[h1] "Your account has been temporarily restricted due to an investigation" [/h1] is this a fraud/scam?

[abacaxi]

Hello, my friend recievied the following steam DM. He has lost access to his account, and he is no longer on my friends list. Any one knows if this is some sort of scam?

>>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Case: QDT-346-B4J
Date: 01.02.2025
Subject: 76561198442581281
Mail Subject:[e-mail]
Reason: Theft of gaming items


Your account has been temporarily restricted due to an investigation.


As a result of the trade on [ 19 Jan, 2025 ], you received [ ★ Huntsman Knife | Ultraviolet ] from the user [ VINI ].

The system has recorded that this trade offer was the result of purchasing a stolen item from another Steam user on a third-party platform.
According to the rules you agreed to when registering for our service, this is a violation of the rules, and you are now automatically involved in an investigation on three charges:

1. Theft of digital assets within the Steam platform.
2. Using third-party platforms to conduct transactions (trade, sell, buy) of game items.
3. The sale of digital assets for the purpose of laundering through the Steam platform.

If you read this information and ignore it or refuse to cooperate, we will be forced to impose additional restrictions on your account.


In case you do not speak English, please indicate your preferred language.
We can continue the investigation in the language you specify.

[Lilim]

Originally posted by abacaxi:

Any one knows if this is some sort of scam?

It's a scam!

Originally posted by abacaxi:

Hello, my friend recievied the following steam DM.

Valve employees will never communicate with you about your account using any chat system including Steam Chat and Discord.

Originally posted by abacaxi:

He has lost access to his account, and he is no longer on my friends list.

Your friend can recover his account if he lost access.

Steam Support page about Account Recovery

You must be logged out of all accounts to start the account recovery process.

You don't need access to the email, phone or password currently tied to the hijacked/hacked/stolen/lost account for this to work. Just pick the "I do not have access..." or a similar option when asked.

The recovery process allows you to provide proof of ownership.

And to help you sign-in: https://help.steampowered.com/en/wizard/HelpWithLogin

A step by step guide to the recovery process:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1126288560

[matt]

Obvious scam. Nobody from Valve will ever contact you through a method other than support tickets.