People scamming on Discord under Valve' employees names

[Szikaka]

There's a bit of a story here.

Yesterday, my friend got DM'ed on discord by some folk he didn't knew. He stated that he "reported his (my friend's) account for stealing games and duping items", and did this "by accident". He then redirected my friend to a chat with "Steam admin", Verbalhammer to be specific. Said "admin" turned out to be a bot later, but before we established that he managed to convince my friend to send him his purchase history. After that his Steam account was shut down and guy on discord asked him to pay 50$ to "check if account is legit" said that his account will be deleted if he on't pay, which subsequently happened.
My brother tried contacting the "admin" by himself and actually got the exact same messages and responses as my friend got before, to the point of gifs sent as a proof having the same mouse movement, but he didn't send his history and so action didn't progress forward.
I know it's kind of dumb to get scammed, but everything from start to end seemed pretty legit aside from slighty broken english (which I don't speak natively anyway) and that 50 dolar business. Scammer even linked to the actual Verbal steam account.
Here's chat screenshots, said gifs and discord names in a txt:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PKwXgUIvKY4FZzpBrOtpimVqnirqAdN7?usp=sharing

Did anyone else fell for that? And what should I (or rather, my stupid friend) do?

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Yes someone gave money to them in the past, and the same day that person ask on the forum, and I told that person to charge back ASAP as it was a scam. Steam support will never contact anyone period, the only way to ever get ahold of one is by making a ticket on Steam, no where else. Reason why is because scammers have been going the whole 9 yards to scam people, fake videos, fake gifs, fake images bait you with story to scare you, and trick you into trading, or giving something to them.

Now did your friend give any information such as account login details, or visit a link to login on, downloaded something from them? If so then your friend need to follow these steps, if he/she still has access to the account.

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

[Crazy Tiger]

Known scam.

Tell your friend to report the accounts on Discord.

And tell your friend to wisen up. Reputable businesses like Valve don't contact people on Discord, don't need to see a purchase history because Valve can see it all and they certainly don't extort their users like this.

[Edifier]

Originally posted by Szikaka:

I know it's kind of dumb to get scammed, but everything from start to end seemed pretty legit aside from slighty broken english (which I don't speak natively anyway) and that 50 dolar business. Scammer even linked to the actual Verbal steam account.
Here's chat screenshots, said gifs and discord names in a txt:

Really? Sounding legit?

If Valve ever decides to contact you they will do so through their own platform. Much like any other company does.

For example, your bank wouldn't track you down on Discord or literally any other chat program ever made when they want to inform you about something.

Name a company that contacts you through Discord when they want to discuss to you about something. Don't name Discord because for them it'd be like contacting you through Skype or Steam.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Originally posted by Edifier:

Originally posted by Szikaka:

I know it's kind of dumb to get scammed, but everything from start to end seemed pretty legit aside from slighty broken english (which I don't speak natively anyway) and that 50 dolar business. Scammer even linked to the actual Verbal steam account.
Here's chat screenshots, said gifs and discord names in a txt:

Really? Sounding legit?

If Valve ever decides to contact you they will do so through their own platform. Much like any other company does.

For example, your bank wouldn't track you down on Discord or literally any other chat program ever made when they want to inform you about something.

Name a company that contacts you through Discord when they want to discuss to you about something. Don't name Discord because for them it'd be like contacting you through Skype or Steam.

^This. Because no company ever reach outside their own platform, the only way they ever try to contact you, is by account alert notification, or by email telling you about the alert notification, but you never click any links in emails, go to the store directly yourself to see the alert notification, as often scammers make fake look alike email address.


Here example for video showing fake gif scam.
https://youtu.be/JuWHCBeZrqI

[nullable]

I'd suggest you go back through those screen shots and see if you can't make a sizable list of all the issues with that whole exchange. because nothing about it seems legit unless you ignore all the issues.

I mean what you're probably leaning on for the "legit" portion is a scary animation with a mouse pointer hovering over scary delete buttons and seeing your account in the background.

1. And there's no way that image could be generated quickly?
   
2. By a professional scammer?
   
3. Using a template where literally the only thing he has to do is take a screen shot of your profile throw it in the background layer and save the file?

