Did I just get scammed?

[добрый блинчик]

A random guy recently wrote to me and said my account was put into some soon-to-be-banned list and gave me a link to someone named Mr. Sherlock | Executive, who called himself Ben Jackson, an anti fraud investigator. Soon as I wrote to him, he said that I had scammed tf2 items, then asked me for a trade link, and I, unfortunately, gave away those items to some account named Database №2.
He was really pushy about me having to 'buy and then withdraw' (or sth) 40 keys on steamtrader, but at that moment I got doubtful and started asking him about details. That probably got him angry, and he proceeded to 'ban' me.
20 minutes or so have passed, but I see no effects, aside from 25 missing items from my backpack :(

[WolfEisberg]

You got scammed. How in the heck did you seriously think any of that was legitimate? Seriously use some common sense

[Aluvard]

Yes, you were.
Follow steps 1-6 to secure your account:

1. Scan for malware https://www.malwarebytes.com/
2. Check that the email and phone number on the Steam account are still yours.
3. Deauthorize all other devices https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage
4. Change passwords from a trusted/clean device.
5. Generate new backup codes for your Mobile App https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage
6. Revoke the API key https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey (there should be nothing in the APIKEY)

Regarding items:
https://help.steampowered.com/faqs/view/3B6E-B322-2400-8D24

Remove link to profile page and report both of them.

[Mad Scientist]

Publicado originalmente por добрый блинчик:

A random guy recently wrote to me and said

That is where you full-stop and ignore anything in regard to your account, items, "soon to be banned etc". Valve gives you notifications in your Steam Client, they do not personally contact anyone and say theres a "pending ban".

Never believe random Steam PMs or Discord DMs; always report such activities.

Publicado originalmente por добрый блинчик:

20 minutes or so have passed, but I see no effects, aside from 25 missing items from my backpack :(

-Don't login to 3rd party sites
-Remove any API key on your account
-Remove any unrecognized/unauthorized device from your account, if you accidentally get one of your own you can relogin anyway.
-Change your password and make it a strong one.
-Never use your login outside of your steam client for the best security. No 3rd party "backpack", "Trading", "gambling", "skin", "vote for my (X)" sites; none of it.

[Oni Green]

he tried to trick me today, but i realised its a scam thanks to this page. You guys saved me!

[Thiesen]

Publicado originalmente por 神:

he tried to trick me today, but i realised its a scam thanks to this page. You guys saved me!

Please do read the other 4.5*10^34262346345234 threads about scams as well...

[muckymucks]

So many red flags it'd like a Chinese parade. So many times to stop and think "wait, this is weird." And yet you got scammed.

[skOsH♥]

Publicado originalmente por Thiesen:

Publicado originalmente por 神:

he tried to trick me today, but i realised its a scam thanks to this page. You guys saved me!

Please do read the other 4.5*10^34262346345234 threads about scams as well...

I second this. I would advise anyone read up on online scams. But...someone should just be very careful of any website they use first.

If you want to avoid scams on steam, then https://steamcommunity.com is the home website you can login to, and if any website asks for you to provide additional login details or 2fa, etc., then also scam. Sometimes scammers spoof a page into loading completely

So yes please be careful.

[ava.aniolek]

Yesterday I also was a victim of a scam attempt. I didn't fall for it, but even though I was suspicious I wanted to see how far it goes and if I am correct. As long as I didn't put any creditials or clicked any links i was safe.

So some girl from Canada sent me a friend request, and wrote to me with a screenshot of an account. It wasn't my account, but it had my avatar and steamlink was for sure mine. She was claiming that was scammed from this account for $700 in CS2. I have told her I have never had CS2 installed in my account, never played it. She said that OMG probably someone used your account for a scam. I was really suspicious even then, but I went along.
She sent me a screenshot that she filed a ticket against me, and if I want to prove I am innocent I need to talk to some Steam Moderator and sent me Teams link. My 1st question for her was why Steam didn't notify me that my account's been suspected for a fraud. She claimed it is how Steam works, that no information can be send to me so I wouldn't do suspicious acts to insist I am not a scammer (ridiculous... xD).
The Moderator asked me if this account is mine, or if I have some other accounts, and then said that he would send me a verification link i need to click to recover my account. I want to highlight my Steam account was perfectly fine, working, I wasn't banned. He wanted me to logged off steam so he could scan it. The link came. I must say it was really well prepared. It was even a legit Steam link, but the point was if I had clicked it, They could have changed my password and steal my account. I didn't log out, and didn't click the link of course.
I have asked him how can I know he was really a Steam Support? and that I am not feeling comfortable clicking any links. He's sent me his ID. Really low quality image of an ID made poorly.
Then I Googled if this kind of scam was a thing and I got the Steam article exactly explaining this type of Scam. I have sent the scammer a screenshot of it and said "nice try".
Of course the girl who was claiming to be a victim of a scammer was nowhere to be found.

