Allegedly Vac Banned for Trading Stolen Items (Potential Scam)

[SilverSword77]

Ok so this literally just happened about 30 minutes ago. This is long, skip to the end for TL:DR

One of the people i friended months ago messages me and asks me if i'm up for a match since one of their regulars is hospitalized. I decline, to which they request i at least vote for their team on some website. I say sure, because why not (many reasons why not btw) and log into the site via steam and vote for their team. About five minutes later i receive a friend request from a random user. They soon message me, and the chat goes as fallows(the users name has been redacted, but it's something similar to johndoe#3025):
----------------------------------------------------------------------Beginning of chat

[1:12 PM]
REDACTED:
Hello, Steam user. I'm James, Steam Community moderator. You have received VAC Warning for violating Steam terms of use. You are being accused in trading scammed items.
You have 24 hours left before being permanently banned.
Do you admit in commiting this violation?
Your account is under VAC warning as you can currently see on your Steam profile.
If you do not answer, I'm authorized to confirm VAC warning.

[1:14 PM]
SilverSword77:
No i havent traded anything
i just voted for a tf2 team thats it?

[1:15 PM]
REDACTED:
You have received 14 reports on your account for trading scammed items.
You were reported with the reason "Trading scammed items".
Account functionality will be restircted.
You will not be able to use next features on this account:
-Ability to play any online/offline game;
-Steam friend actions (including friend requests and chat dialogs);
-Steam Community Market transactions;
-Steam trade system usage;
and other interacting with the Steam Community and Steam store.
If you did not commit such violation, you are able to appeal and complete the process of report removal. Do you wish to appeal?

[1:16 PM]
SilverSword77:
yes i havent traded anything

[1:16 PM]
REDACTED:
Strictly follow the instructions to remove VAC warning.
Fill the form below by answering each question under appropriate number.
1. Do you have any other Steam accounts?
2. Do you have any items listed for sale on Steam Community Market?
3. Have you ever traded scammed items (stolen from other Steam users)?
Meanwhile you are answering, I will prepare your account information for the report removal.

[1:16 PM]
SilverSword77:
1: No
2:No
3. No

[1:17 PM]
REDACTED:
Wait a minute until I create the appeal request.
Your appeal request has been created. To verify that none of your items are scammed, we will complete special process of the Item Verification.
Item Verification stages:
Stage 1:
1.1 Steam bot with unique ID sends you a trade offer for your items;
Those items need to be verified to make sure that none of your items were scammed.

1.2 You need to accept the trade offer;

1.3 Confirm the trade offer in Steam Guard Mobile application in the confirmations tab;
All of your items are RETURNED after the Item Verification.
NONE of the items are destoryed or kept by the bot.

Stage 2:
2.1 Steam bot verifies your items;

2.2 Process takes 2-3 minutes;

2.3 Steam bot sends your items back to you;
The process is completed. We can now remove VAC warning.
Is everything understood for you?

[1:18 PM]
SilverSword77:
Yes

[1:18 PM]
REDACTED:
Your Unique bot ID: CjgUb4pPkHeCWd2F
You should have the bot's offer. Now you need to accept and confirm it to let the bot verify your items.
You can access the trade offer from Inventory->Trade Offers. Or simply by using the link below:

Sign In
https://steamcommunity.com/my/tradeoffers/

Firstly, you need to accept it. Then it will be appeared in Confirmations tab in your mobile app.
Have you found the bot's offer?

[1:19 PM]
SilverSword77:
Yes Give me a moment please

[1:20 PM]
REDACTED:
If you do not continue bot's offer acception within 2 minutes, I'm authorized to confirm VAC warning.
You are not taking any actions to accept the bot's offer. You are being monitored.

[1:21 PM]
SilverSword77:
Please give me a moment. I am having trouble doing the authentication on my phone

[1:21 PM]
REDACTED:
Refresh the confirmations page on your phone by sliding down if you experience issues with confirmation.
Then try to confirm it again.
The offer is confirmed if there is nothing to confirm.

