Unbanning steam account by purchasing gift vouchers

[knauf70]

My son has been told that in order to unban his account he must purchase €500 of steam gift vouchers in order to change the system panel database. This sounds like a scam to me, but does anybody else have a similar experience?

[Levi]

This is a scam yes, someone may have contacted him attempting to scam him.

His account is not "banned" in any way, so tell him to block and report the scammer.

[Bee🐝]

Also, make sure he hasn't provided them with any info or logged into any site they suggested - if he has his account might've been compromised.

Edit: Obviously, if this "warning/extortion" message appeared on his actual profile than his account has already been compromised.

[rawWwRrr]

Originally posted by knauf70:

My son has been told that in order to unban his account he must purchase €500 of steam gift vouchers in order to change the system panel database. This sounds like a scam to me, but does anybody else have a similar experience?

Absolutely a scam. Steam does not hold accounts for ransom. You don't need to have had an similar experience to see this.

His account has been compromised and he'll need to go through the process of recovering it. At no time should he, or you, give money, items, etc. to anyone.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1126288560

[knauf70]

Thanks very much for your replies - really helpful and reassuring. My biggest worry is that the person who contacted him is a registered steam moderator (or a very good imitation of him/her) called veleron. Any other problems with this character out there?

[Levi]

Originally posted by knauf70:

Thanks very much for your replies - really helpful and reassuring. My biggest worry is that the person who contacted him is a registered steam moderator (or a very good imitation of him/her) called veleron. Any other problems with this character out there?

It's an impersonation attempt, no Steam moderator will contact users about bans.

Furthermore, no community moderator will contact a user to scam them...

[rawWwRrr]

Originally posted by knauf70:

My biggest worry is that the person who contacted him is a registered steam moderator (or a very good imitation of him/her) called veleron. Any other problems with this character out there?

Was your son contacted through Discord by any chance?

[knauf70]

The initial contact was through steam, then switched to discord.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by knauf70:

The initial contact was through steam, then switched to discord.

Yep, that is classic for this kind of Scam. There is no way to verify the one you are talking to on Discord is the person they claim to be on Steam.

Any support would be done through Steam and through the ticket system, not having someone go to discord.

[rawWwRrr]

Originally posted by knauf70:

The initial contact was through steam, then switched to discord.

Of course it did. They probably linked off to _veleron, made an excuse about how there was a communication problem or something, but here's their Discord account so let's talk there instead. Aside from the link to _veleron's actual Steam profile page, everything else including those your son talked to was fake. All part of the confidence scam.

Focus on regaining control of the account. Use it as an important lesson for your son. Report anyone you can for attempting to scam him either through Steam or Discord.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Tell the kid the pattern of scam:

Bait, story, steps

[nullable]

Originally posted by knauf70:

Thanks very much for your replies - really helpful and reassuring. My biggest worry is that the person who contacted him is a registered steam moderator (or a very good imitation of him/her) called veleron. Any other problems with this character out there?

I expect you and your son don't really know how to identify a moderator or an admin. So you arguably wouldn't know if it was a good imitation or not. Being convinced someone is a moderator might just mean you're an easy target as opposed to their subterfuge being that good.

I'm sure if you put a smidge of energy into understanding the issue. Get a handle on common scams and techniques. And review what you've seen in your case, you'll see the cracks in the facade of the scam much more obviously. You'll be able to see how you were fooled (however briefly) as opposed to the imitation being very good.