Goblin Merchant Taking Friend's Items?

[skunkswamp]

been playing some matches with friends and we would hand some other items to one another if it works better for the other friend, and when we extracted we got a notif from the goblin merchant saying something about friends taking loot. I checked and a necklace i dropped for a friend was in the service tab and my friend checked his inventory and saw it was forcibly taken from his. I feel like it's an oversight in something, but it can be annoying when playing with friends and having an item they gifted you or vice versa get snatched.

[NME-V]

its to prevent cheaters from getting dropped insane items and then walking through the map. its definitely not an oversight, its a preventative measure.

[Katitoff]

Its intended so team killers will not steal your kit.
I did what you described for friend on demo account as well.

Only way you can give your friends items without them returning to you is through trade, but you need legendary account status for that.