Thanks for posting your feelings on this matter, good Boss. I have not been very active in the forums much myself, since the volunteers were retired.

As you also added, in the past the volunteers were more of a stop gap when Valve did not really seem to pay much attention to the Community, as well as suggestions from the mods themselves (they even said they would fly to Washington and have a meeting to discuss it face to face).

But now that they are no more, it does not look good at all for the forums. Heck, if nothing else will show you how bad it is/will be, look at the VAC forum. Hardly any get locked these days, and we know how well that forum was once modded.

@ ЯΣП

I can't say it was the case for this scam message, REN, but sometimes, this results from people clicking on links and then that link installs malware that spams the same scam message to all the friends on that account's list.

Someone on that account clicks on it, and it just goes on and on from there. Pretty sure these are just copypasta, as the good Boss said.

The first three I clicked on are apparently community banned.

Nice, Boss. It's funny how there is almost always other versions out there, other variations of the wording of the scams also.

Like in your VAC scam guide. There are many different versions of the wording, from what we have seen in the forums, and the spelling and use of English in them has even gotten a bit better lately. But the core is always the same, and says the same thing.

Thanks for the heads up, good Boss. I think I saw someone report one of his accounts the other day for pretty much what you describe in the OP above. We will be on the lookout.

Thanks, Bumbefly. Good advice, and I will try to follow what you suggested next time it applies to my concerns.

İlk olarak budozero tarafından gönderildi:

It makes scams easier too, you can impersonate someone much easier. The easy of changing name to begin with is really something that has bothered me.

They should seperate game and STEAM account nicks. People can play as whoever ingame and remain accountable in the community.

That's a good idea, bud. I can't really see a downside to that, unless maybe it just takes up more space in their database, but that should not really be a big deal. So I like that idea.

İlk olarak Quint the Pirate Shark tarafından gönderildi:

You can report it as possible fraud I think.

I thought so, too, but then after that first window, the reporting box limits your choices from there. It's a bit hard to explain unless you just follow the menu, but I found that buying and selling accounts did not fall under any specific catagory. But I tried to find the "closest" one, as I was told once by a moderator to do that instead. But it still worries me a bit, you know. Thanks.

What about users that openly state they buy and sell Steam accounts ? I found it difficult to report such things using the new catagories and reporting system on the profile under "more". I realize that users can be making that up, when claiming to buy and sell accounts, but sometimes there is evidence perhaps and in the way they admit to it, it seems more likely.

I really dislike the fact that there is so much (seems to be worse lately) buying and selling Steam accounts, which Valve expressly states will be suspended. I am interested to hear opinions on this from others. But I do like the idea of standardizing reports.

Making a new post here, so hope that is Ok, as my post above is getting quite long with edits, sadly as new cases come up, but this is a bit of a different issue from the above anyway. Apparently, in some/many of these cases, friends on the scammed/compromised account are deleted. The good Teutep made this post a while back, that might help others with any deleted friends from this scam.

Feel free to pass this on to others that might need help with such an issue :

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/discussions/forum/1/492378806385644508/#c492378806386027594