friends account locked

[ikkuranus]

My friend's account has been locked for no apparent reason and support has been blowing him off since the 3rd.and 9 support tickets. What is he supposed to do to get this resolved?

[rawWwRrr]

Only Support can unlock an account.

[ikkuranus]

Sounds like he's screwed short of blasting them on social media and hoping it goes viral.

[rawWwRrr]

I'm assuming Support is asking for some proof to determine if you're friend is the true owner of the account and they can't provide it. And instead of working with Support, they've been argumentative.

Accounts don't just lock for no reason.

[ReBoot]

Is support really blowing him off, or does he get answers he doesn't like?

[Zekiran]

Escrito originalmente por ikkuranus:

Sounds like he's screwed short of blasting them on social media and hoping it goes viral.

No, he needs to think:

WHY did the account get locked in the first place?

Did his account get hijacked? Did he give out his information to a third party site, or get phished, and then the account's hijacker did something bad enough that Steam tagged it?

Or did he do something to lock it by mistake?

Since you're not the account owner, this isn't your problem nor your business.

They need to sort it out with Steam support.

In the off chance that instead they're being led on by a scammer and being TOLD their account is in danger of being locked:

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.**

No items that have been traded away during this time will be returned to you.

Change your Email’s password on your computer for safety



They must be logged out to use the support system for retrieving an account.

How to recover your account
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1126288560



If it's a lock based on trade history or fraud, then that's between them and their bank and steam support only.

[theguru143]

Just wanted to reply on this for those that don't understand the issue. I am the person he was trying to help and I figured I would document the issue here for someone else that may have a similar issue.

He had the date incorrect, it was November 3rd when my account entered lockdown due to "someone may have accessed your account". I use 2 factor authentication so seemed strange, but whatever. The issue was that I followed all the recommendations: changed email p/w, scanned computer, deauthorized any device not currently being used, etc. and then sent in a ticket to give proof of ownership. I filled out all the info, gave info on 3 credit cards I had used on Steam, provided screenshots of purchases and product keys for my account. That ticket was closed within 30 minutes with no reply.

This continued for almost 5 weeks with a total of 11 tickets being sent and more information being given each time in hopes it would help. Each time, closed within 30 minutes with no reply at all.

When your account is locked down, you can't post in forums, play games, chat with friends, purchase games or use keys for games you want to add. The ONLY thing you can do is open a ticket which obviously didn't work for 5 weeks until today. So, for anyone ever in this situation all you can do is submit ticket after ticket until some nice support person doesn't close it immediately without helping or replying and eventually you'll get someone that actually helps.

To be clear, my account was never accessed, someone just TRIED to access it. 2 factor authentication prevented them from succeeding. But because of Steams poor customer support system I was not able to use my products for 5 weeks.

[Bee🐝]

Escrito originalmente por theguru143:

Just wanted to reply on this for those that don't understand the issue. I am the person he was trying to help and I figured I would document the issue here for someone else that may have a similar issue.

He had the date incorrect, it was November 3rd when my account entered lockdown due to "someone may have accessed your account". I use 2 factor authentication so seemed strange, but whatever. The issue was that I followed all the recommendations: changed email p/w, scanned computer, deauthorized any device not currently being used, etc. and then sent in a ticket to give proof of ownership. I filled out all the info, gave info on 3 credit cards I had used on Steam, provided screenshots of purchases and product keys for my account. That ticket was closed within 30 minutes with no reply.

This continued for almost 5 weeks with a total of 11 tickets being sent and more information being given each time in hopes it would help. Each time, closed within 30 minutes with no reply at all.

When your account is locked down, you can't post in forums, play games, chat with friends, purchase games or use keys for games you want to add. The ONLY thing you can do is open a ticket which obviously didn't work for 5 weeks until today. So, for anyone ever in this situation all you can do is submit ticket after ticket until some nice support person doesn't close it immediately without helping or replying and eventually you'll get someone that actually helps.

To be clear, my account was never accessed, someone just TRIED to access it. 2 factor authentication prevented them from succeeding. But because of Steams poor customer support system I was not able to use my products for 5 weeks.

Check and clear you Steam API key - I have a weird feeling the hijacker still has access to your account and is cancelling your tickets.

[J4MESOX4D]

Escrito originalmente por theguru143:

This continued for almost 5 weeks with a total of 11 tickets being sent and more information being given each time in hopes it would help. Each time, closed within 30 minutes with no reply at all.

Support tickets will always be acknowledged or responded to. If the account was locked and the tickets were being shut without notice then it was likely compromised and the scammers were closing the tickets to prevent your account from getting support and gaining recovery.

[Joke]

Make sure your email account is secure. (change password/enable 2-factor login)

[my new friend]

Escrito originalmente por theguru143:

I filled out all the info, gave info on 3 credit cards I had used on Steam, provided screenshots of purchases and product keys for my account. That ticket was closed within 30 minutes with no reply.

This continued for almost 5 weeks with a total of 11 tickets being sent and more information being given each time in hopes it would help. Each time, closed within 30 minutes with no reply at all.

This sounds like the hijacker now has access to your proof of ownership which may screw you over in the future.

[ChristOurLife]

Well, could have sus activity so it locked.

[theguru143]

I repeat, they never got IN to my account, they just tried to access it. I had 2 factor auth so they couldn't actually get in to it. Because of the attempts it locked my account. I could log in, but not really do much of anything during those 5 weeks

[crunchyfrog]

Escrito originalmente por theguru143:

I repeat, they never got IN to my account, they just tried to access it. I had 2 factor auth so they couldn't actually get in to it. Because of the attempts it locked my account. I could log in, but not really do much of anything during those 5 weeks

And have you made sure of this?

As the others here have suggested, it's common for a scammer to close tickets and so on, so have you actually checked your history in your Steam UI, etc?

What does it say?

And that's not how 2FA works. 2FA is just an extra lock on the door as it were. If you gave away your details, then you gave away that extra key to access that lock.

NOTHING can save anyone if you give your details away whether you meant to or were aware of it or not. It's moot.

[J4MESOX4D]

Escrito originalmente por theguru143:

I repeat, they never got IN to my account, they just tried to access it. I had 2 factor auth so they couldn't actually get in to it. Because of the attempts it locked my account. I could log in, but not really do much of anything during those 5 weeks

Just because an account has 2FA doesn't mean it can't be compromised. This is the worst misconception anyone could possibly make with online security. If you give your credentials away to a phishing login which includes a live auth code then you will get hijacked entirely. This is the same way as having strong locks on your front door and then giving away your house keys to a thief and then saying you can't be burgled and your house is secure.

If your account was locked for no reason and your tickets were being cancelled then you are highly likely compromised and the worst part is if they've intercepted any proof you are submitting, they can literally claim ownership of your entire account down the line.

Best to get as much clarity on what's happened as possible.

[theguru143]

I checked all the devices that had accessed my account. The only 2 other than my current computer and phone was 2 other computers I had previously used. I'm on a brand new computer now because my last one had a hardware failure after only 5 months (sad times, lol). I removed the 2 I'm not using anymore, but yes I did check