Suddenly seems a lot less legit I would imagine? You were legitimately frightened. But if you set it all aside and look at the individual components it's clearly all flim-flam and nonsense you just weren't prepared to deal with.

You were't dumb. You just weren't prepared or equipped and the scammer overwhelmed your good sense and beat you with experience. So that's what you need to do, recognize where you went wrong. Develop the skills to recognize similar tactics in the future and try to avoid making decisions based on fear. Very few legitimate businesses need to operate by terrifying their customers into specific actions after all.

[kitt]

at this point steam should remove their warnings because apparently people are too "something" to follow them..

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1266-OAFV-8478

NEVER follow instructions to speak with someone claiming to represent Steam Support through Discord or any other Chat system, even if they come from a friend's account.

yea Generation of Zombies.. halleluja..

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by Szikaka:

There's a bit of a story here

Old and painfully common scam. The Nigerian Royal Family also roam on Discord you know..

Originally posted by Szikaka:

TI know it's kind of dumb to get scammed, but everything from start to end seemed pretty legit

You seriously thought this was real!?

- Steam Staff do not conduct their business through Discord
- There are no Steam admins
- Steam staff don't extort or take bribes
- Steam staff do not send gifs as 'proof'
- Steam staff do not blackmail users

I mean this is the most amateur scam attempt with every red flag imaginable. This thread should be used as a specimen to show users how to not fall for scams.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Always good to remember...

https://mobile.twitter.com/aldenkroll/status/1308869949818052615

[Szikaka]

Dr.Shadows Crazy Tiger Brockenstein thanks for help, he already checked everything with an IT technician and everything seems to work fine, he also contacted Valve so hopefully that whole cruffafle will end soon.
As for the rest, calm down people. I specificly asked what we should do, not what we shouldn't have done. He already screwed up and he knows it, no need for insults, because someone od younger and less wise than you are.
I consider this thread closed for now, I'll may just add some updates later as situation progresses.

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

Originally posted by Szikaka:

There's a bit of a story here.

Yesterday, my friend got DM'ed on discord by some folk he didn't knew. He stated that he "reported his (my friend's) account for stealing games and duping items", and did this "by accident". He then redirected my friend to a chat with "Steam admin", Verbalhammer to be specific. Said "admin" turned out to be a bot later, but before we established that he managed to convince my friend to send him his purchase history. After that his Steam account was shut down and guy on discord asked him to pay 50$ to "check if account is legit" said that his account will be deleted if he on't pay, which subsequently happened.
My brother tried contacting the "admin" by himself and actually got the exact same messages and responses as my friend got before, to the point of gifs sent as a proof having the same mouse movement, but he didn't send his history and so action didn't progress forward.
I know it's kind of dumb to get scammed, but everything from start to end seemed pretty legit aside from slighty broken english (which I don't speak natively anyway) and that 50 dolar business. Scammer even linked to the actual Verbal steam account.
Here's chat screenshots, said gifs and discord names in a txt:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PKwXgUIvKY4FZzpBrOtpimVqnirqAdN7?usp=sharing

Did anyone else fell for that? And what should I (or rather, my stupid friend) do?

It immediately doesn't sound legit at all when it starts in a discord dm

[Muppet among Puppets]

Next time imagine the electricity went down.
Use that window of opportunity to ask other people if the story you just heard makes any sense.

[sofakissen]

Hey, just had the same experience, other usernames though. Is this a bigger wave? The thread is older, haven't heard anything about this yet.

[Silicon Vampire]

This type of scam has been going on since the dawn is of time, only the details change

Search the forums and you will see...

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Originally posted by sofakissen:

Hey, just had the same experience, other usernames though. Is this a bigger wave? The thread is older, haven't heard anything about this yet.

It's old age trick that exist longer than you think.

Read the most common reason parts.
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/2974023911552602045/?tscn=1606408849#c2974023911552623927

Then read this post.
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/2974023911552602045/?tscn=1606408849#c2974023911552659395

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by sofakissen:

Hey, just had the same experience, other usernames though. Is this a bigger wave? The thread is older, haven't heard anything about this yet.

This was old news 7 years ago.