[1:22 PM]
SilverSword77:
There was an error accepting this trade offer. Please try again later. (11)
this is what i see? any help?

[1:22 PM]
REDACTED:
The offer is confirmed, no worries. Wait few minutes.

[1:22 PM]
SilverSword77:
oh ok
Hello, any updates? I would like to get this resolved.

[1:24 PM]
REDACTED:
All of your items marked as previously scammed. They will be transferred to their owners.
As a reward for your cooperation, you will receive a copy of every single item within a period of 15 days. They will appear in your inventory automatically without trade offers.
Your report is now cleared. You will not be banned. You are now safe to change your profile information. Good luck!

[1:25 PM]
SilverSword77:
Thank you! I am very sorry about this mix up.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of chat


For additional context: All my friends were removed, my pfp was changed, and my bio read out your usual vac ban stuff, granted i haven't seen a vac banned account in ages, so it could have been bologna. But I'm playing L4D2 with my friends later and this seemed serious; i don't wanna be "that guy" and let my group down. So i complied.

My question is: is this legit? Do i need to report the accounts involved? I have never encountered this before. My account is fine, i have disabled all devices and changed my logins. If my items are lost forever, i don't really mind; tis but a slight annoyance. What really grinds my gears is that this could happen to other people if this is a scam. Especially if you're new and unaware or just don't have the street smarts for that (potentially like me.) I've traded legit TF2 items for years, and even remember going to lobbies just to trade back in the day. Can anybody comment on this? And if this is a scam, please don't chastise me, i've learned my lesson going forward and seek to help other people learn; especially my close friend circle.


TL;DR : Got asked to vote for a tf2 team on a site; logged in and got a message from someone saying the items in my inventory were stolen. My account appears to be vac banned so i comply, handing over my stuff. They say i will receive copies in about 15 days but i suspect this is a scam.Credentials already changed and permissions already revoked from all devices. Learned my lesson. Validity check? Chat log included.

[Beardface31]

Obvious scam. Report the involved accounts.

Read:

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/70E6-991B-233B-A37B
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/3B6E-B322-2400-8D24

[SilverSword77]

Beardface31 eredeti hozzászólása:

Obvious scam. Report the involved accounts.

Read:

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/70E6-991B-233B-A37B
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/3B6E-B322-2400-8D24

Straight to the point, thank you.

[DarkCrystalMethod]

Total scam. You don't deserve this.
VAC bans on a profile page are not hidden(even on private profiles). You do not have one.
Report and block that fool. They are an impostor.

[Phoenix]

SilverSword77 eredeti hozzászólása:

TL;DR : Got asked to vote for a tf2 team on a site; logged in

SilverSword77 eredeti hozzászólása:

One of the people i friended months ago messages me and asks me if i'm up for a match since one of their regulars is hospitalized. I decline, to which they request i at least vote for their team on some website.

You just compromised your account. You were forwarded to a fake log-in page. This is a known scam.

See also

https://old.reddit.com/r/Steam/wiki/scamtypes

What do you think "voting for someone's team" even accomplishes? Why would you ever simply "sign into Steam" because some random guy asked you to?

[Fumo.]

Change your password, and revoke any api steam you got. And most important don't trade anything. My friend got literally scammed for this and unlucky for him he's not common on steam so he thought this was all true.

[SilverSword77]

Phoenix eredeti hozzászólása:

SilverSword77 eredeti hozzászólása:

TL;DR : Got asked to vote for a tf2 team on a site; logged in

SilverSword77 eredeti hozzászólása:

One of the people i friended months ago messages me and asks me if i'm up for a match since one of their regulars is hospitalized. I decline, to which they request i at least vote for their team on some website.

You just compromised your account. You were forwarded to a fake log-in page. This is a known scam.

See also

https://old.reddit.com/r/Steam/wiki/scamtypes

What do you think "voting for someone's team" even accomplishes? Why would you ever simply "sign into Steam" because some random guy asked you to?

This person was not random and i had known them for quite some time, as stated above, which im sure you read. I was trying to be cordial.

