Help I got scammed ;-;

[Dawny]

TLDR: I got scammed out of my account and all the credentials have been changed. My several attempts to get in contact with Steam Support have failed and I don't know what to do. Please help!


So, I'm on an alt account right now that I made a few days ago because my main account was compromised last week and I haven't been able to regain access to it. Long story short, I realized literal seconds too late that I was falling victim to an "Accidental report" scam, and gave my 2FA code to someone impersonating a Steam Moderator on Discord, before deleting it immediately. I thought I had changed my Steam password fast enough and didn't have to worry but apparently not because I couldn't log back in again.

By the time I checked my email in order to make sure it was secure and to change the password, I realized I was an idiot and should've checked that as soon as I realized I couldn't log in to my Steam Account because I was 14 minutes late to two emails from Steam Support. One stating that my phone number had been removed from my account, and the other saying that my email had been successfully changed and contained an account recovery link to lock the account if that wasn't me. Clearly, I was too late because when I followed the link provided, my account had already been self-locked by the scammer, and all my credentials were changed so I kept hitting brick wall after brick wall in terms of recovering my account. Luckily, 3 days after the incident, the account was unlocked and I was able to follow that same link to lock the account again myself except now I have the unlock code. This is about the only good news I've had with recovering my account so far.

Since then, I've tried pretty much everything I could think of and every solution I could find but to no avail. I've scoured help.steampowered.com and pretty all I ever get is "quick! go change your password!" aka dead ends for my situation. One thing I've yet to find though is how to submit a ticket!! Somebody, please tell me!! I obviously can't submit a ticket with my main account because I cannot log in and I can't submit a ticket with this account because "It looks like you are currently successfully logged into your Steam account: dawny_games." It's very frustrating.

I have had several friends, family, and even acquaintances report my main account as compromised, as well as reporting it myself on this account so I can provide my side of the story and try to get in contact with Steam Support in any way that I can. I have also tried emailing [e-mail] (which is an email I got from my friend who was trying to help me, but I'm pretty sure I saw it displayed on the website somewhere as well) but all three of my emails failed to send. I just kept getting replies from [e-mail] and I don't know if it's something I'm doing wrong on my part or if that support email just isn't a functioning one. (I also tried emailing from two different accounts).

I also dug up and dialed Valve's number (425 889 9642) to try and get in contact with a Support Agent of any kind but it's just an automated voice directing me back to help.steampowered.com like everything else.

At this point, I don't know what to do. I know I can prove that I'm the owner of the account if I could just get in contact with Steam but everything I've tried has failed. Can somebody please tell me what I can do to get my account back and/or get in contact with Steam Support/Send a ticket?

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

When your account get hijacked, and password, or email get charged, you're given an email no matter what which you follow that link to lock your account, this stop the hijacker from doing anything else with your account.

Do the recovery process, choose you do not have access to email, because you wouldn't have access to email that has been changed on the account. If it ask to provide proof like PayPal, or filling in details such as credit card, you can do that, and it should give you options to recovery your account, then all you have to do is unlock your account with the code you got when you locked it.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6416-FHVM-3982&l=english


If you can't do those simple steps, than you need to contact support, by filling out the account recovery form, and provide details that support ask from you. To do search by account login name, put in fake email that doesn't exist, it will fail the search, and a blue box appar proving you an option to search by account name, put in your login name, and it should bring up your account, then click on do not have access to email, same with forgot password, and you should be at the form to fill out.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5421-QTFB-3090

Follow these steps to secure your account after you got it back, don't skip any.
1. Scan for malware https://www.malwarebytes.com/
2. Deauthorize all other devices https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage
3. Change passwords from a 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)

Most common reason people get accounts hijack for any service really are as followed.
- Sharing account infomation with others. <--- Very common with impersonators, pretending to be Steam admin / support.
- Logging in on phishing sites. <--- Very common with skin gambling sites.
- Downloading / Installing Virus / Keylogger on your system.
- Using public devices that has keyloggers, such as cyber cafe, school computers, and etc...
- Storing your login credentials on a unsecured service that others has access to view.
- Using same login credentials for all your things, or using same login credentials on another service that had a data leak. Yes it does matter because even if it not related to Steam, if using same login credentials, hijackers will try to use those credentials to see what services you use with those credentials. https://haveibeenpwned.com/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9TRR6lHviQc

Steam support will not return your traded items.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9958-MJDG-3003

[Elucidator]

How did he convince you he was a Steam Moderator, on Discord?
Sorry, I'm just in disbelief someone fell for a trick like that.
It must have been strong evidence.
also, read these articles: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_cat.php?s=4c0c7dbee17a0ed05416f0b5203258fd&id=94

Edit:
Its not just phishing, its also social engineering.

phishing is just the website aspect, for example, they trick you into thinking its steampowered, and they take you to steampovvered ... e.e;
(you can obviously tell from the registered web address, if something is odd. Make sure you read it carefully, not quickly because your eyes may see a v for a w for example.)
in case of discord, I suspect they send you a photoshopped image or one of an actual steam moderator.
but... you know, if you send a troll face to someone, it doesn't mean its a photo of you, or that you made it. So there has to be more to it, I hope.
Did they have an indian accent?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9rMUqHB9xg

Also read this post: https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/2850173019346990751/#c2850173019349258116

[Dawny]

Thank y'all, I'll follow those steps and update you on if It works or not.

