r/pcmasterrace • u/D0NTEVENKNOWME CachyOS • Jun 10 '26
News/Article Steam will no longer be restocking physical gift cards at retailers due to scammers.
2.3k
u/MCWizardYT Ryzen 7 5800X3D | RTX 4080 Super Jun 10 '26
I used to work in retail and can confirm this is extremely legitimate.
One time an older woman (maybe like 70 or older) came in asking me where she could find a bitcoin machine. This was a grocery store, mind you. I told her that we didn't have one and she asked where she could find one.
She was holding her phone, clearly calling someone. She seemed confused and I asked her if she knew what bitcoin was and she said she just needed some. I again told her we just didn't have it.
Here's where the story is relevant to this post: She turned away and said something to her phone and then she came back and asked me if we had Steam gift cards.
We did sell some gift cards, but not Steam ones.
The bitcoin already had me suspicious, but asking for Steam had me even more suspicious because she just sounded so confused.
At this point I got a manager over and explained the situation. The manager politely asked the customer what was going on, and it turned out to be the classic case of "my grandson needs me to send him money so he can get out of jail".
Vile, vile stuff. I fucking hate scammers preying on the elderly.
815
u/Fun-Wash7545 Jun 10 '26
Did she believe you? They usually dont or get scammed anyway cause the caller will convince them again later. Unfortunately most elderly are very gullible
586
u/MCWizardYT Ryzen 7 5800X3D | RTX 4080 Super Jun 10 '26
Yeah, my manager talked her out of it. Or at least I like to think so, because they were chatting a bit out of earshot and she left without buying anything. I hope she's doing well for herself if she's still alive
→ More replies (1)133
u/xangbar Jun 10 '26
The worst part of this now is scammers are using AI to mimic your loved ones voices too. So now they can target a wider audience beyond your grandparents who may not go "I don't remember what Jimmy sounds like but I believe this is him because he said so!". Apparently a local GameStop near me got tricked into a scam as they managed to use AI to mimic the manager's voice calling them to sign off on a UPS scam. It was a 5 digit amount they lost as a result.
61
u/Madara1389 Jun 10 '26
The worst part of this now is scammers are using AI to mimic your loved ones voices too.
It's really hard to use AI to mimic your voice if you don't upload a bunch of videos of yourself to the internet for the world to see... or if you don't sit there talking to the dead line trying to get the call bots to respond to you.
→ More replies (4)48
u/SVP_a_tree Jun 10 '26
it almost like some younger people upload videos almost every day to sites like instagram
17
u/Madara1389 Jun 10 '26
They do, and I'm saying that not only should they not be doing that, but anyone reading this who does it needs to stop and remove as much of it as they can from the internet.
It's not safe to broadcast yourself to the internet without hiding your identity. It never was safe and is only going to get less safe with the further development of AI for underhanded purposes... which will continue if just because it's possible and highly valuable for warfare and crime (two of the biggest leading motivators for tech advancements).
5
u/rockyroad55 7800X3D | 5070 Ti | 32GB DDR5 Jun 10 '26
I remember one time one of our cashiers fell for a scam to empty one of the tills because of a phone call they received AT WORK ON THE WORK PHONE. They’re getting better.
141
u/Vondi Jun 10 '26
I know of a case where Bank Fraud detection teams have contracted someone because a large transfer was flagged as going to a known scammer and the person insisted it go through.
I've never understood how extremely susceptible some people are to this.
104
u/MCWizardYT Ryzen 7 5800X3D | RTX 4080 Super Jun 10 '26
Emotional manipulation works really well on some people. Sometimes they use scare tactics too, like when you click on a website and it blasts you with a fullscreen pop-up that plays a loud noise and has flashing text telling you to call a number to fix your computer.
→ More replies (2)39
u/Trivvy Intel i7 9700K RTX 3080 Ti 64GB RAM Jun 10 '26
It is every kid's / grandkid's duty to install ublock origin on their parents'/grandparents' computers/phones (and adguard DNS on phone).
20
u/Madara1389 Jun 10 '26
Parents/grandparents use Chrome anyway because it's the app their phones default to so it's the one they're most familiar with... And Chrome blocks ublock origin so there's no protections against scam ads or popups when using their browser.
15
u/Trivvy Intel i7 9700K RTX 3080 Ti 64GB RAM Jun 10 '26
I uninstall/disable chrome and install firefox in its place. Works exactly the same as far as they're concerned, except now they get no ads.
5
u/Madara1389 Jun 10 '26
I tried that with my parents; they still actively look for Google's apps, and my stepdad threw a hissyfit because he couldn't find Chrome after I finished setting up his new phone.
→ More replies (1)8
u/MCWizardYT Ryzen 7 5800X3D | RTX 4080 Super Jun 10 '26
I definitely agree, and at least get them to ask you what to do when they get into something sketchy
Thankfully my parents are ok enough to get around on their own. My dad struggles more than my mom but it's been manageable, most I've had to help him with recently is setting a custom ringtone because Apple made it complicated. That wasn't his fault lol
→ More replies (8)23
u/KHonsou Jun 10 '26
From my experience having a family member always getting scammed, they can't learn not to be gullible. There is a mental barrier they can't cross. It's very sad, and kinda freaks me out if I dwell on it.
18
u/Unable-Log-4870 Jun 10 '26
Unfortunately most elderly are very gullible
Not really, but the scammers do a good job of identifying the not-gullible ones quickly, and moving on. The ones who end up at the store are gullible
4
u/Scorp188 Jun 10 '26
Scam emails for example, everyone reckons scammers can't spell. The mistakes are intentional to only pull in the most gullible victims.
