(SOLVED. YES IT WAS A SCAM LIKE I THOUGHT) Some dude is claiming that I purchased $12K worth of stuff off him on Steam Market and now I'll be banned for it?

[xPikaPowerx]

Edit to add: Yeah okay I know it was indeed a scam. Thank you to the people who were actually being nice to me on this thread and confirmed my feelings of it being a scam. I really appreciate it.

Everyone else you can stop repeating what was already said. Plus you could also be nice about it to….

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Okay so some dude on discord messaged me saying that I didn't give him money for some market purchase on steam but i literally Don't know who this dude is or what he was talking about. He sent me screenshots of me supposedly making this purchase (this account had the same name and profile as me) but I swear I never did. Apparently it happened today. I checked purchase history and market history and NOTHING pops up that I tried making this purchase. It basically doesn't exist. but he said he reported me and now I have to prove that it wasn't me or else I'm going to get my steam banned and my IP? I literally just started using steam again because my fiance bought my a PC. Any advice/Help? is this dude just trying to scare me or scam me?

[Astaroth]

Scam FAQ (Confidence Scams and Trade Scams)

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.

Scam FAQ (Confidence Scams and Trade Scams)

My account has been accidently or falsely reported. What do I need to do?

You don't need to do anything to protect your account from false or mistaken reports. They're simply disregarded by the Steam team.

Account Security Recommendations:

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.

There's no such thing as a false report that you need to take steps to solve. This is a scam.

Report involved accounts

Don't forget to report the involved accounts, this may seem irrelevant, but it's very important

On Steam: How to Report a Scammer, Hijacker or Phisher

On Discord: How to Properly Report Issues to Trust & Safety[support.discord.com]

[xPikaPowerx]

He said I needed to talk to some dude name Binder. I guess he is a moderator on steam? he gave me his discord. so is this a scam then?

[Crazy Tiger]

It's a scam. I mean, think about this:
- If the dude reported you, why would you have to proof anything to them?
- Why the contact on Discord, when things happen on Steam?
- How can a regular user even know that someone else gets banned?
- Why would a screenshot by random internet user A be relevant in any way and not photoshopped?
- Every transaction on the Steam community market exchanges wallet fees for an item, otherwise it can't go through. So how could what the dude says even be possible?

If you look calmly at what you're saying, you should be able to see the massive amount of red flags.

[Yasahi]

Originally posted by xPikaPowerx:

He said I needed to talk to some dude name Binder. I guess he is a moderator on steam? he gave me his discord. so is this a scam then?

Yes, it's a scam. Stop talking to strangers on the internet.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by xPikaPowerx:

He said I needed to talk to some dude name Binder. I guess he is a moderator on steam? he gave me his discord. so is this a scam then?

Support is not offered through Discord, only through support tickets. Anyone claiming otherwise is scamming you.

[xPikaPowerx]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

It's a scam. I mean, think about this:
- If the dude reported you, why would you have to proof anything to them?
- Why the contact on Discord, when things happen on Steam?
- How can a regular user even know that someone else gets banned?
- Why would a screenshot by random internet user A be relevant in any way and not photoshopped?
- Every transaction on the Steam community market exchanges wallet fees for an item, otherwise it can't go through. So how could what the dude says even be possible?

If you look calmly at what you're saying, you should be able to see the massive amount of red flags.

Oh no I definitively did see red flags. I guess I kinda fell for it because of the pics he sent me of me apparently making this purchase and the messages from Steam themselves (he had a support ticket/number and everything) and even in this support message from steam it say to contact Binder on discord. is there anyway for me to provide screens here cause I will. It really did look rather convincing. To me a least cause again the last time I ever been on Steam was like in 2016 and I started using it again like last week

[xPikaPowerx]

Originally posted by Spawn of Totoro:

Originally posted by xPikaPowerx:

He said I needed to talk to some dude name Binder. I guess he is a moderator on steam? he gave me his discord. so is this a scam then?

Support is not offered through Discord, only through support tickets. Anyone claiming otherwise is scamming you.

Yeah that seemed a little fishy to me too but then he sent me a screen of Steam Support telling him to tell me to contact a "Binder" on discord. this steam message had a support ID/Ticket and everything so thats why I kinda thought okay maybe this is legit. I would posts screens but not sure if thats possible.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by xPikaPowerx:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

It's a scam. I mean, think about this:
- If the dude reported you, why would you have to proof anything to them?
- Why the contact on Discord, when things happen on Steam?
- How can a regular user even know that someone else gets banned?
- Why would a screenshot by random internet user A be relevant in any way and not photoshopped?
- Every transaction on the Steam community market exchanges wallet fees for an item, otherwise it can't go through. So how could what the dude says even be possible?