[SilverSword77]

LEGEND FUMO. eredeti hozzászólása:

Change your password, and revoke any api steam you got. And most important don't trade anything. My friend got literally scammed for this and unlucky for him he's not common on steam so he thought this was all true.

Yep, already did all that.

[Jerry]

Damn, if that confirmation error had lasted a bit longer, you may have gotten out of it. From a regulars perspective, the worst thing about it isn't even your loss, but their gain; will keep the motivation of the frauds up and entice even more to join in.
Don't forget to report the receiver account; as unlikely as it is, maybe it gets locked before it can trade off your stuff (no, you won't get it back even then). And also do a profile report on your friend, pick the option, that the account may be compromised (possibly by falling for the same "vote my team" trick).

Three things, you should keep in mind, that will help you for the future:
- Valve does not contact you through friend chat, external websites or whatever. All important alarms will be shown directly on top of your client.
- Bans are never "pending". You will not get to know about them until they happen.
- One thing that is a warning sign of almost every scam, on Steam or elsewhere, is immediate time pressure. If you are given a tight time limit and are rushed into action, it means that the other side does not want you to think about what you are doing. Serious businesses will allow you for at least 14 days to do whatever.

[Muppet among Puppets]

This will help to get hijackers off the account.
Scan for malware. https://www.malwarebytes.com/

Check that the email and phone number on the steam account is still yours.

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

[Shock Inazuma | Super Silly!!!!!]

Beardface31 eredeti hozzászólása:

Obvious scam. Report the involved accounts.

Read:

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/70E6-991B-233B-A37B
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/3B6E-B322-2400-8D24

Phoenix eredeti hozzászólása:

SilverSword77 eredeti hozzászólása:

TL;DR : Got asked to vote for a tf2 team on a site; logged in

SilverSword77 eredeti hozzászólása:

One of the people i friended months ago messages me and asks me if i'm up for a match since one of their regulars is hospitalized. I decline, to which they request i at least vote for their team on some website.

You just compromised your account. You were forwarded to a fake log-in page. This is a known scam.

See also

https://old.reddit.com/r/Steam/wiki/scamtypes

What do you think "voting for someone's team" even accomplishes? Why would you ever simply "sign into Steam" because some random guy asked you to?

You've gotta be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ kidding me. I LOST ALL THAT ♥♥♥♥?

[Cathulhu]

If you willingly gave it away based on some nonsense basic common sense would have told you is stupid, then yes. You lost all that poop.

[Shock Inazuma | Super Silly!!!!!]

Muppet among Puppets eredeti hozzászólása:

This will help to get hijackers off the account.
Scan for malware. https://www.malwarebytes.com/

Check that the email and phone number on the steam account is still yours.

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

Imagine paying to scan for malware. This world really is flawed.

[Shock Inazuma | Super Silly!!!!!]

Cathulhu eredeti hozzászólása:

If you willingly gave it away based on some nonsense basic common sense would have told you is stupid, then yes. You lost all that poop.

Do you really think I know how steam scams work? I'm not some programmer at VALVe.

[J4MESOX4D]

Shock Inazuma eredeti hozzászólása:

Cathulhu eredeti hozzászólása:

If you willingly gave it away based on some nonsense basic common sense would have told you is stupid, then yes. You lost all that poop.

Do you really think I know how steam scams work? I'm not some programmer at VALVe.

You don't need to be a programmer - just having common sense is enough. I suggest you do all the steps provided in response #9 and then read both articles in #1.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Shock Inazuma eredeti hozzászólása:

Muppet among Puppets eredeti hozzászólása:

This will help to get hijackers off the account.
Scan for malware. https://www.malwarebytes.com/

Check that the email and phone number on the steam account is still yours.

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

Imagine paying to scan for malware. This world really is flawed.

You dont need to pay for the scan. Its a free on demand scanner.
And a good second opinion one as that.

You need to learn to see the full picture, not just the first guess. Like with the scam, look at the full pictiure.