So as a summary, red flags:
1. someone I didn''t know sent me friend request (I accepted because I thought maybe we played together in some game, and was curious).
2. Steam not notifying me that I was suspected on being a fraud
3. Proving I am innocent??
4. My Steam account was perfectly fine, so why to recover it?
5. A link to Teams Chat with a "Steam Moderator" given by a victim, but not in any email sent to me from Steam
6. This "Stram Moderator"'s way of communication was really unprofessional. It is not how customer service communicates. His English was many timres incorrect and informal
7. He was pushy
8. Sent me some ridiculous looking Steam ID that was so low res I coulnd't read a thing.
9. Link I received showed it was sent from Phillipines (I am in Poland).
10. He repeated the same thing that Steam can't communicate with me via email or otherwise so I wouldn't try to do suspicious acts to insist I wasn't a scammer. And talking on Teams with me he will do fair investigation.

I wanted to report on Stream, but unfortunately the account that contacted me is nowhere to be found and the only option I have found was using the scammer account to send a ticket.
So I wanted to share with you my story, so you wouldn't trust any of this if it ever happens to you.

[Glass Mother]

Publicado originalmente por ava.aniolek:

Yesterday I also was a victim of a scam attempt. I didn't fall for it, but even though I was suspicious I wanted to see how far it goes and if I am correct. As long as I didn't put any creditials or clicked any links i was safe.

So some girl from Canada sent me a friend request, and wrote to me with a screenshot of an account. It wasn't my account, but it had my avatar and steamlink was for sure mine. She was claiming that was scammed from this account for $700 in CS2. I have told her I have never had CS2 installed in my account, never played it. She said that OMG probably someone used your account for a scam. I was really suspicious even then, but I went along.
She sent me a screenshot that she filed a ticket against me, and if I want to prove I am innocent I need to talk to some Steam Moderator and sent me Teams link. My 1st question for her was why Steam didn't notify me that my account's been suspected for a fraud. She claimed it is how Steam works, that no information can be send to me so I wouldn't do suspicious acts to insist I am not a scammer (ridiculous... xD).
The Moderator asked me if this account is mine, or if I have some other accounts, and then said that he would send me a verification link i need to click to recover my account. I want to highlight my Steam account was perfectly fine, working, I wasn't banned. He wanted me to logged off steam so he could scan it. The link came. I must say it was really well prepared. It was even a legit Steam link, but the point was if I had clicked it, They could have changed my password and steal my account. I didn't log out, and didn't click the link of course.
I have asked him how can I know he was really a Steam Support? and that I am not feeling comfortable clicking any links. He's sent me his ID. Really low quality image of an ID made poorly.
Then I Googled if this kind of scam was a thing and I got the Steam article exactly explaining this type of Scam. I have sent the scammer a screenshot of it and said "nice try".
Of course the girl who was claiming to be a victim of a scammer was nowhere to be found.

So as a summary, red flags:
1. someone I didn''t know sent me friend request (I accepted because I thought maybe we played together in some game, and was curious).
2. Steam not notifying me that I was suspected on being a fraud
3. Proving I am innocent??
4. My Steam account was perfectly fine, so why to recover it?
5. A link to Teams Chat with a "Steam Moderator" given by a victim, but not in any email sent to me from Steam
6. This "Stram Moderator"'s way of communication was really unprofessional. It is not how customer service communicates. His English was many timres incorrect and informal
7. He was pushy
8. Sent me some ridiculous looking Steam ID that was so low res I coulnd't read a thing.
9. Link I received showed it was sent from Phillipines (I am in Poland).
10. He repeated the same thing that Steam can't communicate with me via email or otherwise so I wouldn't try to do suspicious acts to insist I wasn't a scammer. And talking on Teams with me he will do fair investigation.

I wanted to report on Stream, but unfortunately the account that contacted me is nowhere to be found and the only option I have found was using the scammer account to send a ticket.
So I wanted to share with you my story, so you wouldn't trust any of this if it ever happens to you.

None of this is new and it should be self-evident to anyone who has even the slightest respect for their account.

It is not a PSA! And it certainly is not a tutorial, because it will keep happening to the same people over and over again ...

[Dan5000]

It seems to keep happening to more and more people lately. As if nobody teaches basic internet security anymore...

[Chika Ogiue]

Publicado originalmente por ava.aniolek:

Yesterday I also was a victim of a scam attempt.

It's a well known scam. So much, in fact, that Valve have an FAQ for it:

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/3195-9FFB-BA06-F25B

But as you didn't fall for it, I wouldn't say you were a victim. So congrats on not falling for that scam!

[Sunboychik]

Should I believe him?

[eram]

Publicado originalmente por Sunboychik:

Should I believe him?

If its Mr sherlock you'll need a clue

[Lilim]

Publicado originalmente por Sunboychik:

Should I believe him?

No. It's a scam.