Someone temporarily took control of my account and bought credit. Now the account is blocked and Steam does not want to refund the money even though I meet the requirements to request it.

[LoboArtico]

Today someone else entered my account and used the credit card that I have in it to buy AR $ 3,200 twice (AR $ 6,400) in the steam wallet.

Noticing this irregular activity, which I did not do. I changed my password, the associated email, the email password and notify the corresponding bank so that the card is blocked in the event of new purchases made by the thief. (DIDN'T REQUEST A CHARGE BACK TO MY BANK, ONLY BLOCK NEW PURCHASES, SO I CANT ALSO VERIFY THE CREDIT CARD BECAUSE IT'S BLOCKED TO NEW TRANSACTIONS).

I also requested an immediate refund of the AR $ 6400 but it turns out that now my account is blocked for "suspicious activity" (of course the account was hacked), which is why STEAM refuses to return the money.

I do not understand why the thief is allowed to make the purchase, but the original owner is not allowed to claim the refund, especially when said refund is within the terms of the steam refund policies.

This does not seem like a protection measure on the contrary, it is something that is perpetuating a situation that could already be solved if the funds were returned to the credit card. Especially since I regained control of the account before the thief caused more damage. Now STEAM are causing the damage by not wanting to return the money that the thief did not get to use.
The purchase was made by a thief, now refund the money instead of blocking everyhing and keeping the money.

I also don't understand how my refund request could have been rejected so quickly, but now I have no answers about this problem. And even I cannot appeal directly on the refusal of reimbursement and I am forced to generate a new claim.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

You issued a chargeback instead of a refund?

[Supafly]

Account security is that of the owner. Yours. Your account was hijacked not hacked and that was your fault

Originally posted by Lobonegro:

notify the corresponding bank so that the card is blocked

That then this

Originally posted by Lobonegro:

I also requested an immediate refund of the AR $ 6400

Sounds like you had the card company do a chargeback instead of having Steam refund the purchase. That results in Valve detecting something dodgy. You should have done a refund via Steam.

[LoboArtico]

No, i don't issued a chargeback. Just changed the password, the email in the account to secure it after noticing the activity, and requested a refund under the terms and conditions of STEAM.

But suddenly the account got blocked and now they are rejecting the refund because they suspect that my credit card is "stolen"... (Of course it was stolen... the entire account was under control of someone). What i want is the refund of the stolen money.

[Crazy Tiger]

How and where have you initiated the refund?

[LoboArtico]

Originally posted by Dead Monkey:

Account security is that of the owner. Yours. Your account was hijacked not hacked and that was your fault

Of course it is. But now i regained the control. No body is complaining about that.

Sounds like you had the card company do a chargeback instead of having Steam refund the purchase. That results in Valve detecting something dodgy. You should have done a refund via Steam.

Sounds bad, english is not my native language. I know that a chargeback it's a last resoruce.
No. I did not request a charge back. I asked to my bank to block any NEW purchase. And asked steam for a refund. The problem is that steam rejects the refund. Also the account was blocked before I even called the bank. Thanks but it isn't what happened.

[LoboArtico]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

How and where have you initiated the refund?

In Steam support Home> Recent purchases > I would like to request a refund

That is the exact message:
Message sent by you on NOV 6 at 7:57 am | 5 hours ago
I did not make a purchase, someone took control of my account. Now i regained control of my account. So i want a refund.

And it is the answer:
Message sent by Steam Support team on NOV 6 at 9:08 am | 3 hours ago
We are unable to process your refund request

For your security, we do not process refunds on accounts that have been blocked. Any pending refund requests have been canceled and new requests will not be accepted until the account lockdown has been lifted.
Using the Steam client, sign in to your account to learn more about the crash and what steps you need to take to fix it.

To learn more about the refund process, please visit https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

[Brian9824]

The money is still in your account right?

If so most likely Steam just has to finish investigating your account before you can issue a refund.

You should consider yourself lucky that the worst thing that happened was you had money added to your account and nothing was stolen.

You need to use 2fa to protect your account, and if you were using 2fa stop giving away your info to 3rd party sites.

Originally posted by Lobonegro:

For your security, we do not process refunds on accounts that have been blocked. Any pending refund requests have been canceled and new requests will not be accepted until the account lockdown has been lifted.
Using the Steam client, sign in to your account to learn more about the crash and what steps you need to take to fix it.

To learn more about the refund process, please visit https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

Yep, exactly as i thought, just need to work with steam support to unlock your account first, THEN you can refund. They were very clear about it.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Lobonegro:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

How and where have you initiated the refund?

In Steam support Home> Recent purchases > I would like to request a refund

That is the exact message:
Message sent by you on NOV 6 at 7:57 am | 5 hours ago
I did not make a purchase, someone took control of my account. Now i regained control of my account. So i want a refund.

And it is the answer:
Message sent by Steam Support team on NOV 6 at 9:08 am | 3 hours ago
We are unable to process your refund request

For your security, we do not process refunds on accounts that have been blocked. Any pending refund requests have been canceled and new requests will not be accepted until the account lockdown has been lifted.
Using the Steam client, sign in to your account to learn more about the crash and what steps you need to take to fix it.

To learn more about the refund process, please visit https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

Thanks for clearing that up, it's valuable to mention it.

As per the Steam support response, you need to unlock your account. Once done, you can do the refund.

