help, account may get perma banned

[Whole Wheat Milk]

so appenently, someone acedently reported my account and they say they need my help to fix it, because they reported it for illegal purchasing... which i would never do. or if i did, it was when my account got phished. i need to contach steam support for this issue, but i dont see the option anywhere. please, somebody help

[Mad Scientist]

It's a scam!

Do nothing they say and give nothing to them. No one has actually reported your account and reports do not matter, only accuracy does. It's a scam. Report any Steam account messaging you to Steam via their profile, then Block.

Report discord accounts attempting to scam you to discord.

Scan for malware. https://www.malwarebytes.com/

Deauthorize all devices https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage

Change your password on a secure device.

Generate new back up codes. https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage

Revoke the api key https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey
** If there is nothing in the API key area, that’s fine. If there IS something, remove it. Nothing should be there.**

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

It's a scam, there no such thing as pending ban, and you can not get ban because someone reported you that's not how that works.


If you login to a link scammer gave follow these steps ASAP all 5 steps don't skip.
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. https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage
5. Revoke the API key. https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey <--- Should be nothing there.

I leave copy, and paste quote for anyone that need help learn more about phishing attacks, and scams that been commonly happening on the internet.

Originally posted by Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

Here are the 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://youtu.be/9TRR6lHviQc

The type of story scammers say to you.

- "Hey vote for my team", and they link you a phishing site link, and try get you to login.

- "Hey I can't add you, please add me", and they try to start their scam with you.

- If you're friend with someone that got their account hijacked, you get scam message like, "I report you", "you been banned", and whatever to try scare you, and they tell you to trade your items to them, or if you have a login to phishing site may have a API key on account that redirect trades, they ask you to give them money, or etc...

- If you already got your account compromise by them, they change your display name to banned, or whatever, your display picture as well, they may delete your friends, and try to spend your wallet funds if you have any, also trade all your items, but if they see if you have mobile authenticator attached, they play their scam to get you to confirm the trade to get your items off your account to their account quicker if they're able to trick you into confirming the trade.


I show you few examples.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2329645315
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2570975058

https://youtu.be/JuWHCBeZrqI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kook1DlxDAw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DDnV-MHSaY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfTXxLraokE

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/4956744526904317093/#c4956744526904653890

[Whole Wheat Milk]

ah, thanks, i am now seeing that their discord account was brand new, it prob was one

[Runkel]

Originally posted by whole wheat milk:

ah, thanks, i am now seeing that their discord account was brand new, it prob was one

Just ask yourself "Why on earth would a billion dollar company use a free 3rd Party App like discord for support... " doesn't make any sense does it?

[Whole Wheat Milk]

also, they said only i acciedently reported you, which i agree makes me suspisous

[Whole Wheat Milk]

oh no it was someone saying "i acciedently reported your account for illegal purchases" but either way, thanks

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Originally posted by whole wheat milk:

also, they said only i acciedently reported you, which i agree makes me suspisous

I do recommend review my post above about internet safety this will help you in the long run for any service you use online, so you become more aware of possible scams you may encounter online.

[Jaunitta 🌸]

This thread has been very helpful. I've seen some of these offers even the vote for my team never clicked on anything though felt sus.
Thanks to you all :)

[J4MESOX4D]

Read:-

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/70E6-991B-233B-A37B

Originally posted by Steam Support:

Valve employees will never communicate with you about your account using any chat system including Steam Chat and Discord. The only way you can speak with a Steam Support agent about your account is through the Steam Support Help Site. There's no situation in which you'd need to reach out to a Valve or Steam employee directly to resolve an issue.

If someone claims they reported you accidentally or falsely, you do not need to do anything to protect your account. These claims are always fake and only meant scam you. If someone did report your account falsely, you can rest assured that Steam disregards false reports.

Anyone claiming to be a Valve employee, Steam Support representative, or asking to verify your items for an investigation should be immediately reported.

[MarvinK187]

so this happened to me too and i've sent them my list what i bought and my profile link can they now try to get my account via steam support? i already did everything what u told in the upper section and i opened a ticket to steam where i wrote down what happened with screenshots.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Originally posted by Marvin:

so this happened to me too and i've sent them my list what i bought and my profile link can they now try to get my account via steam support? i already did everything what u told in the upper section and i opened a ticket to steam where i wrote down what happened with screenshots.

You send list what you bought to Steam support via ticket, or someone that was asking via discord, or whatever?

Please note Steam support only reply via ticket, no where else, they don't do discord, twitter, facebook, skype, phone call, emails, mailing, etc, etc, and etc, they only reply to you on Steam itself under the help section, no where else via the tickey system.

So if you're trying to recover your lost account, follow this guide, yes it works if you read the whole thing, skipping part do not help you, nor fix your problem so it best to read.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1126288560

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Marvin:

so this happened to me too and i've sent them my list what i bought and my profile link can they now try to get my account via steam support?

So they asked you to send them your purchase history list from your account ?

That's what we normally see claimed here. No, they cannot gain access to your account with that and the link to your profile. Anyone can get your profile link anyway :

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198087875632

Actual proof of ownership is needed to prove that an account belongs to someone :

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/40A0-8B4B-B54B-C51A

Also, the real Steam Support can see all of that anyway, without needing you to send it to them.

[♥♥tutor♥♥tαrα♥♥]

Originally posted by Marvin:

so this happened to me too and i've sent them my list what i bought and my profile link can they now try to get my account via steam support? i already did everything what u told in the upper section and i opened a ticket to steam where i wrote down what happened with screenshots.

The scammer told you to give him a picture of your Steam purchase history because your Steam account login name is on that page. The scammer then initiates a password reset request using your Steam account login name. Steam sends you a code that is used to confirm the password reset. If you did not give the scammer that code, then the scammer cannot reset your password.

[ZanyScum]

Originally posted by whole wheat milk:

ah, thanks, i am now seeing that their discord account was brand new, it prob was one

Old or new is not of interest.
They often use captured accounts as betweens.

Do not care about Steam Account Level, age of account or who they tell you they are!

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by ♥♥tutor♥♥tαrα♥♥:

The scammer told you to give him a picture of your Steam purchase history because your Steam account login name is on that page. The scammer then initiates a password reset request using your Steam account login name. Steam sends you a code that is used to confirm the password reset. If you did not give the scammer that code, then the scammer cannot reset your password.

Yep, this.

And what often comes next is, they need the victim to disable their Steam Guard so the scammer pretending to be a Support Assistant can "see their account better", which is a load of nonsense also.

Because even with the password reset, they can't get into the account if Steam Guard is on, because the scammer's device would look new to Steam Guard, which means the scammer then may ask for that code also. By this point, if red flags are not going off for the victim, then well........they should be.