it was a story time. It was December, just before Christmas. I was hanging out with friends when I received a message from someone on Steam – https://steamcommunity.com/id/QueenElizbeth. Maybe it was one of his other fake accounts, I don’t know. He said he’d send me a nice knife for my damaged eh bowie knife. Honestly, I’m the type who gets scammed easily. I had to report him right away, but Steam didn’t respond. Five months later, I tried again, but nothing happened. I figured there was no way to file a real complaint about scams. The system is broken, and I’m starting to think I’ll never get my skins back. We need to fix this part of Steam. Sorry if it sounds like I’m being too sensitive or desperate in this story—if you’ve ever been scammed, you’ll get it.
I've never been tricked but got caught up in the "follow me to wildy for stuff" scam in Runescape (that was a long time ago). I was quickly defeated by several players all because of my great rune armor and finally saved up enough gold. A valuable lesson learned. You picked up a much costlier one, but while cheating is wrong... it's completely normal and you actually handed them your item and clicked "Accept" yourself. Only you were forced to do that. The system isn't broken, people just need to understand how to steer clear of these kinds of situations in the future, which I'm sure you'll now.
I completely understand your perspective. It’s disappointing to see his accounts remain active despite my review. I appreciate the experience, but I’d really appreciate some resolution and acknowledgment from Steam.
Steam won’t ban his account. He didn’t hack into your account or steal the knife; you just added it to trade. He could have added his own item and both of you clicked accept, which is why it’s a two-way trade system. Why would you agree to it if he didn’t add the item you were trading for? Like, did he say he’d trade it tomorrow? If he mentioned it was on another account, just log in there and we can trade—his actions are his responsibility if he moves it across accounts. TL;DR: He didn’t break Steam’s rules, he just made a trade. Steam doesn’t enforce common sense.
I understand I made a mistake. I’m not suggesting he be banned. What I’m asking is for Steam’s support to get better. I’d really appreciate having a Steam representative reach out and say something like what you mentioned.
You should have received at least a notification about this. However, with the large number of users they likely have, their sorting system is quite aggressive. Your message didn’t provide anything useful for them to act on, so it was simply discarded. It’s not fair—we’re responsible for this setup. Imagine how many messages they receive from kids who lost everything after getting a Christmas knife from their family and tried everything to get it back.
He shared additional details and discovered the account he used to defraud me. His "guidelines" were clearly misleading, and here’s the profile link: https://steamcommunity.com/id/ElizbethRe...ng20164123
Really, another mistake from that person I added to my brother's account. They messed with his system and reviews. I’m hoping others don’t repeat what I did.
Well, I'm in agreement. A couple of years ago, I had quite the fortunate moment. While taking a break from studying, I bought one key to the case I already owned just for fun. The Bayonet Marble Fade (Minimal Wear, but with a 0.71 rating) was originally priced around 400$, now it's about 300$—still quite steep. I ended up getting it on sale through PayPal, not the Steam market. A guy reached out claiming he was legitimate, showing his Steam account and several knives. I decided to go ahead, thinking he needed to contact me from another account for security. He eventually sent me a knife, but I never received any payment via PayPal. I reported him, and that's all. He never got banned, and no one ever contacted me afterward. I lost roughly 1600 PLN, which is more than some people earn in a month—back then my minimum monthly salary was around 1350 PLN. It’s a lesson in STEAM support being pretty poor.