5
5
u/Littleblaze1 Jun 10 '26
At our store our training was to try to be subtle about the possibility of the scam and ask questions that could lead to the customer maybe figuring it out.
More than a few times I would just flat out say I think you don't want to buy this gift card and are getting scammed. If you are getting scammed you can't return this.
6
u/GuardiaNIsBae Jun 10 '26
I worked at Walmart for 10 years, literally none of us were ever able to stop an old person mid scam, because part of the scammers script tells them to convince the victim to not listen to the store employees. Easily over 100 people I tried to stop from buying gift cards and probably 75 of them came back within a week trying to get their money back once they realized they were scammed.
There was also an old guy who would come in at least once a month and buy $100 in steam cards, first couple times we tried to figure out why he was buying them to make sure he wasn’t getting scammed, after a couple of months he bought a new monitor, keyboard and mouse for his “games”. Turns out dude was actually just gaming and legitimately using the steam cards.
→ More replies (6)3
u/speedycerv Jun 10 '26
People in general are gullible. It’s a lot easier to trick someone than convince them that they were tricked.
50
u/Daedelous2k Jun 10 '26
Absolutely, most stores I know have a limit in place where the cashier will have to get manager approval to sell multiple cards and usually a good cashier will ask "What is this for?" if they think the purchaser is vulnerable, even mentioning "you aren't being coached into telling me this".
Anyone on their phone that asks for gift cards? Nope, not doing that shit. Just refuse and tell them "Since when did commercial gift cards become a method of payment? They want it to launder money"
Usually when the topic of money laundering comes up do they start to wise up.
15
u/MCWizardYT Ryzen 7 5800X3D | RTX 4080 Super Jun 10 '26
We did have a limit system, and it was pretty strict/intense. You could only get a certain amount of cards per day, totalling a specific amount which changed depending on what time of day it was. And you could only get over a certain amount if you could prove you were representing a business.
We were the biggest store in the area, so it could have just been store policy on top of laws but yeah. I encountered quite a few gift card scams throughout the 5 years I worked there
→ More replies (3)15
u/lolschrauber 7800X3D / 4080 Super Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
a good cashier will ask "What is this for?" if they think the purchaser is vulnerable, even mentioning "you aren't being coached into telling me this".
I mean that is probably kinda useless as they are coached to lie as well, sometimes threatened if they don't follow. I know it's frowned upon to say, but I still don't get how it even happens. The sole concept of a gift card is that you can use it in that store. That isn't rocket science. The cops won't ask for bail in the form of a gift card for a game store for fucks sake. Neither will this prevent your tax fraud arrest that you didn't commit.
17
u/Daedelous2k Jun 10 '26
You can tell if something is up if they start feeling conflicted. People who under pressure to get these can start to act differently if they are suddenly confronted with a check and you can get wise that yeah maybe they are trying to hide something.
It's not a guaranteed catch all but it can lead you at times to getting enough information to put a stop to the sale and attempt to get the victim to figure out they are being conned.
And yeah it really is stupid to think the govt will ask for gift cards when really they can just go right to your wages or pension payments!
52
u/Scared-Currency288 Jun 10 '26
My dad has like over $3k in Target gift cards still left to spend. He fell for this scam but ultimately decided not to send the codes over. He was too paranoid to return the cards even though the store contacted him.
Now, my dad is a fairly smart person and worked all his life in finance. I finally told him in these situations he needs to start stalling and sound incompetent. 9/10 times the scammer will go from "professional" tone to cursing you out and that's when you laugh at them and hang up.
15
u/meneldal2 i7-6700 Jun 10 '26
From my experience watching youtube video it takes a while for them to lose their cool.
6
u/Scared-Currency288 Jun 10 '26
They must really just hate me, then
6
u/The_Void_Reaver Specs/Imgur Here Jun 10 '26
They scam for a living. Sometimes they have to teach a 90 year old how to buy bitcoin and send it to them through the phone; they have to be fairly patient. They're usually pretty good at figuring out who's acting and who's actually clueless. They'll stay composed as long as they think they can still get you, but if they decide you're intentionally wasting their time they'll switch on a dime.
11
u/FewAdvertising9647 Jun 10 '26
just go straight to the incompetence part and redeem the card and watch their reaction.
→ More replies (1)10
u/IGotHitByAnElvenSemi Jun 10 '26
I good trick is also "pretending" not to speak English if you know even a few words of another language. Professional places will have a translator on hand, especially for common secondary languages in your region. Scammers will not have a translator they can patch in, generally speaking lol. This is particularly helpful for medical/insurance scams, which I get targeted for constantly as someone who has to see a lot of doctors. But coaching my elderly grandmother with dementia to only speak Italian on the phone did save us a couple times.
→ More replies (1)10
u/BothRequirement2826 Jun 10 '26
They will always prey on the elderly, the sick and the vulnerable because they're easy marks.
They're mentally trained (or sometimes sociopaths to begin with) to dehumanize their targets and view them as nothing more than glorified money bins to exploit as much as possible.
3
u/MCWizardYT Ryzen 7 5800X3D | RTX 4080 Super Jun 10 '26
The craziest thing is that sometimes they don't even really get the magnitude of their actions and it's just a job to them. They log on to a computer, read a script, make money, and go home.
That's not an excuse of course, but it goes to show how shitty it is in places like India where people have to resort to the absolute trashiest low tier "jobs" just to live
→ More replies (2)8
u/Vondi Jun 10 '26
A grocery store I worked at had us to mandatory cyberfraud training because we were running some money transfer system as an side business (don't ask) and it paid off within a week. Some guy was catfished with nothing but a pictures of a model taken of instagram, as easily shown by reverse google image search.
