Notification of gifts sent to people I don't know

[alec_tron]

I just received notifications of gifts to two people who appear to be in other countries that I don't know (about 30 minutes apart). Allegedly I sent them games as gifts and they accepted them, but I never sent them. I do have a unique password for my account and I wasn't charged for anything, but it concerns me that this occurred. Is it possible there's a glitch in the system?

[Kargor]

If you sent gifts to people, then your account sent these gifts.

if you didn't initiate it, someone else did. which, in turn, means someone else has access to your account.

Also, there are no free gifts. If they didn't use your wallet or saved payment data to pay for these gifts, they've probably sent gifts you already had in your inventory.

[miamew3]

Do the following steps to secure your account. You can then try contacting steam support about the gifts sent but i doubt they will do anything about them but its still worth a try...

1. Scan for malware https://www.malwarebytes.com/
2. Check that the email and phone number on the Steam account are still yours.
3. Deauthorize all other devices https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage
4. Change passwords from a trusted/clean device.
5. Generate new backup codes for your Mobile App https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage
6. Revoke the API key https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey (there should be nothing in the APIKEY)

[VaLiuM]

If you had a stored payment method (which you should avoid having in case someone gets access to your account) that might be the culprit.

Check your history of purchases.

https://store.steampowered.com/account/history/

If there is nothing in it, then someone sent the gifts from your inventory.

If there is something in it, REFUND all gifts that were fraudulently purchased using your stored payment method.

How To Request A Refund

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/784C-923B-A4A1-C825

If you get a automated reply from Steam denying them, do manual refunds and explain the situation to get your money back.

Manual path requesting a refund or more:

Top left in client > Help > Steam Support > Purchases > Click on the game you want to refund > "I have a question about this purchase"

Explain the situation with all gifts that were purchased and informations about WHY it happened and that you want your money back.

Good luck.

[miamew3]

Originally posted by VaLiuM:

If you had a stored payment method (which you should avoid having in case someone gets access to your account) that might be the culprit.

Check your history of purchases.

https://store.steampowered.com/account/history/

If there is nothing in it, then someone sent the gifts from your inventory.

If there is something in it, REFUND all gifts that were fraudulently purchased using your stored payment method.

You cant refund a gifted game if it has been accepted by the other person. The person receiving the gift has to request the refund first.

[VaLiuM]

"If the gift was already redeemed, the recipient can request a refund under the same conditions as for a regular purchase."

It does exist. And since those gifts may have been bought in a fraudulent way, chances are high the money goes back.

"When a gift is refunded due to fraud or a payment dispute, the gift is removed from Steam. The account which redeemed the gift receives a notification that the game is no longer available to play in his or her Steam library."

Also:

"If a Steam gift was fraudulently obtained and a refund is requested, Steam can revoke the gift, removing it from the recipient's library."

There shouldn't be a problem for support initiating that but idk.

[miamew3]

Originally posted by VaLiuM:

If the gift was already redeemed, the recipient can request a refund under the same conditions as for a regular purchase. It does exist. And since those gifts may have been bought in a fraudulent way, chances are high the money goes back.

"When a gift is refunded due to fraud or a payment dispute, the gift is removed from Steam. The account which redeemed the gift receives a notification that the game is no longer available to play in his or her Steam library."

There shouldn't be a problem for support initiating that but idk.

Which is why i said in my original post he needs to contact support about the gift purchases but as his account was hijacked (ie: gave away his credentials) the chances steam will do anything about it is very slim..but it's still worth asking.

[VaLiuM]

Originally posted by miamew3:

Which is why i said in my original post he needs to contact support about the gift purchases but as his account was hijacked (ie: gave away his credentials) the chances steam will do anything about it is very slim..but it's still worth asking.

Could have been hidden malware as well on the computer, nobody knows, in any case, asking doesn't hurt a fly and if there are automated refunds upon request of the given, there shouldn't be a problem manually approving a refund due to fraud and reversing the purchase.

But usually yes, once accepted, the gift can't be refunded easily otherwise without the given's permission.

It all depends on how lenient Steam support staff is in this case.

[alec_tron]

Luckily I don't store payments on the site. I had some credit a few years ago, but I used it all up. The user CallCaramel has apparently stolen from a bunch of people from what I see on their profile. I did scan my computers and did reset passwords (for my mail account as well). I also reported the account with the information that I had. I'm not too worried about the two gifts as I had forgotten I had them (some Half Life versions). They did send 23 Community Profile awards to themselves as well.

Thanks for all the responses! Hopefully they get caught, but knowing how things go these days, they'll just create a new account and do the same thing again.

[Kargor]

Originally posted by alec_tron:

I did scan my computers and did reset passwords (for my mail account as well).

Passwords are mostly irrelevant. You need to "Deauthorize Devices" -- that kills all logins. There's also the question whether they could install their own authenticator... although I guess if your inventory wasn't traded away, they probably can't do that.

I'm not too worried about the two gifts as I had forgotten I had them (some Half Life versions). They did send 23 Community Profile awards to themselves as well.

Of course. Scammers will just send out everything they can from an account, so if you have Steam points they'll use these to buy awards for themselves.

[miamew3]

Originally posted by alec_tron:

I'm not too worried about the two gifts as I had forgotten I had them (some Half Life versions). They did send 23 Community Profile awards to themselves as well.

Resetting your password will revoke any awards given out provided it was less then 14 days ago since they was issued.