I tried to upload this to the CSGO subreddit but appareantly trading analysis isn't allowed lol.

I decided I would conduct a little bit of an experiment to see if reptutation on a profile and the inventory that profile holds really matters when it comes to being scammed during a trade.

First I'll give you the answer then I'll guide you through my journey. Here it is:

No, it doesn't. Let my journey guide you and make you more aware of how someone could scam you.

Someone added me after a game of competitive that I had won. He started asking me about trading since he noticed I had a bit of skins. A few days later he asked me if I wanted a good knife and I ofcourse said yes. He asked me for my AK-47 | Aquamarine Revenge (FN) and said he would trade it into a M9 Bayonet | Doppler (FN) within 4 hours. Ofcourse I knew this was a scam but he had a lot of good rep and a rich inventory so I wanted to test out if that mattered in any way. In short, it didn't. https://puu.sh/rjjLX/3d3693dad0.png

I gave him the skin and the scamming began. https://puu.sh/rjjQv/ebcd0e9fb7.png https://puu.sh/rjl3F/711efd7396.png

After he received the skin he knew that I was vulnerable and he wanted more. He decided to try and gain my trust by being friendly and telling a bit about his life and asking about mine. https://puu.sh/rjl9G/f0eb7a1d1f.png

He tried to scam me even more by taking my P90 | Asiimov (MW) and my M4A1-S | Cyrex saying he would get me a better knife. But I wouldn't give him my Cyrex. Eventually he even tried scamming me my knife but I wouldn't be that stupid to do it. He then said my P90 was enough to get a better knife than the one he first promised I would get. I gave him that since I didn't really need it in the first place and wanted to continue testing. https://puu.sh/rjlcr/ac49d64c0b.png https://puu.sh/rjlcr/ac49d64c0b.png (You can see him trying to bond up a little more with me)

He had gotten what he wanted and knew I wasn't gonna give him more so he made his profile private and removed me. He probably even blocked me at that. https://puu.sh/rjlgd/7b62c322c0.png

I don't have screenshots of his inventory and the reputation he had received but I'll leave his profile link so if he makes it public again you can see for yourself. He had a M4A4 | Howl (MW), an AWP | Dragon Lore (BS) and a couple of knifes and some other skins that were worth quite a bit. He also had about 12 pages of +rep posts.

Here's the link to his profile: https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/profiles/76561198121045672 You already know not to trust him if you ever see him :P. And if he does make it public again you can check the rep and inv for yourself.

Just a disclaimer I would like to make before ending the post: I knew he was going to scam me but with that rep and such an inventory I wanted to see if that mattered at all. I'm not mad, and I don't really care. Just let this be a lesson if ever someone would approach you with such an offer, or read the chat and analyze how he worked so you can spot a scammer on first sight. Reputation may matter in some cases but it certainly isn't a decider to say that someone isn't scamming you.

Good luck trading! - b1sh0p