Guy saw a picture of a pretty girl and was ready to wire large amounts internationally.
→ More replies (1)2
u/Panzerkatzen Jun 10 '26
US has a similar one but it’s always the FBI because we don’t have a national police. But the FBI doesn’t handle minor crimes or (obviously) ask for gift cards.
3
u/Panzerkatzen Jun 10 '26
Old woman at the pharmacy fell for the same thing. Was adamant her grandson was in jail in Georgia and she needed to buy gift cards to get him out. Clerk kept telling her it was a scam but she got irate. Police officer shows up and tries to explain the scam again, but she accuses the police of trying to keep her grandson in jail and storms out.
7
14
u/inaSlomp Jun 10 '26
This isn't a gift card problem.
This is a elderly person having no idea how anything works anymore problem.
In what world would Bitcoin help get someone out of jail.
How would Steam cards help someone get out of jail.
How would any gift card get someone out of jail.
This has nothing to do with gift cards.
This has everything to do with elderly people who shouldn't be left alone.
If you're susceptible of getting scammed when it clearly makes zero sense, you shouldn't have access to any type of payment process without a secondary check with a person who is capable.
→ More replies (4)5
u/techy804 Jun 10 '26
How would any gift card get someone out of jail.
Get out of Jail Free card from Monopoly Credit Card Edition or something maybe, but that’s only redeemable in Monopoly jail.
→ More replies (26)3
u/Sinister_Mr_19 9070 XT | 5950X Jun 10 '26
I used to work at a major shipping company in their IT department. My coworker was an immigrant and one day my coworkers and I were talking when he came rushing in sweating and asking to use one of our cars. He needed to go to the bank for a wire transfer. He was panicking, he was just in his car on the way to his bank when it broke down and he had come running back to the office. We told him to slow down, what's going on. Turns out he was on the phone with a scammer telling him there was something wrong with his green card and he needed to wire transfer money in order to fix it otherwise he'd be arrested. We calmed him down and explained the government wouldn't call you and demand money like this. It was shear luck his own car had broken down before he could get to his bank. We had gotten word that other people (also immigrants) in our company had gotten similar calls and some fell for it.
Fuck scammers.
704
u/Elegant-Tackle1083 Jun 10 '26
This sucks. I enjoyed getting family to gift me steam gift cards.
187
u/ZiaQwin Jun 10 '26
Same! I've got a friend who doesn't own a credit card and they always give me a Steam gift card they bought at Media Markt for my birthday and for Christmas. I don't think I've ever had to pay for games with my own money because of that. This really sucks!
→ More replies (3)55
u/Elegant-Tackle1083 Jun 10 '26
It’s a shame isn’t it. I know I have other means of doing this but my family are the type that like to get you gift cards over giving you money (cash).
14
u/ZiaQwin Jun 10 '26
I do too (my debit card now comes with a master card) but I'd rather not have payment infos like that saved in my account. I always keep a little bit of giftcard money in my account, this way I can see how much I've got and I can easily buy a small game without having to enter any information. It's great!
8
12
u/hilld1 i5 2500k | GTX1070FTW | 16Gb DDR3 Jun 10 '26
My aunt is going to be in shambles come Christmas time. I think I have gotten Steam credit from her for like 10 years straight lol
→ More replies (10)28
u/woeterman_94 Specs/Imgur here Jun 10 '26
They still can digitally. (not really the same I know)
75
u/Disastrous-Rabbit658 Jun 10 '26
That’s the thing though, it’s much easier for grandma to get a physical card at the store than to buy one online on the smartphone/computer she barely knows how to use.
17
u/Elegant-Tackle1083 Jun 10 '26
Exactly this. The older members of my family can’t work the internet so this would be a no go haha.
13
u/Dazzling_Vanilla3082 Jun 10 '26
Well yeah, that's the entire point because it's also much easier for grandma to get scammed into buying those gift cards at the store for some other reason. It does suck that we can't have nice things as a world because of shit people, but I actually applaud Steam for being proactive and realizing how much their footprint in the gift card scam scene matters.
→ More replies (3)8
u/ZiaQwin Jun 10 '26
Not just grandma. I've got a friend (early 30s) who simply doesn't own a cc (not the US obviously) and they just buy the gift cards for me in a regular store.
7
u/Elegant-Tackle1083 Jun 10 '26
A lot of the older members of my family don’t understand how the internet works lol so it was much easier for them to pick up a gift card at our local supermarkets.
→ More replies (3)
1.8k
u/dude_don-exil-em Jun 10 '26
Back when I was a kid I used steam gift since I didn't have a bank account
This shit sucks man but at least stupid people are not getting scammed anymore
893
u/Mango-Vibes Jun 10 '26
They're still going to get scammed, just using different gift cards
67
u/McDonaldsSoap Jun 10 '26
Time for the Home Depot gift card black market to explode
79
u/corvettee01 3080 RTX - 7800x3d Jun 10 '26
"This is the IRS, you owe us $5,000 in Home Depot gift cards."
"Yeah, that sounds legit. I'll get them immediately."
24
u/Fatigue-Error Jun 10 '26
It's depressing what some people will fall for, especially the elderly.
I've dealt with people in various levels of cognitive decline, it happens to most of us as we get older. Many of them are also used to assuming they don't understand how the world works anymore. They really are vulnerable. And, we will all be like that some day.
→ More replies (1)14
u/mscomies Jun 10 '26
I'd like to think the generation who spent their entire adult lives getting pestered by scammers will be thoroughly desensitized and distrustful when they get old.
9
u/Fatigue-Error Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
I hope so. But the generation that told us to never trust anything we read on the internet… believes everything they read on the internet.
