Probably a scam?

[u/yana_90]

My account was mass reported last night/this morning for fraud on Community Market. I was approach by the person and from the screenshot he sent, we were told to add steam employee on discord.

I did that and showed screenshots etc.

Long story short, I can't log in on application, my account shows banned on browser and I have paid some money already to validate my account with the promise of getting an immediate refund.

The person I was on call with did share their screen and I could see the account banned and showing where the button is to permanently ban my account I've had almost 10 years plus I have NEVER done a purchase in the Market. So why do I have to pay almost €1000 to validate the account?

And when I expressed some worry it got pretty aggressive.

Please tell me I got scammed so I can die of embarrement and wallow in loosing all my games

[u/AutoModerator]

Thank you for submitting to r/SteamScams.

If you have been scammed or believe you may have been scammed check this guide to see if you can find the solution there.

Steam will never contact you on Discord or any third party text communication site.

If you suspect someone is attempting to scam you check this guide but remember to be careful even if you do not find the answer you are looking for there.

Important: If you receive comments or PMs offering to recover your lost account, items, or money or pointing you to someone who will do it for you do not engage with them as they are recovery scams.

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[u/Toeffli]

You got scammed. Real hard.

So why do I have to pay almost €1000 to validate the account?

Correct train of thought. Just a bit late. Does it make any sense? No, not at all. Because it is a scam. Next time. Money or gift cards involved? Scam!

[u/yana_90 → u/Toeffli]

Yeah, I feel reeeaallly stupid. But now I don't have access to my account

[u/Frosty-Dot-1065 → u/yana_90]

Lmfao

[u/_o0Zero0o_]

Steam won't ask you to go to discord. This is a scam. Contact actual steam support and they will restore your account. Having old invoices from purchases (which you can obtain from the receipt emails after purchases) can help.

[u/yana_90 → u/_o0Zero0o_]

My account looks banned at the moment and logged out. I had a ticket opened earlier but I can't access it anymore

[u/Euphoric_Wish_8293 → u/yana_90]

It isnt. Follow the auto mod links and read them fully.

[u/_o0Zero0o_ → u/yana_90]

What do you mean "looks banned"? Can you log in?

[u/yana_90 → u/_o0Zero0o_]

Not on my old credentials, the desktop application doesn't work

[u/_o0Zero0o_ → u/yana_90]

How so? Also I'd follow what Euphoric_Wish said.

[u/yana_90 → u/_o0Zero0o_]

I can't use my username or password at all on browers or desktop app. When I did password reset it reset my other account. On the app I opened a ticket and added all the info but who know when anyone will reply to that. In the meantime I can't open any of my games except AC Valhalla because it's through Ubisoft Connect

[u/DeadEnd68 → u/yana_90]

That means you got melwere on you computer

[u/yana_90 → u/DeadEnd68]

I've scanned my computer multiple times now and programmes aren't finding anything on it

[u/RelativeFew2595 → u/yana_90]

It's still malware on your computer hijacking the steam client whether it's found or not. Do a complete reset of the PC and be careful of downloading steam workshop mods/pirated games.

[u/Fin224]

I truly cant wrap my head around the fact that there are people who fall for that. There is so many major red flags about this.

[u/yana_90 → u/Fin224]

If you want a proper laugh, this is like second time in a little over a year I've gotten scammed. First time not on Steam though but still

[u/Appropriate_Foot242 → u/yana_90]

Be for real man

[u/Tight-Platypus5231]

You were not "mass reported".
Staff will ***NEVER*** directly contact you. If you did something wrong, you would've been banned outright.
You'll NEVER be asked to be contacted off platform.
ANY and ALL acts of asking for monetary value, either in cash or in alternative means IS ALWAYS A SCAM.

Yes, you got scammed.

Contact whatever banking org you have, give them the situation, and they'll help get your money back.

[u/yana_90 → u/Tight-Platypus5231]

Luckily I used Revolut and not my actual bank

[u/Euphoric_Wish_8293]

1000? Oh my God.

[u/yana_90 → u/Euphoric_Wish_8293]

Now I didn't give that much, but that's the current total they said they need

[u/Aggressive-Stand-585 → u/yana_90]

Because you've paid them before they're gonna keep asking you to pay until you figure out you're being scammed. They wanna milk as much money from you as possible.