If you look calmly at what you're saying, you should be able to see the massive amount of red flags.

Oh no I definitively did see red flags. I guess I kinda fell for it because of the pics he sent me of me apparently making this purchase and the messages from Steam themselves (he had a support ticket/number and everything) and even in this support message from steam it say to contact Binder on discord. is there anyway for me to provide screens here cause I will. It really did look rather convincing. To me a least cause again the last time I ever been on Steam was like in 2016 and I started using it again like last week

It's not a support message, it's a modified screenshot. Steam support does not use Discord. They only use the ticket system on Steam and account alerts. Everything they need is on Steam itself, they literally have no use for Discord.

If there ever is a reason for a ban, you'll get notified through Steam itself. You won't get a heads up, you simply get banned and can appeal it.

Steam support also does NOT tell users that they will ban another user. That is private information that they will not share. They don't even get back with concrete info on reports. They will not share such information with anyone.

[Astaroth]

Originally posted by xPikaPowerx:

is there anyway for me to provide screens here cause I will. It really did look rather convincing.

There's no need, we are users just like you and can't do nothing with them. Make sure to report the account you were contacted from

[nullable]

Originally posted by xPikaPowerx:

Oh no I definitively did see red flags. I guess I kinda fell for it because of the pics he sent me of me apparently making this purchase and the messages from Steam themselves (he had a support ticket/number and everything) and even in this support message from steam it say to contact Binder on discord. is there anyway for me to provide screens here cause I will. It really did look rather convincing. To me a least cause again the last time I ever been on Steam was like in 2016 and I started using it again like last week

You'd have to host them on an image site. But it doesn't matter, we've seen them before.

It's pretty easy to Photoshop that stuff, especially when you have the templates to do it as part of a scam business... pretty streamlined and can be produced in minutes. We're not talking some random teenager who's just winging it. We're talking an organized enterprise with processes and a script the scammer reads off of, that they just do over and over with a certain amount of success. And those processes get more refined over time.

It's supposed to look convincing, and take advantage of your fear and ignorance even if the whole thing is wholly implausible. But even that is part of the scam designed to filter out more skeptical and credulous users. Time is money after all, so weed out all the people who would be a waste of time...

And ask yourself, are you such an expert that you can eyeball if something is real or fake from a screenshot?

I mean I can take a picture of your post and edit it to say anything and that would convince someone who's got no reason to believe you didn't say it.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by xPikaPowerx:

It really did look rather convincing.

That's the idea, and why so many keep falling for these scams, sadly.

Report them as suggested and pass the word to any of your Steam friends on scams like this. Tell them also, if they are ever unsure about something, to ask here about it before they fall for the scam.

[xPikaPowerx]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Originally posted by xPikaPowerx:

Oh no I definitively did see red flags. I guess I kinda fell for it because of the pics he sent me of me apparently making this purchase and the messages from Steam themselves (he had a support ticket/number and everything) and even in this support message from steam it say to contact Binder on discord. is there anyway for me to provide screens here cause I will. It really did look rather convincing. To me a least cause again the last time I ever been on Steam was like in 2016 and I started using it again like last week

It's not a support message, it's a modified screenshot. Steam support does not use Discord. They only use the ticket system on Steam and account alerts. Everything they need is on Steam itself, they literally have no use for Discord.

If there ever is a reason for a ban, you'll get notified through Steam itself. You won't get a heads up, you simply get banned and can appeal it.

I figured. He started acting and saying stuff like "What no one contacted you? They said they would" then he was saying like "I'm sorry man I believe that it wasn't you. I submitted another ticket to say I made a mistake" he sent me the screen of that too "I need you're help though for proof it wasnt you. Go to *Insert link here* (I didn't press it don't worry I just followed it basically if that makes sense) and talk to the mod Binder. I'f hes not available on steam then this is his discord: Binder[Official]#3578 (which also said in the steam support message)" he then said I just need to explain what happened otherwise my account is going to get banned and my IP which means I'll never be able to use steam again. I did have high doubts about this but I just wanted to like triple check (I submitted a ticket to steam as well providing screens of everything) just wanted to be 100% sure this is a fake/scam attempt.

[xPikaPowerx]

Originally posted by Astaroth:

Originally posted by xPikaPowerx:

is there anyway for me to provide screens here cause I will. It really did look rather convincing.

There's no need, we are users just like you and can't do nothing with them. Make sure to report the account you were contacted from

Yeah I definitely will. I just wanted to be like extra sure this was fake and or a scam. I had a feeling it was but then the pics kinda almost got me but I figured I would get a definite answer on here.

[Tesseract]

https://youtu.be/ldda7vhmuxU

[Zekiran]

Definitely report them on discord. ALL accounts that they've linked to you - they're all the scammer. Here and on discord. report report report.