[LoboArtico]

Originally posted by brian9824:

The money is still in your account right?

If so most likely Steam just has to finish investigating your account before you can issue a refund.

You should consider yourself lucky that the worst thing that happened was you had money added to your account and nothing was stolen.

You need to use 2fa to protect your account, and if you were using 2fa stop giving away your info to 3rd party sites.

Originally posted by Lobonegro:

For your security, we do not process refunds on accounts that have been blocked. Any pending refund requests have been canceled and new requests will not be accepted until the account lockdown has been lifted.
Using the Steam client, sign in to your account to learn more about the crash and what steps you need to take to fix it.

To learn more about the refund process, please visit https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

Yep, exactly as i thought, just need to work with steam support to unlock your account first, THEN you can refund. They were very clear about it.

f I have two-step verification active. The problem is that the hijack actually started with my email, apparently from a Trojan in my workplace (I'm a doctor and I work in a hospital).

They clearly used my email to get the steam guard code. It was not really luck, as soon as I noticed a login that was not me, I acted immediately. I didn't give them time. But suddenly my account was blocked.

It is annoying because it is a "common refund" within the usual deadlines and terms, as if I had bought something by mistake and I want to return it within half an hour without having used the credit. This problem should not have happened. Also I do not understand why refunds should be blocked, in any case new purchases, but not refunds. That's what doesn't make sense.

Even worse, steam offers me to verify the card, which is mine, to solve the problem, for that they want to make a new charge on my card and for me to see that charge and the code it has in the summary. The problem is that precisely the card will no longer accept new charges because due to the risk that other things have been hacked, I decided to block it from now on. I repeat, DO NOT request a refund or chargeback to my card for what steam has already charged. Just request that NO NEW purchases can be made. So that is not an option.

Aparently my money is stuck forever in a locked account... not avaiable to me, nor the thief... sigh...

[LoboArtico]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

As per the Steam support response, you need to unlock your account. Once done, you can do the refund.

I can't unlock the account. Steam request a verification charge on my credit card. But i blocked the credit card from FURTHER purchases because it's stolen (The steam credit is already paid, and not chargedback, so that is not an issue). So i can't verify the stolen credit card. And the money is stuck in the blocked account...

Thanks for trying to helpme, and sorry about my harsh english.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Lobonegro:

f I have two-step verification active. The problem is that the hijack actually started with my email, apparently from a Trojan in my workplace (I'm a doctor and I work in a hospital).

Hence why you should use mobile authenticator, its much more secure.

Originally posted by Lobonegro:

It is annoying because it is a "common refund" within the usual deadlines and terms, as if I had bought something by mistake and I want to return it within half an hour without having used the credit. This problem should not have happened. Also I do not understand why refunds should be blocked, in any case new purchases, but not refunds. That's what doesn't make sense.

Because there is a question on if you are the actual account owner or not. Until you can prove you are and unlock the account most activity like that will be blocked.

Originally posted by Lobonegro:

Even worse, steam offers me to verify the card, which is mine, to solve the problem, for that they want to make a new charge on my card and for me to see that charge and the code it has in the summary. The problem is that precisely the card will no longer accept new charges because due to the risk that other things have been hacked, I decided to block it from now on.

That's not steam's fault and that's something you can undo to allow it. If you secured your account that should not be an issue. You should be able to call your bank and tell them that you are expecting a charge from Steam and to allow it.

Originally posted by Lobonegro:

I repeat, DO NOT request a refund or chargeback to my card for what steam has already charged. Just request that NO NEW purchases can be made. So that is not an option.

Again that's something you requested and something you can change. YOU put yourself in that scenario by taking action on that card and you can undo it.

Originally posted by Lobonegro:

Aparently my money is stuck forever in a locked account... not avaiable to me, nor the thief... sigh...

You have the ability to unlock your account, so go contact your bank and take care of it.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Lobonegro:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

As per the Steam support response, you need to unlock your account. Once done, you can do the refund.

I can't unlock the account. Steam request a verification charge on my credit card. But i blocked the credit card from FURTHER purchases because it's stolen (The steam credit is already paid, and not chargedback, so that is not an issue). So i can't verify the stolen credit card. And the money is stuck in the blocked account...

Thanks for trying to helpme, and sorry about my harsh english.

Card wasn't stolen, they don't have the full number, security code, etc. As long as they don't have access to your steam account anymore its not an issue, but again you can always unlock the card, take care of unlocking your steam account and then ask them for a new card if you want to be extra secure afterwards.

[LoboArtico]

However, if they assume my card is stolen, they don't need to verify anything to return the money to the original owner. Instead of leaving the money blocked in the account, return it now to the original onwer (luckly ME). That's the part I don't understand.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Lobonegro:

However, if they assume my card is stolen, they don't need to verify anything to return the money to the original owner. Instead of leaving the money blocked in the account, return it now to the original onwer (luckly ME). That's the part I don't understand.

Verification is necessary to ensure you are the actual card holder.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Lobonegro:

However, if they assume my card is stolen, they don't need to verify anything to return the money to the original owner. Instead of leaving the money blocked in the account, return it now to the original onwer (luckly ME). That's the part I don't understand.

Steam has no way to assume your card is stolen, they are not your bank. All they know is there is suspicious activity on your account so its locked from making changes until you prove your the owner.

Once you've proved your the owner then you can do anything you want such as refunds.