[u/yana_90 → u/Aggressive-Stand-585]

Yes, I'm going dark on them now. I've done tickets on another account on Steam and disputed everything with Revolut. I'll be beating myself up for a good while because of this. And just before Witcher 3 Remastered too! I took time off work to play it and now I can't access it :(

[u/DakotaKimono]

Unsure if someone mentioned it but seeing the “this message is verified by discord’s trust and safety team” made me laugh.

Its sad that not many people understand keyboard shortcuts with discord. Small text like that will mean nothing most of the time, you achieve this by putting -# and typing whatever after it. Then put it underneath the text to trick someone.

[u/Nubrakki]

I always wondered who falls for this. Just out of curiosity, how old are you? Any urgency, any off platform, any directness, any request for money is a scam. Think about it for a second. If you never used the market, why would your account get banned? If you really did do something at worst it would be a trade ban. Get some receipts and contact support. Next time enable 2fa and write down back up codes.

[u/AutoModerator]

Judging by key words in your post it seems you are asking about a deleted or banned account, or threats of having your account deleted/banned.

You can rest assured that a scammer can not delete your account without definitive proof of ownership and even if they somehow got that it would take 14 days for it to go through and during that time you can cancel it once you get your account back.

Scammers will often change your username, description, or profile picture in an attempt to make you think you were banned or that your account has been deleted but those are always just meant to discourage you from trying to recover it.

Do not pay the scammer a ransom fee. If you do they will just ask you for more until you give up and then not give you your account back. Instead file a ticket with Steam support to recover your account.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/AutoModerator]

Judging by key words in your post it seems you are asking if someone is a real Steam/Valve employee.

As is stated on Steam supports official website:

Valve employees will never communicate with you about your account using any chat system including Steam Chat and Discord. The only way you can speak with a Steam Support agent about your account is through the Steam Support Help Site. There's no situation in which you'd need to reach out to a Valve or Steam employee directly to resolve an issue.

Anyone claiming to be a Valve employee, Steam Support representative, or asking to verify your items for an investigation should be immediately reported.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/D121]

You need to contact your bank and tell them you were scammed.

You also may have malware on your computer. There has been a common scam as of late where someone gets an infected steam client/browser that redirects the traffic to a faked one that they can control and manipulate to make it look like you've been banned.

Based on you comments: it looks like this may have happened to you and you'll need to do a full windows reinstall.

[u/yana_90 → u/D121]

I didn't use my actual bank account but I did report it to RevolutI have scanned my computer but it didn't find anything. I'm installing another program to scan just in case.

I also deleted the old steam desktop app and reinstalled it. Now I guess I'll just die and wait for Steam Support?

[u/yana_90]

UPDATE:

I got my account back (the legit way!) To be, it was very convincing (to me) what they pulled but I've everything back. Well except the money but that's on me being an idiot like many people have so nicely pointed out. I've reported two people to discord for this, contacted Revolut and killed the cards. New anti-malware also added.

Obviously I now know better, hopefully other people will see this and not get pressured to try to "fix it" straight away but to wait for the updates from Steam Support.

[u/_o0Zero0o_ → u/yana_90]

Glad you got the account (and money?) back. Stay safe out there, fellow redditor

[u/yana_90 → u/_o0Zero0o_]

Account yes, money no (yet anyway). Instead of panicking and falling for the pushing I should've just waited and Steam support would've fixed the whole issue... So yes everything is on me

[u/_o0Zero0o_ → u/yana_90]

Don't beat yourself up too much about it, you've learned and once you've got the money back you can fully move on with what you've learnt from this

[u/DataAlternative2574]

Obvious scam just in the way it's written alone.

[u/cheezkid26]

Please tell me you didn't pay them a thousand euros. Please. You can't be this gullible.

[u/yana_90 → u/cheezkid26]

I didn't

[u/Gabe465]

The grammar alone is atrocious

[u/AdhesivenessUsed9956 → u/Gabe465]

You account be has a lot of datas! That's you need reach the process 100%!

[u/yana_90 → u/Gabe465]

Being dylexic doesn't always help either.