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_.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by 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

Best not to accept such things from strangers because you don't know their motives or reasons. For instance; if they are using a fraudulently obtained payment method and want to use your account to make 'test the water' gift purchases then it'll be your account that will get community banned as a consequence even though all you did was accept a gift. If it sounds too good to be true it always is. This type of situation is more uncommon and there is a small chance it could be just someone being generous but more than likely there is something awry so it's best to avoid such situations.

[Bono]

Originally posted by 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.

is that a thing that its just revoked? It might be someone who was just generous, but we will see.

[Bono]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by Bono:

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

Best not to accept such things from strangers because you don't know their motives or reasons. For instance; if they are using a fraudulently obtained payment method and want to use your account to make 'test the water' gift purchases then it'll be your account that will get community banned as a consequence even though all you did was accept a gift. If it sounds too good to be true it always is. This type of situation is more uncommon and there is a small chance it could be just someone being generous but more than likely there is something awry so it's best to avoid such situations.

I dont think i will be banned for it if its an illegal form of payment. If so, can i save my account in some way or am i doomed now?

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by Bono:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Best not to accept such things from strangers because you don't know their motives or reasons. For instance; if they are using a fraudulently obtained payment method and want to use your account to make 'test the water' gift purchases then it'll be your account that will get community banned as a consequence even though all you did was accept a gift. If it sounds too good to be true it always is. This type of situation is more uncommon and there is a small chance it could be just someone being generous but more than likely there is something awry so it's best to avoid such situations.

I dont think i will be banned for it if its an illegal form of payment. If so, can i save my account in some way or am i doomed now?

Accepting proceeds of stolen goods does not sit well with Valve. Accounts that are used to launder items, games and funds from fraudulently obtained sources usually face tough penalties. You may get lucky and the game is revoked based upon a chargeback from the victim but that would be a fortunate one-time gesture.

If you haven't accepted the gift yet then maybe ask the account which sent it why they've done it. Best to tick all boxes before taking the plunge.

[Bono]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by Bono:

I dont think i will be banned for it if its an illegal form of payment. If so, can i save my account in some way or am i doomed now?

Accepting proceeds of stolen goods does not sit well with Valve. Accounts that are used to launder items, games and funds from fraudulently obtained sources usually face tough penalties. You may get lucky and the game is revoked based upon a chargeback from the victim but that would be a fortunate one-time gesture.

If you haven't accepted the gift yet then maybe ask the account which sent it why they've done it. Best to tick all boxes before taking the plunge.

I have already accepted it. I have not had such interactions before so this would be my first time. hopefully Valve wont ban my account cuz i have a bunch of games on my account

[Wayward]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by Bono:

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

Best not to accept such things from strangers because you don't know their motives or reasons. For instance; if they are using a fraudulently obtained payment method and want to use your account to make 'test the water' gift purchases then it'll be your account that will get community banned as a consequence even though all you did was accept a gift. If it sounds too good to be true it always is. This type of situation is more uncommon and there is a small chance it could be just someone being generous but more than likely there is something awry so it's best to avoid such situations.

No, I really don't think Valve operates like that. When you consider the fact that it means that gifting could be used maliciously to ban people, it would make no sense to do. And as far as I am aware, they don't do this naturally speaking.

The account sending the gifts is the one that would get punished. That's quite obvious. At worst, any gifts sent would be revoked from other accounts.

[Bono]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by Bono:

I dont think i will be banned for it if its an illegal form of payment. If so, can i save my account in some way or am i doomed now?

Accepting proceeds of stolen goods does not sit well with Valve. Accounts that are used to launder items, games and funds from fraudulently obtained sources usually face tough penalties. You may get lucky and the game is revoked based upon a chargeback from the victim but that would be a fortunate one-time gesture.

If you haven't accepted the gift yet then maybe ask the account which sent it why they've done it. Best to tick all boxes before taking the plunge.

Can i maybe send steam support a message about this or is that even more risky? I just want to be sure i cn still buy games, not having to worry about my account being banned when they find out abut the true nature of the gifted dlc

[Bono]

Originally posted by Wayward:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Best not to accept such things from strangers because you don't know their motives or reasons. For instance; if they are using a fraudulently obtained payment method and want to use your account to make 'test the water' gift purchases then it'll be your account that will get community banned as a consequence even though all you did was accept a gift. If it sounds too good to be true it always is. This type of situation is more uncommon and there is a small chance it could be just someone being generous but more than likely there is something awry so it's best to avoid such situations.

No, I really don't think Valve operates like that. When you consider the fact that it means that gifting could be used maliciously to ban people, it would make no sense to do. And as far as I am aware, they don't do this naturally speaking.

