If a Redditor offers for me to use his PayPal account to buy Steam games for doing nothing, is this a scam?

[krisrh21]

So I'm in a dilemma. Just as this posts title reads, a Redditor by the name of
u/Machinepanda_ has made a really generous offer, which is to let me link his PayPal account to my Steam wallet to buy games with and he's asking for nothing in return. Is this offer a scam?

EDIT: Now that my concerned "Red Alert" suspensions has been confirmed by everyone here, I chose to just block Redditor Machinepanda_.

[peppermint hollows]

Here's a general internet safety tip: If something sounds too good to be true, it's a scam.

There are a number of things that could go wrong with this. Firstly, in order to do that he'd have to either give you his PayPal credentials (unlikely) or you would have to give him your Steam account credentials in order to login to your account and link it himself. The latter especially can result in your account stolen.

Even if nothing bad happens there, he could later dispute all charges you've made on Steam through his PayPal which would result in restrictions placed on your account.

[peppermint hollows]

By the way, the account you mentioned doesn't seem to actually exist on Reddit. Trying to go to that user page returns an error.

[krisrh21]

All it shows on mine is u/Machinepanda_ hasn't posted yet.

[peppermint hollows]

You're right, my bad. I must have just put the URL in wrong. Either way, everything else I said still applies.

[Frida]

Apparently that account is 3 months old. It doesn't give you any red flags that an account which hasn't posted a single thing after 3 months randomly decides to message you and offer you free games?

[peppermint hollows]

Originally posted by Specter:

Apparently that account is 3 months old. It doesn't give you any red flags that an account which hasn't posted a single thing after 3 months randomly decides to message you and offer you free games?

That too.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Report it through the profile and link the information you had with the person.

[krisrh21]

I did one better. I blocked about 2 hours ago. Thank you everyone for confirming my "Red Alert" suspicions.

[Lithurge]

Originally posted by krisrh21:

I did one better. I blocked about 2 hours ago. Thank you everyone for confirming my "Red Alert" suspicions.

Reporting it is better because it stops them from scamming somebody else at least until they set up a new account.

[frostxxfire]

I got a dm from this same user out of the blue offering to buy me a game by linking their PayPal. They later sent me a code for a game that a redeemed on steam. Worried that I got scammed somehow.

[krisrh21]

Originally posted by frostxxfire:

I got a dm from this same user out of the blue offering to buy me a game by linking their PayPal. They later sent me a code for a game that a redeemed on steam. Worried that I got scammed somehow.

Oh wow. So did they buy the game on your Steam account?

[Bono]

Interesting. This is probably a scam, but the weird thing about this is that the same person gifted me a steam game yesterday. I didnt have to do anything, just send him my steam profile (just the link, he doesnt have access to my account) and the gifted dlc actually works!

He offers me more games but i decided not to accept because its weird that he uses his own money to gift mge games, while he gets nothing in return

[Carlos100]

Never link someone else's payment method to your account
They can probably use it to prove its their account later

This is why normal people who have sense now have to jump through hoops to buy/gift /trade and use the market

[Bono]

Originally posted by Carlos100:

Never link someone else's payment method to your account
They can probably use it to prove its their account later

This is why normal people who have sense now have to jump through hoops to buy/gift /trade and use the market

He didnt link his payment, he bought it on his account and sent it as a steam gift to mine

[rawWwRrr]

Just be prepared to find that game revoked in the future. Maybe you found someone being altruistic but it's not normal. Chances are more likely that something is wrong and you will find yourself the victim in some way.