Steam Fraud Officer

[Dub U]

Hey all, is this a scam? I just got a message from "Kenzie Hughes" claiming that they are a fraud officer from Valve investigating my account b/c of a CSGO skin I bought back in Feb of this year. They were able to change my entire Steam profile and locked all my permissions. They gave me the option of transferring all of my CSGO items to a friend's account or another personal account as they wanted to investigate and legitimize each item in the suspected game (CS:GO).

On Steam's support website though, it states that a Valve employee will NEVER contact you through the Steam chat but they did. They also sent me an email from "[e-mail]" stating that my account has been locked as well. My current profile says that I have been flagged for violating the Steam terms of use and that I am subject to an account ban if I do not proceed accordingly.

Legit or not? Thanks!

[Stabby_Widdershins]

"On Steam's support website though, it states that a Valve employee will NEVER contact you through the Steam chat but they did."
Then it's a fraudster trying to steal your account.

It's right there in black & white: "On Steam's support website though, it states that a Valve employee will NEVER contact you through the Steam chat"

This is so you can safely ignore 100% of all PMs from fakers.

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

DO NOT TRADE ANY ITEMS OR YOU WILL LOSE THEM.

Steps to take NOW:
1. Scan for malware https://www.malwarebytes.com/
2. Deauthorize all other devices https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage
3. Change passwords from a trusted/clean computer.
4. Generate new backup codes for your Mobile App https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage
5. Revoke the API key https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey (there should be nothing in the APIKEY)


Please review how you are logging into Steam, you somehow gave away your log-in information. This could of been due to the computer being compromised and redirecting to a fake log-in, or you using a third party site to log in to Steam.

Once you are sure you have regained control, you can start trading again. Please triple check any trades you make to be sure they are going to the correct account.

After you have secured the account, please edit your profile back to normal, if it was altered by the hijacker/scammer.

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

Originally posted by 76561198013568888:

On Steam's support website though, it states that a Valve employee will NEVER contact you through the Steam chat but they did. They also sent me an email from "[e-mail]" stating that my account has been locked as well. My current profile says that I have been flagged for violating the Steam terms of use and that I am subject to an account ban if I do not proceed accordingly.

Legit or not? Thanks!

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3415-WAFH-6433
Valve employees will never ask you to trade your items to them; this includes users who claim to work for Steam Support.

[Dub U]

So I traded all my items to my friend instead of the "Fraud Officer." Am I still okay? How would they be able to get the items from my friend's account?

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

Originally posted by 76561198013568888:

So I traded all my items to my friend instead of the "Fraud Officer." Am I still okay? How would they be able to get the items from my friend's account?

No, you traded them to the scammer who made an account that looks like your friend. Check your trade history, The items are gone. Secure your account.

[BJWyler]

Because they can intercept the trade, and/or make a fake account to look like your friend's account. Or already have hijacked your friends account as well. This is what happens when you log into third party scam sites.

[Wolf Knight]

Originally posted by Dub U:

So I traded all my items to my friend instead of the "Fraud Officer." Am I still okay? How would they be able to get the items from my friend's account?

they didnt get them from your friends account, your account was compromised. when you made the trade, a bot was monitoring your account and cancelled the trade you made, copied the name and avatar of your friends account, then recreated the trade going to the scammers account.

report the account the items went to, scammed items are not returned.

[Dub U]

Well they got me guys. Oh well. No harm no foul. All the skins I bought in CSGO were from other CSGO skins. It's a shame, but lesson learned. Thanks for the immediate replies and good looking out. I should've been more attentive.

I'm pretty sure this happened b/c my friend asked me to vote for his CSGO logo that he created for his CSGO team.

[Jasung]

Originally posted by Dub U:

Well they got me guys. Oh well. No harm no foul. All the skins I bought in CSGO were from other CSGO skins. It's a shame, but lesson learned. Thanks for the immediate replies and good looking out. I should've been more attentive.