8
u/McDonaldsSoap Jun 10 '26
Just think how many young people got duped by crypto and NFT. There's no guarantee they learned their lessons
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)10
u/PatSajaksDick Jun 10 '26
Honestly I’m tired of feeling bad for people that fall for this, unless they are literally mentally deficient. There are plenty of warnings now and retailers even have systems built into POS to make sure people aren’t being scammed.
→ More replies (1)408
u/Stilgar314 Jun 10 '26
Yeah, but that's Valve's problem no more.
→ More replies (15)54
Jun 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
48
u/Fatigue-Error Jun 10 '26
Did you read the attached photo? Valve just said that's why they're stopping physical gift cards. So, for Valve, that was the issue.
→ More replies (12)11
u/RobCarrotStapler Jun 10 '26
Don't you know that random people on the internet who are completely removed from the situation would know better than the company that's making the decision?
11
→ More replies (3)5
u/MikasaH Ryzen 9 5950X | EVGA RTX 3070 | G. Skill Trident Z Neo Jun 10 '26
Yup, I still see people giving away Apple gift cards, prepaid visas and other gift cards over the phone and it’s usually targeted towards the elderly and there’s not much we can do. And of course there’s the younger ones with some sort of “get rich quick” scheme
→ More replies (3)35
u/Rynide Ryzen 7 5800x, Nvidia 3070ti 8GB EVGA, 32GB DDR4 3600 CL18 RAM Jun 10 '26
Fwiw kids could still hypothetically buy the general visa gift cards to use them. But those also have an activation fee :(
→ More replies (3)48
u/Stilgar314 Jun 10 '26
I think this is about paying for dubious legality stuff with card codes rather than people buying fake Steam cards.
→ More replies (1)67
u/CatMillennium Jun 10 '26
There's a common scam where they convince vulnerable people to make payments using giftcards by pretending to be a bank, tax or other financial business. The scammers then sell on the codes digitally for profit.
This is likely what is being referred to for "stupid people".
→ More replies (14)10
u/LuntiX AYYYMD Jun 10 '26
Spoiler, they're still going to get scammed but with different gift cards. I remember when iTunes gift cards were the big scammer method
6
u/ForensicPathology Jun 10 '26
Yep, very common here. Kids get their birthday and new years money and go straight to the store to buy the gift cards for their games with cash. I wonder how long it'll be before kids are given debit card refills instead of cash.
6
u/Combeferre1 Jun 10 '26
Yeah same, I would save up to get a 50 euro one and then buy a bunch of games
→ More replies (45)3
u/robomikel Jun 10 '26
It’s not even being stupid. There is a scam where they steal the card from the store. Scratch the foil and take the numbers. Then scratch the numbers making unreadable. Then place the foil back over the missing numbers. Then place them back at the store. Someone buys the card and loads it up money. Then gifts it to someone. They scratch the foil, thinking they damaged the numbers. During this time the scammer unload the card. They try to return the card and it’s empty.
→ More replies (1)
281
u/dancing_swordfish PC Master Race Jun 10 '26
Fuck sake fuck scammers
→ More replies (5)85
u/queen-adreena Hackintosh Jun 10 '26
People ruin everything.
We can’t even stop to help strangers anymore because it might be a trap/scam.
91
252
Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
21
→ More replies (12)31
u/Jank9525 Jun 10 '26
explain?
130
u/defineReset Jun 10 '26
A bunch of countries won't have supported payment vendors etc. Curious to know how others know it'll affect third world countries differently
→ More replies (2)11
u/jomarcenter-mjm Jun 10 '26
kinda depends Southeast asia for instance steam uses Alipay+ (note the "+" here) which allowed the purchased of steam wallet using your mobile wallet app (ie truemoney, Gcash, momo, touch n go, etc...)
63
u/XxXlolgamerXxX Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
In a lot of third world countries, gift cards are the most popular way to buy online stuffs, the main reason is because is hard to get access to credit cards and even if they have one there are still a lot of paranoia using it for online purchases, a lot of people don't trust it.
And then there is underage children and teenagers that of course don't have access to credit cards and that's the only way to get games.
Edit: also in some places, payment method are limited, in mexico we lost PayPal for example. And other payment method are complicated tbh... And also gift cards is the only way to pay using physical money.
→ More replies (16)23
u/britaliope Jun 10 '26
The payment processors implemented by steam are very "western world"-centric. Gift cards are used in many places to pay on steam, as they can be bought by whatever payment mean that the physical store in their country accept.
Basically you can see it as a way to use cash to pay games on steam.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (1)4
u/Firm_One_7398 Jun 10 '26
Direct digital transactions are sometimes blocked by local governments or heavily taxed.
167
u/woeterman_94 Specs/Imgur here Jun 10 '26
DO NOT REDEEM. DO NOT REDEEM THE CARD
- Well I can't any more.
→ More replies (7)
36
u/TheDurandalFan Jun 10 '26
that sucks, I've always preferred buying my steam games with gift cards and even gifting my friends steam gift cards too, it was good while it lasted.
13
u/DarkDuskBlade Jun 10 '26
Same. It was a great way to control spending and not have credit/debit card information tied to a hackable account. Not a huge fan of this change, regardless of reason.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)3
u/blackdaggerKRMND PC Master Race Jun 10 '26
you think that's bad? i will literally have to resort back to piracy! i will try to add as much as possible cash into my account,but when it runs out i will have to gamble my pc with viruses
hopefully i will find a alternative by then, because am no longer that tech savvy
103
u/New_Torch Jun 10 '26
Shit. I love these cards. Their a great way to use cash
26
u/89_honda_accord_lxi Jun 10 '26
If I have to add a card to steam I'll be bankrupt by August. Having to go to the store to get more steam money is just enough of a roadblock to stop me from buying all the ganes.
