Steam does ask suddenly for ID, if I want to buy a game?

[Blitzwing]

Its very odd, just yesterday I could simply buy games, now it does ask for ID?
like where you life and phone number

Update 27.01.2020
Here is the proof, what steam does request now.
https://imgur.com/a/BPV7ZG8

Some people do "guess" its due to new laws in USA, but I do life in Germany.

There is still no official statement from Steam.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

It's thanks to people that wanted to region hop. So Steam kind of have their hands tied as they have to follow the tax laws, such as ensuring people are not doing tax evasion.

[Ogami]

Originally posted by Blitzwing:

Its very odd, just yesterday I could simply buy games, now it does ask for ID?
like where you life and phone number

There is a thread about it in the German forum. Seems to be new since today.

[Blitzwing]

Its still odd why steam suddenly needs: phone number, name, family name, address, Post Code, City.

And without any official announcement.

[Blitzwing]

And as I check there is no announcement or news, or update.
There is just no official info from steam.

[egon]

Same problem here. No announcement, no explanation.
If it's about taxes, they only need to know the country I'm living in.

[Blitzwing]

The odd thing is, if there are changes like for refunds, you have a steam update or some kind of information.
Steam does usually announce changes, Ok so its not only by my account, so.

1- there is no official information from steam
2- it did suddenly appear for a lot of people

it sounds to me like steam is right now, glitched, bugged, hacked, or something.


So for now I think its better not to give there informations and wait up official statement or update.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Originally posted by Blitzwing:

The odd thing is, if there are changes like for refunds, you have a steam update or some kind of information.
Steam does usually announce changes, Ok so its not only by my account, so.

1- there is no official information from steam
2- it did suddenly appear for a lot of people

it sounds to me like steam is right now, glitched, bugged, hacked, or something.


So for now I think its better not to give there informations and wait up official statement or update.

You can try contacting them if you want an official statement from them.

Steam support > My account > Data related to my account > Scroll to the bottom, and click contact support.

Far as I know this is more related to region hoppers because people trying to avoid paying their taxes, and trying to get games cheap in other regions, and I don't think they're going by IP only, since that make sense as IP is easily spoof, and what region hoppers been doing.

[Blitzwing]

For now I would wait up an official statement, in the past for example Sony was hacked 2014, so criminals did get hands on IDs. Problem is easy to explain, as a company you would


1- Announce officially any kind of changes.
2- do it during working time. We have right now late Friday, sounds not like the right time to make such update.

So for now I think its better to wait up.

[Ogami]

This has been already going on for like a week or so. But mostly for US users.
Since today it seems they expanded it to other regions.
I dont really expect any announcement from Steam, they are the masters of silent implementation.

[Blitzwing]

Originally posted by Ogami:

This has been already going on for like a week or so. But mostly for US users.
Since today it seems they expanded it to other regions.
I dont really expect any announcement from Steam, they are the masters of silent implementation.

Library change was official and announced.
This here is just really weird, as you have zero info.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Originally posted by Blitzwing:

For now I would wait up an official statement, in the past for example Sony was hacked 2014, so criminals did get hands on IDs. Problem is easy to explain, as a company you would


1- Announce officially any kind of changes.
2- do it during working time. We have right now late Friday, sounds not like the right time to make such update.

So for now I think its better to wait up.

That's not really related to this at all, or how it works on Sony, as they never asked for information when they were hacked, and Sony getting hack was something they caught on, but withheld that information for period of time instead of reporting it, which shouldn't have happen, Even Microsoft did the same as Sony as well.

Now I don't believe there should be a scare really, because if you used your credit card on the service, then it's already recorded. If you're fearing an service getting hack, I suggest don't, as you have more productions than you think, TBH all you have to do is check your statements every time when you make payments on them, because sometimes you forget how much you charged your card when comes to all kinds of things, fast food, online orders, and etc... If looking for good credit card company I would suggest one that has notifications for charges, one I have sends an text, and email whenever my card charged, same for my banking, so I know if anything happen, I can catch it pretty quick, I one time had my bank funds stolen due to those stores that used card swipes, instead of the chip, but this was back then before chip was a standard thing so most stores only accept swipes only, and never want to do swipes ever again really, and want notifications as well, so I know if something appar when shouldn't I catch it.

[Blitzwing]

Ok, if there is a new law, it must be than for all companies right?

So I checked GoG, Epic and Origin, they are still same.
They dont need my ID.

Considering we have no official statement.
Seems like Steam is hacked or something.


I am not going to risk my account, by buy new games right now.

[SparkyLab]

Originally posted by Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

[
You can try contacting them if you want an official statement from them.

Far as I know this is more related to region hoppers because people trying to avoid paying their taxes, and trying to get games cheap in other regions, and I don't think they're going by IP only, since that make sense as IP is easily spoof, and what region hoppers been doing.

A steam friend already send in a ticket and they only give a very general answer (We collect this information because your local tax or regulatory jurisdiction requires us to. This is a fairly recent change and Valve can't choose to ignore these requirements.) They can't or don't want to answer why they need phone# and Full Name.

preventing region hoppers and for tax... they still don't need your phone # and Full Name.

eg: country (USA) State ( WA ) Zip Code ( if they are required to pay more tax than the minimum
requirement ) Zip 98001 is for Auburn Zip 98005 is for Bellevue Zip 98056 is for Renton... what more they need.

The whole UK all have to pay VAT (correct?) Everyone in AUS pay GST (correct?) Sso for oversea not in USA they only need Country.

( Not arguing, just want to point this out )

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Like I said contact support, this has been going on for over a week. There's always later sales anyways, like summer sale, or 3rd party retail sales like humble bundle, greenman gaming, and etc.. Try isthereanydeal.com to help find best deal across 3rd parties.

[Blitzwing]

Originally posted by Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

Like I said contact support, this has been going on for over a week. There's always later sales anyways, like summer sale, or 3rd party retail sales like humble bundle, greenman gaming, and etc.. Try isthereanydeal.com to help find best deal across 3rd parties.

Originally posted by SparkyLab:

Originally posted by Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

[
You can try contacting them if you want an official statement from them.

Far as I know this is more related to region hoppers because people trying to avoid paying their taxes, and trying to get games cheap in other regions, and I don't think they're going by IP only, since that make sense as IP is easily spoof, and what region hoppers been doing.

A steam friend already send in a ticket and they only give a very general answer (We collect this information because your local tax or regulatory jurisdiction requires us to. This is a fairly recent change and Valve can't choose to ignore these requirements.) They can't or don't want to answer why they need phone# and Full Name.

preventing region hoppers and for tax... they still don't need your phone # and Full Name.

eg: country (USA) State ( WA ) Zip Code ( if they are required to pay more tax than the minimum
requirement ) Zip 98001 is for Auburn Zip 98005 is for Bellevue Zip 98056 is for Renton... what more they need.

The whole UK all have to pay VAT (correct?) Everyone in AUS pay GST (correct?) Sso for oversea not in USA they only need Country.

( Not arguing, just want to point this out )

Originally posted by Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

Like I said contact support, this has been going on for over a week. There's always later sales anyways, like summer sale, or 3rd party retail sales like humble bundle, greenman gaming, and etc.. Try isthereanydeal.com to help find best deal across 3rd parties.

But why is it only with steam? I mean EA Origin and Epic Store are in USA too and they seem not not have changed.