The account sending the gifts is the one that would get punished. That's quite obvious. At worst, any gifts sent would be revoked from other accounts.

aaaah so i dont have to worry?

[Wayward]

Consider this: When someone purchases a key from known grey market sites and shady resellers and the keys are later revoked, are the accounts that activated the keys punished? No, they aren't. Same thing here.

[Bono]

Originally posted by Wayward:

Consider this: When someone purchases a key from known grey market sites and shady resellers and the keys are later revoked, are the accounts that activated the keys punished? No, they aren't. Same thing here.

phew, i was scared for a second. Thanks a lot for the help!

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by Wayward:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Best not to accept such things from strangers because you don't know their motives or reasons. For instance; if they are using a fraudulently obtained payment method and want to use your account to make 'test the water' gift purchases then it'll be your account that will get community banned as a consequence even though all you did was accept a gift. If it sounds too good to be true it always is. This type of situation is more uncommon and there is a small chance it could be just someone being generous but more than likely there is something awry so it's best to avoid such situations.

No, I really don't think Valve operates like that. When you consider the fact that it means that gifting could be used maliciously to ban people, it would make no sense to do. And as far as I am aware, they don't do this naturally speaking.

The account sending the gifts is the one that would get punished. That's quite obvious. At worst, any gifts sent would be revoked from other accounts.

Gifting is there to buy games for your friends. It isn't intended for accepting random purchases from strangers. Valve have already clamped down by applying mass purchase limitations on users buying gifts with wallet funds alone so don't assume they wont take strong action against accounts accepting fraudulently obtained goods.

I'm not saying that's the case here but this could be seen as an abuse of the gifting system especially as the recipient doesn't even know why they were gifted the game. Valve used to trade ban accounts en masse for simply accepting stolen items into their inventory through 3rd party sites so just because the recipient of something may be operating obliviously doesn't mean they get away clean. Valve also aren't going to just ban burner accounts used to facilitate fraud and ignore the other accounts profiting from the proceeds at the other end.

[Carlos100]

Originally posted by 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

why you making this post about you?
Im talking about the actual OP

[Bono]

Originally posted by Carlos100:

Originally posted by Bono:

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

why you making this post about you?
Im talking about the actual OP

The person OP encoutnered is the same person i met

[Bono]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by Wayward:

No, I really don't think Valve operates like that. When you consider the fact that it means that gifting could be used maliciously to ban people, it would make no sense to do. And as far as I am aware, they don't do this naturally speaking.

The account sending the gifts is the one that would get punished. That's quite obvious. At worst, any gifts sent would be revoked from other accounts.

Gifting is there to buy games for your friends. It isn't intended for accepting random purchases from strangers. Valve have already clamped down by applying mass purchase limitations on users buying gifts with wallet funds alone so don't assume they wont take strong action against accounts accepting fraudulently obtained goods.

I'm not saying that's the case here but this could be seen as an abuse of the gifting system especially as the recipient doesn't even know why they were gifted the game. Valve used to trade ban accounts en masse for simply accepting stolen items into their inventory through 3rd party sites so just because the recipient of something may be operating obliviously doesn't mean they get away clean. Valve also aren't going to just ban burner accounts used to facilitate fraud and ignore the other accounts profiting from the proceeds at the other end.

The game was not from a thrid party though

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by Bono:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Gifting is there to buy games for your friends. It isn't intended for accepting random purchases from strangers. Valve have already clamped down by applying mass purchase limitations on users buying gifts with wallet funds alone so don't assume they wont take strong action against accounts accepting fraudulently obtained goods.

I'm not saying that's the case here but this could be seen as an abuse of the gifting system especially as the recipient doesn't even know why they were gifted the game. Valve used to trade ban accounts en masse for simply accepting stolen items into their inventory through 3rd party sites so just because the recipient of something may be operating obliviously doesn't mean they get away clean. Valve also aren't going to just ban burner accounts used to facilitate fraud and ignore the other accounts profiting from the proceeds at the other end.

The game was not from a thrid party though

Correct, yours was from an even worse source - a stranger on Reddit giving away freebies for nothing. Users using those gambling/trading sites through the SteamAPI were trade banned in droves just for unwittingly accepting items that were stolen from other users.

As long as it's just this isolated incident then you probably have nothing to worry about so don't do any more. You already know from searching out this thread what this random person was willing to do for the OP in hooking 'their' PayPal to the users account for nothing in return to buy games for free no questions asked.

Situations like these always have an underlying motive and it is usually bad so avoid falling into the traps.