Bots that steal posted registration numbers?

[Out Of Bubblegum]

I have seen warnings about how bots will steal posted free registration numbers. But once a code is registered it belongs to that one account forever. The people with the bots want to sell that code. So how do they prevent someone else using the code first? Register it as a gift item? That would make selling the key a little harder.

[Snapjak]

Who says that everyone that uses one of those bots wants to sell the key?

[Out Of Bubblegum]

You think they want to add random games to their library for no reason?

[MalikQayum]

how fast would you need to be to sell a steam key.. that has been public before someone else's manages to activate that steam key...

I have never heard of bots trying to resell public available listed keys.

[76561199000557824]

Bots are greedy

[Out Of Bubblegum]

So they are just doing vandalism? Taking a key that will be useless to them? Just because they can?
sigh

[Karien]

Ppl are just greedy. If you plan of giving away Steam Keys, use anti-bot precautions like small puzzles to figure the full key code out. Or just have ppl request it and you pick the best person after you checked to give it to.

[just.nuke.em]

Originally posted by Out Of Bubblegum:

You think they want to add random games to their library for no reason?

To get free games that they can then use with idlers to get cards.

[nullable]

If you're posting the key publicly you're basically saying you don't care who gets it. Could be a bot, could be a poor kid, could be a rich guy who tortures kittens, you don't know. If you care who ends up with the key give it to a specific person.

[bunder]

Stop posting cdkeys on reddit

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Out Of Bubblegum:

You think they want to add random games to their library for no reason?

Actually. Yes. Because FREE BABY!.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by Out Of Bubblegum:

You think they want to add random games to their library for no reason?

To make them look more like a legit account.

If you check the account and see 5 games in 10 years, your are more likely to suspect it. If it is a 10 year account with 50 game, it is less suspect.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by Karien:

Ppl are just greedy. If you plan of giving away Steam Keys, use anti-bot precautions like small puzzles to figure the full key code out. Or just have ppl request it and you pick the best person after you checked to give it to.

Yep. If you want to offload a code in the public space but don't want it snapped up by a bot, do something like this:-

Sample code: 12345-56789-1(TWO)345

Just a little change that's obvious can stop the bots from swiping.

[Yasahi]

Originally posted by Spawn of Totoro:

Originally posted by Out Of Bubblegum:

You think they want to add random games to their library for no reason?

To make them look more like a legit account.

If you check the account and see 5 games in 10 years, your are more likely to suspect it. If it is a 10 year account with 50 game, it is less suspect.

This is surely one reason. Another reason could be to have games added to the account and then selling the account.

[NeXuS23]

They don't steal them, because what is publicly given away for free can't be stolen.

Those codes also get ninja'd pretty fast by people, and there're also obsessive compulsive collectors who just grab as much as they can completely regardless of whether they ever need it.

So it is very unlikely that codes that are publicly given away like this can be sold before they get ninja'd and activated, it is more likely that this happens with the giveaways where the codes are given individually.

Therefore I guess the real reason for the bots is that these bot operators usually have multiple accounts on which they then quickly activate the collected codes so that they get the trading cards, which they then can sell on the market.

If you don't want bots to snatch all the codes, you should never post the codes correctly formatted on forums, instead simply format them intentionally wrong but so that people can understand or reconstruct them.