What are these random people comments all of a sudden?

[Lou]

Every few days or so a random person comments on a screenshot of mine and says something along the lines of:
please add me as soon as possible, i have something very important to tell you (no trade involved).

Wtf is this? Have i won the nigerian lottery or something?

[Karien]

Scam. They will ask you to go to a scam site and give away your details.

[MrUnclean]

Well you could add them just out of curiosity to see what they want but they will most likely attempt to scam you in some way

[Lou]

Originally posted by Karien:

Scam. They will ask you to go to a scam site and give away your details.

I thought as much, it was an instant block every single time.
I am just wondering how do they all of a sudden think about me as target?
Maybe because i commented on somebody else's profile?
Or do they search friends lists of steam users?
Or is it random?

Originally posted by Mr.Unclean:

Well you could add them just out of curiosity to see what they want but they will most likely attempt to scam you in some way

Could be fun like those hot horny housewives in my area, maybe i give it a try next time.
Love you nickname and avatar btw xD

[Karien]

If your inventory has any value at all, the chance goes up. Even just $30-$50 is enough at times. Heck, seen them pester a guy with basically just 1 arcana. They use a third party site to dig into public account inventories for big/decent value items.

Sometimes it's because the scammer already got to a friend's account and just randomly spams all of said friend's friends.

[Lou]

Originally posted by Karien:

If your inventory has any value at all, the chance goes up. Even just $30-$50 is enough at times. Heck, seen them pester a guy with basically just 1 arcana. They use a third party site to dig into public account inventories for big/decent value items.

Sometimes it's because the scammer already got to a friend's account and just randomly spams all of said friend's friends.

Would it help to set the inventory to "private" or "friends only"?

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by Lou Zephyr:

Originally posted by Karien:

If your inventory has any value at all, the chance goes up. Even just $30-$50 is enough at times. Heck, seen them pester a guy with basically just 1 arcana. They use a third party site to dig into public account inventories for big/decent value items.

Sometimes it's because the scammer already got to a friend's account and just randomly spams all of said friend's friends.

Would it help to set the inventory to "private" or "friends only"?

Yep, these scammers basically use API scripts to find users who have specific items or a inventory of some value. If you restrict visibility of this aspect then strangers wont be able to access such information. It's probably best to private it entirely unless every single one of your friends can be trusted to keep their accounts secure as scammers usually operate such scams within the friend list.

Some users may have decent inventories and high value items and not get bothered so luck is also a factor. Do you use any 3rd party sites also?