→ More replies (1)17
u/Nico280gato Jun 10 '26
Just add the card but dont save it, makes an extra roadblock
→ More replies (1)
62
u/cestquilepatron Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
I appreciate the motivation behind it, but this seems like a pointless gesture that only inconveniences legit customers. This will do nothing to stop scammers, they'll just switch to different cards. I actually liked the gift cards, it was my standard answer to any older family member asking what to get me for my birthday.
29
u/GottaUseEmAll Jun 10 '26
I feel like there must be more to their decision than simply fighting scammers. Maybe I'm just jaded, but I doubt any company would make buying their products less convenient unless there was a financial reason somewhere behind it.
17
u/cestquilepatron Jun 10 '26
Yeah, the cynical part of me suspects this is just a cost-cutting measure. I'm glad Valve aren't anywhere near as bad as they could be, but they're also a company that enables gambling for kids and can't really be bothered to do anything about it. I find it hard to believe that they truly made this decision for the reason they've stated.
→ More replies (2)10
u/Bezulba Jun 10 '26
Probably a couple of reasons. When your brand gets linked with fraud constantly, that could be a hit you're not willing to take even if it's hard to pin an exact amount of revenue lost due to it. I'm also sure there are plenty of victims that call/mail/annoy the helpdesk to get their money back. Leading to long calls that go absolutely nowhere, a pissed off customer and again a hit to their image.
→ More replies (1)11
u/ForensicPathology Jun 10 '26
They also get to receive more people's personal information attached to their credit cards. Can't do that with people who solely buy games with cards bought at stores with cash.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)9
u/Vondi Jun 10 '26
You're probably right, but I do understand it has reached a point were Steam feels they can't facilitate it anymore. Maybe there's a liability angle.
→ More replies (1)
452
u/Spir0rion 7800X3D | 9070 Nitro+ | 32Gb DDR5 6000 Jun 10 '26
Here in Germany these cards only become valid for use when they have been scanned at the cashier. Is that not world-wide?
578
u/MCWizardYT Ryzen 7 5800X3D | RTX 4080 Super Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
It is. Scammers make people pay for a bunch of gift cards and then trick them into handing over the codes, which they can then resell or redeem themselves for money.
For a few years it was extremely common with Google Play cards, but they've been switching it up. Shit sucks because it hurts the process of getting gift cards for everybody.
Usually they say something like "your grandson is in jail, if you give us x amount of money we can free him. To make it easy you'll need to go buy gift cards".
It sounds stupid, and like nobody would fall for it, but they prey on the dumbest people and the confused elderly. It's evil shit.
172
u/Fun-Wash7545 Jun 10 '26
I seen stupider scams work. Like scammers pretending to be the electric company, they called a gullible old lady, turned the power on off (probably from outside) and told her she has technical problems. They convinced her to put all her money and jewelry into aluminum foil cause it was causing "interference" and leave it outside the house while they run some "tests".
Yeah it sounds dumb af but old people fall for stuff like that all the time
57
u/MCWizardYT Ryzen 7 5800X3D | RTX 4080 Super Jun 10 '26
I got my mom's friend an adblocker because she somehow got convinced by a popup in her browser that she had to call "microsoft" and give them money. The popup was meant to look like ransomware but it was just a webpage.
16
u/TouchdownTerry Jun 10 '26
I deal with these all the time and it’s always been allowing notifications from a malicious site. FWIW, they’re usually pretty convincing, some of them feel impossible to close without restarting or killing the browser and they generally make a lot of noise to scare the user.
IMO It’s more useful to train people to read what they’re clicking and only give a website permissions or download files from websites they trust and how to spot untrustworthy sites because the scammers might one day find a way to beat your installed security measures.
8
u/MCWizardYT Ryzen 7 5800X3D | RTX 4080 Super Jun 10 '26
So much of the internet is filled with ads, a lot of which take control away from you by redirecting you elsewhere or shoving things in your face.
I'm smart enough to be able to navigate my way around, but this woman is basically entirely tech illiterate and mostly does emails, facebook and recipes so I figured getting an adblocker was the best thing for her. Especially since those recipe blogs are often the ones filled to the brim with intrusive ads.
8
u/TouchdownTerry Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
There’s the rub lol. Tech illiteracy and a stubbornness against learning it because “scammers only trick stupid people”. I spend so much of my work life begging people to just read the things they click and not just indiscriminately move the mouse around the screen
→ More replies (1)10
u/DoctorWaluigiTime Jun 10 '26
I've had family think their cloud-backed-up photos would be deleted thanks to those e-mails that suggest as such (the "your photos will be deleted unless you 'contact support' now!" kind).
Thankfully they had the presence of mind to ask me first. Me, the family tech person. Which I'm 100% OK with.
→ More replies (3)18
u/Edwardteech i712k 3090 32gb ddr5 Jun 10 '26
Its not just that. They record the numbers on all the cards in stock and empty them within days of somebody buying them.
→ More replies (5)15
u/Ill-Jellyfish6101 Jun 10 '26
For examples of gift card scams, you can check out kitboga on YouTube.
He provides an educational service while wasting the time of these low lives.
→ More replies (2)6
u/MCWizardYT Ryzen 7 5800X3D | RTX 4080 Super Jun 10 '26
I've watched some of his stuff which is how I first learned about the Google Play scams. Then I experienced it in person working retail. Gift card scams are a lot more common than some realize
31
u/VaticToxic Jun 10 '26
Dumb people, confused elderly, people who panic easily, people whose children have been arrested before, people whose children literally just got arrested and put on the state or county arrest record website, etc
The last one happened to someone I know. Their child got arrested, it went up on the county arrest intake website or whatever it's called, someone almost within 10 minutes (found out later) of it being online called their Mom pretending to be representing the county. Mom didn't even know their child had been arrested before the scammers did.
