Scammed Out of Two Steam Gift Cards and Inquireing About Compensation

[Vepuei]

I have Schizoaffective Disorder, PTSD, and General Anxiety Disorder (vulnerable person on disability awards), and I've been subject to fraudulent transactions and have been scammed $40 worth of Steam wallet currency by manipulative tactics used to exert my ailments and vulnerabilities as well as livelihood. He offered me a product valued at $60, which he did not intend to deliver. After an initial PayPal transaction of $62.04 for the goods I ordered, he claimed that he had to pay $100 to pick up the product and claimed I now owed him $40 additional dollars. He then used his tactics to persuade me to buy two Steam gift cards valued at $20 each and send him the codes. He was very aggressive, and I felt threatened. I sent him the codes under duress as my conditions make me vulnerable to manipulation.

I have already reported the fraudulent PayPal transaction to the appropriate administration via email, and tried to sent and email to Steam's support email, but I got a message back from them saying the email address is no longer being monitored. There seems to be nobway I can contact Steam to report this scammer.

After I sent the gift codes, he claimed he had a delivery fee and asked me to send 25 dollars to another PayPal account, which I did not send.

I still have the gift codes. Perhaps I can submit the gift codes so Valve can trace the stolen gift codes to the scammer's account that redeemed them they could possibly administer consequences properly?

This event has ruined my day and my plans for Christmas; I am so stressed and cannot rest until justice is dealt with. I attached my emails with documents relating to my diagnosis and screenshots of the Discord chat log for proof of the scam and to provide context and more information regarding this situation.

I'm wondering if there is anyvway to recover the $40 that I was robbed of and help me recover the money I need to make it through the month. In all, the individual running the scam robbed me of $102.04.

[rawWwRrr]

Ahhh.. (one of) the good old Discord scam(s)....

Confidence scams are all about. Try not to make financial deals with strangers on the Internet.

As for the $40 in Steam Gift Cards, that will be between you, the store you bought them from, and your choice of payment (assuming it was not cash).

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

In the US, read this...

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/avoiding-and-reporting-gift-card-scams

[ReBoot]

Having a disability myself, I can recommend a "survival" strategy which I call "foot on the brake". The moment I don't feel absolutely, totally, 100% confident about what's going on, I stop right there. The moment I don't get the space to think about a (financial) transaction for at least a day, foot on the brake. The moment there's any sliver of doubt about what's going on, foot on the brake. A difficulty I'm facing is the need to explain, to the other party or, worse, to myself, why I'm putting foot on the brake. This is solvable, simply knowing that you do suffer from all this stuff is absolutely enough to convince yourself that you indeed must put the foot on the brake the moment you have doubts, no matter why.

Last time a dude showed up at my doorstep, I used exactly this strategy. I am sure he wasn't out to scam me. It was about upgrading my WAN bandwidth for a fee which the cognitive part of my brain said "yup, all checks out" about. Yeah, it did all check out.

Still, I told the dude to hand me all the paperwork and I'll think about it or a day. Not because it didn't check out but because I don't want to do ANYTHING in a situation where I don't have all the time & leisure to evaluate everything. My therapist recommended "let me sleep about it" as a universal reply to, well, everything, really. So sleep about it & if you don't feel sure the day after, it's a "no" hands down.

[rawWwRrr]

Originally posted by Vepuei:

I still have the gift codes. Perhaps I can submit the gift codes so Valve can trace the stolen gift codes to the scammer's account that redeemed them they could possibly administer consequences properly?

I know you're trying to get your money back, but have you tried to redeem the cards yourself? Claim the $40 for yourself rather than the scammer?

Here's some information on Steam regarding gift card scams:
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/09A1-E754-1D86-DDC9

• If you have been a victim of a scam and purchased Steam Wallet Gift Cards that have not been given to the scammer yet, please take these cards back to the customer service desk of the retailer where you purchased them. They can scan the cards to see if they are eligible for a refund. Steam Wallet Gift Cards that have been activated but not redeemed yet are normally refundable at retail.

• If you already have given the codes to the scammer, please keep the Steam Wallet Gift Cards and the receipt and report the incident to your local police department.

[crunchyfrog]

Disabled myself and I help out a load of people who I've worked with and for.

I'll tell them the same as I'm going to tell you. PLAY IT SAFE.

What this means is that you can easily make a known ground and stick to it. In other words, ONLY EVER buy stuff on Steam or places you KNOW are official stores and platforms. NEVER EVER TRADE OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM.

It really is as simple as that.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Basic rule:
You pay the initially asked price for a product, and you get it.
If you do not get it, the seller has to fix it. Or the contract is void, and you get your money back.

If you are asked for anything else instead, it is extortion. "That are nice 60 $ you paid, too bad if that is lost if you dont pay more........"

[Vepuei]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Having a disability myself, I can recommend a "survival" strategy which I call "foot on the brake". The moment I don't feel absolutely, totally, 100% confident about what's going on, I stop right there. The moment I don't get the space to think about a (financial) transaction for at least a day, foot on the brake. The moment there's any sliver of doubt about what's going on, foot on the brake. A difficulty I'm facing is the need to explain, to the other party or, worse, to myself, why I'm putting foot on the brake. This is solvable, simply knowing that you do suffer from all this stuff is absolutely enough to convince yourself that you indeed must put the foot on the brake the moment you have doubts, no matter why.

Last time a dude showed up at my doorstep, I used exactly this strategy. I am sure he wasn't out to scam me. It was about upgrading my WAN bandwidth for a fee which the cognitive part of my brain said "yup, all checks out" about. Yeah, it did all check out.

Still, I told the dude to hand me all the paperwork and I'll think about it or a day. Not because it didn't check out but because I don't want to do ANYTHING in a situation where I don't have all the time & leisure to evaluate everything. My therapist recommended "let me sleep about it" as a universal reply to, well, everything, really. So sleep about it & if you don't feel sure the day after, it's a "no" hands down.

That's some good advice. I was going to do that initially, but I went against my better judgment.

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

In the US, read this...

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/avoiding-and-reporting-gift-card-scams

:summercat2023:

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

Originally posted by Vepuei:

I still have the gift codes. Perhaps I can submit the gift codes so Valve can trace the stolen gift codes to the scammer's account that redeemed them they could possibly administer consequences properly?

I know you're trying to get your money back, but have you tried to redeem the cards yourself? Claim the $40 for yourself rather than the scammer?

Here's some information on Steam regarding gift card scams:
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/09A1-E754-1D86-DDC9

• If you have been a victim of a scam and purchased Steam Wallet Gift Cards that have not been given to the scammer yet, please take these cards back to the customer service desk of the retailer where you purchased them. They can scan the cards to see if they are eligible for a refund. Steam Wallet Gift Cards that have been activated but not redeemed yet are normally refundable at retail.

• If you already have given the codes to the scammer, please keep the Steam Wallet Gift Cards and the receipt and report the incident to your local police department.

I'll be calling the gift card issuer and contacting the police. Thanks for the resources.

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

Don't trust anyone, not even yourself...