I'm pretty sure this happened b/c my friend asked me to vote for his CSGO logo that he created for his CSGO team.

Dude that sucks. I'm sorry you had to go through that mess and becoming a victim of a scam. But good on you for being really mature about the whole, unfortunate situation.

Make sure to take the steps above to protect your account and also inform your friend of it too so they can take steps as well. Open a ticket and let Steam know so that they're at least aware it (so that data might help them develop better safeguards for others in the future hopefully).

Good luck to you and hope you'll still have fun playing on Steam. Cheers,

[Dub U]

This was the guy. Apparently I've already reported him (probably reported himself to avoid a higher report). Weird thing is that I have two factor authentication so I'm very curious as to how they got into my account to change up my profile in the first place.

[Wolf Knight]

Originally posted by Dub U:

REMOVED

This was the guy. Apparently I've already reported him (probably reported himself to avoid a higher report). Weird thing is that I have two factor authentication so I'm very curious as to how they got into my account to change up my profile in the first place.

remove the link, name and shame threads/posts are not allowed

the mobile app does not stop you from giving away the log in. once they get into the account, the app is worthless. you already identified how you gave away the log in.

[ShelLuser]

Originally posted by Dub U:

I'm pretty sure this happened b/c my friend asked me to vote for his CSGO logo that he created for his CSGO team.

Please make sure to follow all steps mentioned above, otherwise your account can also quickly get abused for scamming purposes.

(edit)

Originally posted by Dub U:

Weird thing is that I have two factor authentication so I'm very curious as to how they got into my account to change up my profile in the first place.

Simple, because that "voting website" you mentioned earlier was a scam site. So while you thought that you logged onto Steam you actually gave away all your login credentials, including the 2FA key, which allowed the hijackers to log onto your account, place the API key mentioned above after which they used to gain control over your account.

Like I said: you need to follow all the steps mentioned above, otherwise things like these will continue to happen, not to mention that if you have any Steam friends you'll be putting them at risk also; because your account could easily be abused to trick others.

[Your Mom's Oshi]

Originally posted by Dub U:

Well they got me guys. Oh well. No harm no foul. All the skins I bought in CSGO were from other CSGO skins. It's a shame, but lesson learned. Thanks for the immediate replies and good looking out. I should've been more attentive.

I'm pretty sure this happened b/c my friend asked me to vote for his CSGO logo that he created for his CSGO team.

Unfortunately learning situations like that happen. Hopefully this has helped you understand scams better so you can protect yourself against more serious ones in the future.

[Dub U]

Originally posted by ShelLuser:

Originally posted by Dub U:

I'm pretty sure this happened b/c my friend asked me to vote for his CSGO logo that he created for his CSGO team.

Please make sure to follow all steps mentioned above, otherwise your account can also quickly get abused for scamming purposes.

(edit)

Originally posted by Dub U:

Weird thing is that I have two factor authentication so I'm very curious as to how they got into my account to change up my profile in the first place.

Simple, because that "voting website" you mentioned earlier was a scam site. So while you thought that you logged onto Steam you actually gave away all your login credentials, including the 2FA key, which allowed the hijackers to log onto your account, place the API key mentioned above after which they used to gain control over your account.

Like I said: you need to follow all the steps mentioned above, otherwise things like these will continue to happen, not to mention that if you have any Steam friends you'll be putting them at risk also; because your account could easily be abused to trick others.

Ah I see. I revoked my API key already and I changed my pass. Told all my friends in my discord and also did a scan with Malware Bytes. Thanks again for all your help guys. Not going to vote for any of my friends work anymore!

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by Dub U:

They also sent me an email from "support at valvenoreply"!

Originally posted by Dub U:

Not going to vote for any of my friends work anymore!

You need to focus on the real signs.

Dont look for things that MIGHT make it legit (.......valvewhatever.......). Look for the things that are wrong. No reply as a domain name....... what a nonsense.
And
its not that you "voted for a friend", it was that you logged into a link or button.
Dont do that, ever.