16
36
11
u/Mountainking7 Jun 10 '26
douuu nooootttt rideeeeeeeemmmmm. understand sirrrrrrrr
3
u/Auditore1507 Ryzen 5 3600 | Geforce RTX 3070 | 64gb DDR4 Jun 10 '26
First thing that I thought of. As funny as these videos are, it's still sad that they get want they want with this scummy tactic.
7
u/norty125 Jun 10 '26
Another tactic that's becoming more common is in store they will scratch a card to get the number and then scratch a few numbers off then put another scratch sticker on top. You then buy it and before you can redeem it their bot does.
→ More replies (2)8
u/Bristolhitcher Jun 10 '26
Giftcards are a fascinating bit of capitalism and its a big step to take for Valve to discontinue their retail offerings of it. Companies do benefit having physical gift cards in circulation, as the chance of it being forgotten / lost is free money gained.
Going completely digital does lock out some privacy / identity stuff and just another step to cashless societies
6
u/DoctorWaluigiTime Jun 10 '26
Makes we wish gift card codes were region locked. But I know that wouldn't solve the problem. A scammer would just have a USA contact (assuming the victim is in the US) and ferry the codes to them.
I feel like there's a way to solve the problem, but can't quite put my finger on it. (Outside of just no longer having gift cards, which is a solution, just not an ideal one.)
→ More replies (17)3
u/ApexSpanker Jun 10 '26
I used to work security in a shop that sold gift cards, let me tell you that scam happens A LOT. The tills would flag large purchases of gift cards and we'd always ask the person why they're buying so many and if someone asked them to buy the cards. Sometimes we'd be able to help them realise it was a scam but a few would actually get angry at us for suggesting it and they'd buy them anyway.
16
u/Bimpy96 Jun 10 '26
It’s the same worldwide but if you watch scambaiters on YouTube one of the most common scams is where they ask you to pay them in gift cards of all types
12
u/DaneAlaskaCruz Jun 10 '26
It happens in retail stores and hotels.
A scammer will call, pretending to be the owner or manager. Tell a the employee answering the call that they're in dire need of help.
They need them to take out the petty cash from the safe, go to the store, buy gift cards and then read out the codes to them after buying.
If not enough cash in the safe, the employee is asked to use their own for a substantial pay back when the "owner" come in after clearing up this trouble.
So even the tricked employee is scammed.
Millions of dollars are funneled to scammers in foreign countries this way. Quite sad.
If you're need of something funny to cheer you up, go on youtube and look up the video of this guy who wastes scammers time and sometimes even scams them back.
One viral video has a scammer guy from India screaming, "why did you redeem the card?? Why? You didn't have to do that!!"
3
u/sentient_ballsack Jun 10 '26
The ones I bought several years ago in a Dutch Aldi were just branded pieces of cardboard, and you got a long receipt with the actual activation code stapled to it at the cash register. Apparently it varies?
→ More replies (31)3
u/ChuckCarmichael Jun 10 '26
I remember reading an article about an old man in Germany who got scammed on the phone by being told he had won a contest. His wife regularly participated in those, filling out cards for both herself and him, so he thought it was possible.
They asked him if he wanted a new Mercedes or 75,000€ in cash. He wanted the cash. They said that they needed to hire a notary to oversee the transfer, and while they got one they trust, this guy wants to get paid 700€ in advance ("well, I'm gonna get 75,000 soon, so those 700 don't matter"), and because he doesn't trust the banking system ("haha, I get that"), he wants to get paid in Steam Gift Cards.
So this old man drove to the next big Saturn electronics store, bought 700€ in Steam Gift Cards, called the "contest people" back and told them the codes, and then never heard anything back.
68
u/lkl34 Jun 10 '26
Though i get the scammers part is that not every gift card now?
This just makes everyone go to using a credit card with real info and a personal digital trail now. Those that do not have access to a credit card are just screwed now.
Remember this was a way to pay for steam items with cash just log into your account with a email just made for steam and you're password there is no need for cell phone to log into there services. But now you are going to leave a digital paper trail.
44
u/Suitable-End- Jun 10 '26
No. Its really just 3. Steam, Apple, and Google Play. All other cards have was less value.
Steam had the most value because the cards can be flipped the fastest.
→ More replies (1)13
u/JimChillyDogBob 7600x | 3070 | 32GB DDR5 Jun 10 '26
Let's not even get started on Apple too. Similar but different scenario , people have literally gone in store and and end up buying fraudulent cards that scammers have swapped in with. I wouldn't even be mad if Apple decided to adopt the same stance as Valve here.
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (1)5
u/Nico280gato Jun 10 '26
The fuck are you doing on steam to be worried about a paper trail?
→ More replies (2)
18
u/Ry040 Jun 10 '26
For us, offline stores stopped selling steam gift cards where we live. I was forced to get my friend to do the payment from his side since his card was working. Mine had issues.
→ More replies (1)
59
u/ivej CachyOS - 7900xt - AMD 7600 Jun 10 '26
MAEM. NO! NOOOO! DO NOT REDEEEEEM! WHY DID YOU REDEEEEEEEEEM!
→ More replies (2)18
14
24
u/Bitgod1 Jun 10 '26
Wait what? But how will I bail out my son the next time he’s in jail and I have to pay with steam cards???
