Revoked game, account restricted..?

[Turret_Bud]

Alright so I purchased a game from G2A and the next day I received the following message:

"Steam Support Alert for turret_bud - June 2
This account appears to have been used for fraudulent activity.

Steam Support has flagged your account as potentially having been used for fraudulent activities. Please contact Steam Support so that we can assist you.



This account will have restricted functionality until this issue is resolved.

Purchasing, gifting, trading, buying and selling items on the Community Market, and cd-key activation have been disabled.

More info on this topic is available here: Steam Terms of Service Agreement."

My game was removed from my library, which doesn't really bother me because I had a G2A shield on so I can contact them and get it back, but as far as the restricted account I am confused on what I need to do to get it un-restricted... have any of you had a similar experience? I've submitted a support ticket but haven't received any reply in 3 days; there is a message that says 'next step' and gives me steps if I suspect my account stolen but my account wasn't stolen... How long does it take for an actual reply to a ticket? Is there a faster way?

[HLCinSC]

It can take around 2 weeks but possibly more.

Some of the sites like G2A sell products often without vetting sources and require methods harmful to the user.
-Regular keys.
They can come from illegitimate sources and publishers then later revoke them in mass. They can come from users that buy them elsewhere then sell them on G2A and after they get the money, they issue a chargeback forces Steam to revoke the key
-Steam Gifts
Buying and selling Steam gifts is against the SSA. If caught, the game will be revoked and if Steam suspects the buyer may be part of a larger ring their account can be suspended, though they will usually lift the suspension and let the user off with a warning. If Steam gifts are charged back the same thing happens as with keys, the game will be removed from the users account.
-Region restrictions
They offer region restricted games which require VPN's to activate which can lead to a game being revoked all the way to a temporary or permanent account restriction.

So these sites can be considered shady. If something goes wrong Steam will refuse to help and may deal out additional punishments. You know it's a red flag when a site offers "Shield" insurance if you want them to stand by their product. Are all or even the majority of products sites like G2A illegitimate? Of course not; but there is a substantial risk you take when purchasing from them

[Turret_Bud]

Originally posted by EndCivilForfeitureFundingByCops:

It can take around 2 weeks but possibly more.

Some of the sites like G2A sell products often without vetting sources and require methods harmful to the user.
-Regular keys.
They can come from illegitimate sources and publishers then later revoke them in mass. They can come from users that buy them elsewhere then sell them on G2A and after they get the money, they issue a chargeback forces Steam to revoke the key
-Steam Gifts
Buying and selling Steam gifts is against the SSA. If caught, the game will be revoked and if Steam suspects the buyer may be part of a larger ring their account can be suspended, though they will usually lift the suspension and let the user off with a warning. If Steam gifts are charged back the same thing happens as with keys, the game will be removed from the users account.
-Region restrictions
They offer region restricted games which require VPN's to activate which can lead to a game being revoked all the way to a temporary or permanent account restriction.

So these sites can be considered shady. If something goes wrong Steam will refuse to help and may deal out additional punishments. You know it's a red flag when a site offers "Shield" insurance if you want them to stand by their product. Are all or even the majority of products sites like G2A illegitimate? Of course not; but there is a substantial risk you take when purchasing from them

Alright, I wasn't aware that purchasing a steam gift was against the SSA, I read through the SSA ( http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/ )specifically the parts which were about purchasing games and third party sites etc, didn't see anything about that; probably missed something. Thanks for all of the information, could you assist me in finding that bit about the purchasing of gifts being against the SSA? Thanks again!

[HLCinSC]

I'm not sure of the exact section that covers it and the support page only says you are breaking the SSA by selling a game gift.


"May I sell gift subscriptions?
Steam Gift Purchases can not be sold. Attempting to sell a gift subscription is a violation of the Steam Subscriber Agreement and may result in your account being permanently disabled. You can trade gifts using our new Steam Trading system and can read more about that here."
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?p_faqid=549#sellgifts

The suspension page also covers redemption of fraudulently bought games (but no mention of legitimately purchased gifts):
"Redeeming Fraudulent Gifts
Never accept a gift from an unknown user. Any accounts tied to a redeemed gift from a fraudulent source may be suspended."
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5406-WFZC-5519&l=english

[Turret_Bud]

I wasn't familiar with the phrase 'gift subscription', but I figured out that was what purchasing a game is called on steam. The wording on these are a little confusing I get the last one but it should really clarify that purchasing a gift is not okay (if it isn't...) from the wording it seem like a one-sided street where only the seller gets in trouble "Attempting to sell a gift subscription is a violation of the Steam Subscriber Agreement". I'm assuming my account was restricted because I was tied to the fraudulent source. Anyway thanks a lot for the information!

[HLCinSC]

Yeah it happens all the time and it is penalizing the victim/creating another victim. Usially, it just takes a message to support explaining what happened and that you were not part of any fraud and unaware that anything fraudulent was going on