Also in response to Elucidator's question, I don't blame you because I still can't believe I fell for it myself tbh. He kind of caught me at a bad time though when my dumbass had just woken up (at 5pm smh) and I checked my phone and saw that someone I'd never seen before had dmmed me asking to talk about something important. I said sure and then I got out of bed to take out my dogs and as I was doing that he was saying how he accidentally reported my account instead of another one for illegal purchases and that he was sooo sorry because now my account was in danger of being permanently suspended. He told me that he tried to resolve the issue but the moderator wouldn't listen and that I needed to talk to him myself in order to prove that I didn't do anything wrong. Meanwhile, I literally texted my friend as it was happening and was like *I hope this is a prank or scam* because I didn't want my account to be banned for something I didn't even do. Careful what you wish for I guess lmao.

So I asked him what I needed to do to resolve the situation and he sent me a link to the Steam Moderator Christen's Steam profile and told me to talk to him. I briefly looked through his profile and he looked legit since he had the Valve Employee badge, Valve group, regular comments from years ago, etc. So I was like alright this seems fine and sent him a friend request. Uh oh! His friends list is full. So I go back to the guy and tell him that his friends list is full and ask if there's another way to get in contact with him. Then he gives me his "Discord" and here enters the impersonator. Who is probably just the same dude on a different account. So I friend request the scammer impersonating Christen and he accepts in the next minute or two and messages me "Good day. This is christen your Steam support how may I help you?" so I explain the situation and he replies back that he got the report on my account or whatever and he sends a picture of my Steam account that I now know was doctored. It was from a moderator's point of view with some SteamRep Checker thing and a menacing "Confirm Ban Report" button on the right. It was mainly the fact that his Steam profile seemed alright and that screenshot that made it believable enough to turn a blind eye to all the fishy stuff going on that in hindsight is very clear and was also weird at the time but I was groggy and had to pee and didn't know what was going on :')

Basically, that's why I believed him long enough to get scammed into sending my 2fA code for 2 seconds before I deleted it. Still beating myself up over it but I suppose it can happen to anyone under the right circumstances.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Look how much you have to type.

Because, the pattern of scam:
Bait, story, steps

[Dawny]

Yeah it's honestly ridiculous

[Elucidator]

SteamRep checker is not an official tool and in a lot of cases useless.
next time just check these things at least (the legicy of a tool)
if you're not certain, then you can ask things like "Why are you using a tool made by, instead of one by Valve?"
maybe they have a reason.
you can also ask: "why are you using a tool designed for firefox in the chrome browser?"
or "why use a third party site (steamrep) to check reputation?"
...there are probably other points
for example, a "confirm ban button" is... suspicious on its own, especially when it is not using the regular fonts of Steam.
Have you ever seen a moderator panel on a forum? If anything it should be somewhere there, not next to a report in a list.

Lastly, do you know how bans are usually made by admins of a larger community?
Usually, its not that easy. It maybe with a simple forum, but with a community, a website, its--... difficult. They have to scim through things since usually a ban requires setting up stuff more than just a flag that makes the message "this account is banned" appear, and its not automated for reasons. For example, they need to write a report with the actual owner's data of that account (for reasons like them making a second account maybe later), as well as exact reasons.
On servers, usually before a ban is completely affective there is a period where the ban is usually only user sided.
It's kinda like banning someone from your minecraft server, you use a command to ensure he doesn't simply log in anymore, but that doesn't really mean he can't visit the forums anymore, or your website or.... e.e;
community bans are kinda huge.
Although yes technically it could be compiled to a one click system, it would diffidently have other options in a list. such as Private Message, Warn, Thank, ... idk.

just a single button sounds too suspicious at least, especially with the confirm word before it.
Likely such option would be called 'Ban user', not 'confirm ban report'. I mean that has been a standard.
though I guess with a large company like valve they may go for formal. (apply) "community access ban (or prohibition)" or something.

edit: confirm is something you do with things you read. (you tell someone else you read it)
... him pretending to be an admin, at the very lleast should have used apply or something. xd
I mean confirm sounds like he has less rights and someone else already banned him.

I can understand you don't really think about this, but the best thing you could ever do is ask: "Can you not remove one of your friends so we can chat through Steam?"
or "Can we not have a chat session in Steam thanks to group chats?"
I guess you believed the image somehow, but... remember, deepfakes, photoshop.
you have probably seen politicians sing "dame da ne" in memes. xd

[Dawny]

Thank you for the information. I'll keep that in mind if I ever run into another scamming situation like this. As you said I don't really have a lot of knowledge regarding administrative permissions and things like that so I was probably an easier target to trick. I did ask him if there was anyone else that could confirm what he was saying after things became quite obviously fishy and weird when he started asking for unnecessary personal information but at that point it was too late and he just deflected the question anyway with nonsensical points about why he needed the information.

Also an update on the situation, after following Dr. Shadowd's steps I somehow ended up at the support ticket page and was able to submit one!! I'm not sure how I didn't land on the page before because I went the same route multiple times but maybe I missed a tiny step in between? Anyways, I will let y'all know when/if Steam responds, and thank y'all for the help so far. :)

[Dawny]

I regained access to my account! Thank you everyone so much for all of your help, y'all are lifesavers. <3

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Originally posted by Dawny:

I regained access to my account! Thank you everyone so much for all of your help, y'all are lifesavers. <3

Glad to hear.