Keep yourself safe from Scams!

Scam FAQ

What is a confidence scam?
A confidence scam is a trick involving deceit with the goal of defrauding a victim in some way. A scammer may target a Steam user to hijack their account to use or sell, hijack their account to hold for ransom, or gather information from a victim to defraud them elsewhere.

Though not unique to Steam, online confidence scams may target Steam users because Steam accounts are valuable, and if taken over, can give the scammer a way to pressure the victim and propagate the scam further.

What scam types might target Steam users?
Most scams targeting Steam users (unrelated to Trade Scams) involve an attempt to gain control of a victim's account and then hold the account hostage for payment.

You should never pay a scammer even if they've gained full control of your account. You can recover your account from a scammer any time using Steam Support, and a scammer who is already defrauding you is not likely to actually return the account even if you pay. Instead, they would likely just demand additional payments.

How do I protect myself from scams?
You can avoid scams by always remaining skeptical in online interactions, especially those involving pressure, threats, demands, or claims that come from a position of authority.

You should be mindful of unexpected claims made even by a trusted friend, as you can't be sure they haven't fallen for a scam themselves and thus turned control of their account over to a scammer.

What do I do if I've fallen for a scam?
If you've given away control of your account to a scammer, you should immediately take steps to recover the account through Steam Support. Despite what a scammer might claim, you can always recover your account through Steam Support even if the scammer has changed all of the account's information including its password, email, and phone number.

My account has been accidently or falsely reported. What do I need to do?
You don't need to do anything to protect your account from false or mistaken reports. They're simply disregarded by the Steam team.

What should I do if I receive a suspicious message from a friend?
You can use Steam's reporting tools on your friend's Steam Community profile page to report your friend's account as hijacked. If the hijacking can be confirmed, Steam's moderation team will lock the account until the owner is able to recover it.

How do I report a scammer?
Most confidence scams take place largely outside of Steam. To report the scammer, you should use the reporting feature of the platform that the scammer is using to chat with you, and your should also block all further communication.



What is a trade scam?
A trade 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.

What are the best ways to avoid getting scammed?

• You don't need to rush to complete a trade. If you receive an offer, take your time to thoroughly review the contents. Once you confirm a trade offer, there is no way to reverse it.

• Ignore pressure to trust the other user. If you are trading with a user who insists that you trust them, they are probably attempting to scam you. Please note that +rep comments can be generated easily by malicious groups.

• Mouse over every item to ensure that the item/gift properties are correct. Information about the item/gift will be shown in the tooltip, including the quality, name, description and any effects.

• Do not trade items in separate or future trades. If another user requests that you do multiple trades, they could be scamming you. Always insist to complete the entire trade in one single offer.

• Ensure that you are trading with the correct user. Scammers may try to impersonate your friends and other trusted traders. It is your responsibility to know who you are trading with.

What kind of trades should I avoid?
Do not trade for anything that cannot be added into the Steam trading window. The most common examples of these types of trades include:

• Trading items/gifts for money outside of the Steam Community market. You cannot add Wallet credit, PayPal, gift cards or any form of money to trade offers.

• Trading items/gifts for CD Keys. You cannot add a CD Key into the trade window. CD Keys that are offered can be for a different game, fake, used or region restricted.

• Trading items/gifts for nothing in return and expecting to get an item or gift in a later trade. There is no reason to not trade everything in one trade. You may add unlimited items/gifts to a single trade.

What specific scams should I be aware of?

Users should always double check the contents of a proposed trade before accepting, even if that means inspecting each item in a multiple-item trade. Be sure to verify the item and its quality before confirming any trade.

There are a number of common scams users may attempt to deceive you out of your items:

• Item switching - You discuss a trade offer with another user beforehand, and the item they put into the trade offer looks like the item, but isn't as valuable as the original offer.

• CS:GO quality switch - A user offers you a specific quality CS:GO item (Factory New), but the item in the offer is of a lower quality (Field-Tested). Often the item switch is made in a counter-offer.

• Hidden item - 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.

• Begging/spamming - 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.

• Forward confirmation email - A user convinces you to forward your confirmation email to their email address. They then confirm the trade using the link in the message. Do not forward trade confirmation emails or links and do not provide additional information to another user asking for information used for your account.

• Money For Items - A user offers to send you money in the form of PayPal, PaySafeCard, Steam Wallet codes, Steam Digital Gift Cards, etc. The scammer usually sends you a fake payment code after the trade is completed. In the case of Steam Digital Gift Cards, the scammer may even appear to pay you first, but be planning to charge the Digital Gift Card back later or buy the gift card with a fraudulent credit card.

• CD keys for items - A user offers to send you a Wallet Credit code or a game's CD Key in exchange for your items. The scammer usually sends you a fake CD Key after the trade is completed.

• Users offering item duplication - 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.

• Users acting as trade bots - A user impersonating a trade bot(s) tells you that you have to trade them some items. After you've accepted the trade and sent the user the items, they block you on Steam and keep your items.

• Middleman trades - If you are performing a trade that sits within Steam's trading guidelines, there is no need for a middleman. Any time you choose to trust any other user with one of your items, you are allowing them the opportunity to scam you.

• Verification accounts - A user wants you to trade an item 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. These users will then keep your item(s) and block you, getting away with the items.

• Fund transfer via the Steam Market - 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.

• Voice comm software/join our tournament team (malware) - 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.

• Offering fraudulent items for resale - Malicious users will sometimes acquire unusual items (often with fraudulent credit cards) and then attempt to trade them to you for more well known items with established value. Prior to doing this they may also manipulate the Steam Community Market price of these unusual items by using stolen credit cards. Watch out for claims that they will overpay or that you can quicksell (qs) the items for an immediate profit. Consider why the user would be willing to take a loss by trading the items to you instead of selling them themselves. As an excuse, these users will sometimes say they need tradeable keys or other tradeable items. Do not accept these trades as the value of the unusual items has been falsified and the subsequent Market transactions may be reversed due to fraudulent activity.

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.