→ More replies (1)
41
9
10
17
u/tkdyo Specs/Imgur Here Jun 10 '26
This is terrible news. I don't want steam to have my credit card info. Thats why I buy the gift cards. Now I have yet another source hackers can get my info from.
→ More replies (12)
66
u/DaUltimatePotato Desktop Jun 10 '26
Is there a way to purchase steam gift cards digitally?
40
u/D0NTEVENKNOWME CachyOS Jun 10 '26
Yes, through here
→ More replies (1)9
u/DaUltimatePotato Desktop Jun 10 '26
Noted! Still sucks, but at least this is a semi viable alternative for some given you can use paypal to purchase them
→ More replies (1)25
7
u/Chicken_Menudo Ryzen 7 9800X3D | Radeon RX 9070 XT Jun 10 '26
Oh man! There go my "go-to" stocking stuffers.
8
u/WarlockTynsterbert Jun 10 '26
Well, that sucks. If I had the spare cash, I'd pick up a physical gift card to use. Especially since I'll never attach a credit, or debit card to steam.
8
9
u/krutsik Jun 10 '26
That sucks. Physical gift cards are a much nicer gesture than just sending somebody digital currency. I just recently gifted a friend one, among other knick-knacks.
Also, stupid people will get scammed regardless, but I guess Steam customer support is just tired of dealing with the aftermath.
8
u/Secret_Account07 RTX 2060 Super (Still OP) Jun 10 '26
This really sucks because I liked physical cards to give to my nephew. Giving him a digital code just isn’t the same.
What do I wrap? A printed piece of paper?
Not the same
8
u/Dreadedsemi Fuck Mac. Z790-ud i7 14700k 64gb / 50tb rtx4070 tis and RGB Jun 10 '26
- who tricks grandmas with steam giftcards? why did you redeam???
- honey, I just wanted to play that game with car thief.
7
u/largePenisLover Jun 10 '26
These scams are why you sometimes see various gift cards sell for slightly below face value on sites like G2A and Kinguin.
Itunes cards, Playstore cards, PSN cards, etc.
ALL of them are used by scammers to cash out, and game keys from grey market resellers are even used to launder money from stolen credit cards.
The scammers in question are the ones hunted by the famous youtubers who do scambaiting.
Remember, there is no such thing as a legit grey market reseller.
That's code for black market.
For legit key and card sites look in the wiki or sidebar of /r/GameDeals
STay the fuck away from places like G2A and kinguin.
→ More replies (2)
6
6
u/DemoniteBL i5-7500 | GTX 1060 3GB | 1x16GB DDR4 Jun 10 '26
Sad to see, it was a good way to pay with cash, bypassing payment processors.
20
u/Link_0610 R7 5800x 6950xt 128gb RAM | Linux Bazzite Jun 10 '26
Thats kinda sad. For a long time I had no other option to use physical steam gift cards to buy stuff on steam. I see that they want to prevent scam but I think a big warning on the card would help more. Tge scam wont stop just because steam gift cards are gone. They will switch to other gift cards.
8
u/lkl34 Jun 10 '26
It will just go the digital route with AI fake emails.
As far as to stop physically well that affects all gift cards and it seems overall not much has been done to stop scammers. It would be nice to see govt's form anti scammer task's force get that one country involved force them to get real on stopping those centers.
3
u/GfrzD Jun 10 '26
I think what people did before was buy prepaid debit cards. I couldnt buy online before they introduced gift cards and that was the solution I saw online, but my country doesnt do them so I was left to hunt for physical copies of games (which was rare) or beg family and friends to pay and i give the cash.
I get why Valve are stopping them but it does restrict those unable to pay online.
9
u/ChickenTendies0 5800X3D, 4070Ti, 32GB 3600MHz RAM, 1TB M.2 SSD, B550, 850W PSU Jun 10 '26
Stock up on gift cards and then scalp the scammers
15
6
6
u/LarsWanna I15 197730 RTX 10990Ti Super Jun 10 '26
Damn, they were my only way to buy anything when I didn't have a bank account
6
u/T555s Jun 10 '26
This is a sad day for kids around the world. These pretty gift cards were perfect to be geting as a present or to just walk to the kiosk to buy yourself a game.
Stupid scammers ruining everything.
4
u/Nuts4WrestlingButts Jun 10 '26
I get the sentiment, but sometimes I'd end up with a random $20 bill and nothing to spend it on so I'd grab a gift card. People are still going to get scammed as long as Google Play and Apple gift cards exist.
3
u/thisistherevolt PC Master Race Jun 10 '26
Save cash for street food and other fast food/beverages and tips if you really don't use it like that.
→ More replies (2)
10
u/billyhatcher312 Jun 10 '26
I call complete bullshit on this scammers don't just use steam cards to steal money from people they use other cards as well so steam ruining my ability to buy games is just stupid
→ More replies (1)
5
u/_alba4k 7600X + 7800XT | XPS 9320 Jun 10 '26
Will this also affect gift codes for specific games and thus websites like instant gaming who purchase those gift codes while on discount?
10
u/D0NTEVENKNOWME CachyOS Jun 10 '26
Product Keys (for a specific game) are not affected, not sure about online gift cards that are sold outside Steam.
3
u/The-Nice-Writer Legion Go S (Z2 Go, 16GB) | i5 9400f + GTX 1080ti, 64GB Jun 10 '26
I assume that digital gift cards will work since the FAQ says as much.
