Can gifted CD keys hack your account?

[Kittles]

A couple times I have been given CD keys by people on my friends list to activate games on steam. They seem legit and I have entered the keys but never installed the games because it seems way to easy for someone to just gift a game and it work perfectly. It's now in my library and steam seems to say I have it as a game

Is it possible to be hacked like that? Or have your account stolen. Im way too cautious

[gwait]

No.

[🜂∴🜏 Cassie]

Even if you got the key from a giveaway, no one can gain access to your account based on the key alone.

The only annoying thing that could happen is people trying to "locate" the account that the key belongs to, causing emails to be sent to you informing you of such.

[Teksura]

This is a complicated matter. First, look at this: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5421-QTFB-3090



Those CD keys you're talking about are Retail CD Keys, and do count as valid proof of ownership. In theory, someone could hand you a key and then try to use that retail key as proof of ownership in an attempt to get Valve to hand over the account as a lost or forgotten account. This is why many sites such as Humble Bundle offer gift links, so that the person giving the gift can't see the CD key.



The reality of the matter is a little more tricky, because older proof of ownership is more powerful than newer proof. So if you have older CD keys or credit card information, you would be able to regain ownership by disputing it.



All of that said, I've never personally had to recover my account in that way and have no idea how the process actually plays out. They might also need some means of identifying the account specifically, such as the name used to log in, or the original email.

[🜂∴🜏 Cassie]

Автор сообщения: Teksura

This is a complicated matter. First, look at this: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5421-QTFB-3090



Those CD keys you're talking about are Retail CD Keys, and do count as valid proof of ownership. In theory, someone could hand you a key and then try to use that retail key as proof of ownership in an attempt to get Valve to hand over the account as a lost or forgotten account. This is why many sites such as Humble Bundle offer gift links, so that the person giving the gift can't see the CD key.



The reality of the matter is a little more tricky, because older proof of ownership is more powerful than newer proof. So if you have older CD keys or credit card information, you would be able to regain ownership by disputing it.



All of that said, I've never personally had to recover my account in that way and have no idea how the process actually plays out. They might also need some means of identifying the account specifically, such as the name used to log in, or the original email.

They do ask for the original email (or the earliest one that the user can remember).

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/867362133829606752/8F04FCFC80A9E0D8412EE6D54C14DA39B0B7EAB4/

I had to look through that process a few times when helping a few people and while making a guide regarding account recovery.

[gwait]

Автор сообщения: R Λ i D Ξ N

They do ask for the original email (or the earliest one that the user can remember).

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/867362133829606752/8F04FCFC80A9E0D8412EE6D54C14DA39B0B7EAB4/

I had to look through that process a few times when helping a few people and while making a guide regarding account recovery.

And that's also the physical retail CD key (hence why they ask you to attach an image) & same is outlined in the support article.

[Kittles]

Woah they do ask for a decent amount. Thank you, I've been really worried