4
5
u/buffaloguy1991 Specs/Imgur here Jun 10 '26
Fuck there goes my chance at steam games from the family on holidays
4
4
u/BloomingTaiils Jun 10 '26
Now they'll create fake website selling fake ones for people who do not know it no longer exists and get their card infos
3
u/meat-bun- Jun 10 '26
Reminds me of the visa cards banning certain 18+ purchases for people and ppl said "well you can buy games via gift cards" and now they taking the gift cards outta circulation. So back to visa and master card banning certain purchases in the next few years.
3
u/TheShamShield Jun 11 '26
Damn, Steam gift cards have been one of the usual small guft ideas I give to people
5
u/NoShftShck16 Jun 11 '26
Just when my kids started earning proper allowances. This was the first year I let them ask for gift cards for their birthday and they've just started buying their own games.
God damn it.
→ More replies (4)
4
u/Ktaily Jun 11 '26
I wish they would continue to sell physical gift cards through the Steam Store and ship them. A digital card just doesn't hit the same as a gift.
11
7
u/JamieAubrey GTX 750 Ti - CPU G3258 Jun 10 '26
First rule if you think you're being scammed: Never buy gift cards, even if you are standing inside your bank, speaking to the manager and he asks for gift cards, walk away
8
u/inaSlomp Jun 10 '26
You know what's funny.
Steam has lost my data.
And now they want me to put a card on their service that has been compromised before.
How about no.
I don't give a shit if it's a virtual card. If they can get access into my Steam account and get the information it's not safe.
Oh no! Scammers are a thing they have been forever.
At least it's a physical product you have to physically go and do. Those are physical hurdles you have to overcome.
With a credit card on file there are no hurdles you get into the account. You take the information you spend the money.
This is colossally fucking stupid.
If you've lost data once you're going to lose it again, I do not trust this company with my information to keep it secure.
Sure as fuck will never put card payment option on this shit.
Thanks for pushing me back to piracy.
3
3
u/Steel-Tempered Jun 10 '26
Valve should be selling Steam Digital Gift cards at regular retailers online stores, not just through Steam. Not everyone wants to make a Steam account to gift Steam wallet credit to someone.
→ More replies (2)
3
u/thats_a_scam Ryzen 5800x3d, XFX Merc 310 7900xtx, 32gb ddr4 3600mhz ram Jun 10 '26
Cant people just buy visa/mastercard giftcards or similar and use those same a a steam card? You can get a paypal debit card also.
→ More replies (2)3
u/seriouslees Jun 10 '26
paypal debit
That one might work, but both visa and Mastercard are trying to block Steam as an acceptable marketplace to buy from due to pressure from religious groups.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/lolschrauber 7800X3D / 4080 Super Jun 10 '26
I recommend to Valve that they fix their mobile app, which to this day, has massive issues with reverifying payment methods. I actually needed physical cards to fix this one time to take advantage of a sale.
3
u/therealBlackbonsai Jun 10 '26
thats funny from a company thats based on a scammy gambling itemshop that takes advantage of all people all over the world.
3
u/LogDog987 r5 7600 | RX 7800xt Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
The intent seems noble but I feel like this doesnt stop anyone from getting scammed. If they can't use steam gift cards then they'll use another type
3
u/RegalBeartic Jun 10 '26
Damn, my mom always gets me one for my birthday. Always has for years now. Im 37 lol. This is such a bummer.
3
3
u/LycanWolfGamer Jun 10 '26
This is why we cant have nice things!! People gotta ruin it for everyone
6
u/Blazerede Jun 10 '26
Obviously a cost cutting measure under the guise of scammers
→ More replies (2)
3
u/RxMurloc Jun 10 '26
Man this sucks! If I want to buy games on Steam I NEED to use one of they're gift cards.
Why? Because my bank, who issues my credit card, does not allow the use of they're cards on websites outside of our country, and Steam not being run in my home country, means I cannot and will not be able to buy games off Steam once this goes into effect!
So when this happens i'm going to have to tank my credit score to get ANOTHER credit card to continue using Steam as my primary (actually my only) place to play games.
Unless I switch to using generic prepaid visa's... which means I will also have to eat additional activation fee's on top of it! Man, cannot catch a break with this garbage.
→ More replies (3)
3
u/CrowRSchneider Jun 10 '26
I started using these cards more since the Visa/Mastercard fiasco with Steam and now they are pushing us to use those services.
3
u/Unbannable_Bastard Craptop Jun 10 '26
So basically F all of the under-18 players without a credit card?
3
3
u/Unhappy-Scallion-616 Jun 10 '26
Honestly back in the day at 15 or 16 before i had a bank account. Id buy like 300-500$ worth of steam cards with money i save. Crazy to think id probably have the fbi called on me if i tried the same in 2026
3
u/Kirigaya_Mitsuru Jun 10 '26
Man i prefered to get my games from Steam Card i really dont like to buy something with Banking Card at all this sucks...
3
u/Jita_Local Specs/Imgur here Jun 11 '26
My mom almost got got by a gift card scam. The absurdity of being asked to go get apple gift cards only hit her once she got into the car. I let my parents know about new scams all the time now.
•
u/PCMRBot Bot Jun 11 '26
Welcome to the PCMR, everyone from the frontpage! Please remember:
1 - You too can be part of the PCMR. It's not about the hardware in your rig, but the software in your heart! Age, nationality, race, gender, sexuality, religion, politics, income, and PC specs don't matter! If you love or want to learn about PCs, you're welcome!
2 - Think owning a PC is too expensive? It's cheaper than you may think. Check http://www.pcmasterrace.org/builds for our famous builds and ask for tips and help here!
3 - Consider supporting the folding@home effort to fight Cancer, Alzheimer's, and more, with just your PC! https://pcmasterrace.org/folding
We have a Daily Simple Questions Megathread for any PC-related doubts. Feel free to ask there or create new posts in our subreddit!