Steam Support is Unhelpful, Won't Return Scammed Items

[piggs]

I'm out of ideas. I think I've just lost them for good. Here's the conversation we had, should explain everything.

引用自 Me：

Please help. Someone quick-switch scammed me from my strange festive huntsman. I would give you the URL to his page, but seeing as he keeps changing it in an attempt to escape me, here's the scammer's ID:

(CENSORED)

Alright, well, allow me to explain. He asked me what I had for sale, and after talking for a while, we decided that I would give him my strange festive huntsman, along with many other normal weapons, for his buds. I put in the strange festive huntsman, and start putting in as many spare weapons as I could. Eventually, I had created a giant wall of weapons. And, being the moron I am, I didn't scroll up to see that he had removed the buds from the trade. He abruptly accepted trade, and although I was confused, I didn't think much of it. I just thought he was eager to get the items I had just put in. I accepted the trade, and was shocked and embarrassed to see that I had gotten no items out of it.

I don't care about the weapons I lost that much, but if I could get my Strange Festive Huntsman back, it would be appreciated. The weapons would be nice too, though.

I hear Steam Support is awesome, and I'm a big fan of Steam in general, so please don't let me down! Take your time to do whatever you have to do in order to sort this out; I'm sure you're very busy people with plenty of other people to help.

Thank you for your time.

引用自 Steam Support：

Hello (CENSORED),

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

As you have agreed upon the trade by confirming it multiple times, we will be unable to recover any items/gifts that have been traded.

During the trade, the system has you verify and re-verify it if any changes are made to the trade. It is your responsibility to ensure you are receiving the correct items/gifts at the time of accepting the trade.

We will investigate this user and take appropriate action. Please note that you will not receive a notification about any action taken as a result of this report.

Some examples of trades that you should not agree to are:

- Trading items/gifts for money outside of the Steam Community Market
- Trading items/gifts for CD keys
- Trading items/gifts and expecting them to be returned to you through a verbal agreement
- Trading items/gifts for nothing in return in the first trade and expecting to get an item or gift in a later trade

For more information on our Steam Trading Policy please visit the following FAQ:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9958-MJDG-3003

If you have any questions regarding this please let us know.

I left another message stating that I was disappointed that it took 8 DAYS for Steam Support to tell me that they could not help me, and while it WAS wrong of me to not check the trade, I didn't accept multiple times. I asked if I could get my items back if it was clear I was scammed, and all the only response I got was

"These lost items/gifts will not be returned. In the future, please be more careful when trading.

We will investigate this user and take appropriate action.

We will be unable to assist you further with this issue."

So yeah. I'm out of ideas. I'm a paying customer, too; I unboxed it myself, and I believe it's worth around 23 keys, or something to that effect. It's a shame that support isn't all it's made out to be.

[ManiacMal]

You won't get them back, it was your fault you didn't watch the trade. Valve can't hold your hand through the process. You got scammed all you can do is tell others about him, get him trade banned and just ruin his reputation. Other than that nothing.

[dirrtymartini]

引用自 Hashbrick：

You won't get them back, it was your fault you didn't watch the trade. Valve can't hold your hand through the process. You got scammed all you can do is tell others about him, get him trade banned and just ruin his reputation. Other than that nothing.

Maybe add an entry at Steamrep.com too? (never used it but traders mention it a lot)

[piggs]

引用自 dirrtygsharp：

引用自 Hashbrick：

You won't get them back, it was your fault you didn't watch the trade. Valve can't hold your hand through the process. You got scammed all you can do is tell others about him, get him trade banned and just ruin his reputation. Other than that nothing.

Maybe add an entry at Steamrep.com too? (never used it but traders mention it a lot)

His profile is private, and he scams at Mann Up servers. I don't think that would help.

And Hash is right. It is my fault I didn't watch the trade. But if they discover that it's clear that I was scammed, why would they refuse to return my items? After waiting for 8 days, I was hoping I wouldn't get the "lol no" answer that I got.

[ChrisW]

引用自 Pie4Pigs：

His profile is private, and he scams at Mann Up servers. I don't think that would help.

Why did you trade with him if you knew he was a scammer?

[KonG™]

Our goal is to educate our customers on how to safely and properly trade within Steam.

Verify trades prior to accepting them is your responsibility. Trades need to be verified twice before they are actually completed successfully.

The responses provided our aimed at teaching you what not to trade for and link you to the Steam Trading Policy which provides useful information about what Steam Support is able to assist you with.

[piggs]

引用自 ChrisW：

引用自 Pie4Pigs：

His profile is private, and he scams at Mann Up servers. I don't think that would help.

Why did you trade with him if you knew he was a scammer?

I didn't. The 'scamming at Mann Up servers' is kind of a guess, but it's where he got me, and I've seen plenty of unsuccessful scammers there. Assumptions are a habit of mine.

引用自 DerrickG：

Our goal is to educate our customers on how to safely and properly trade within Steam.

Verify trades prior to accepting them is your responsibility. Trades need to be verified twice before they are actually completed successfully.

The responses provided our aimed at teaching you what not to trade for and link you to the Steam Trading Policy which provides useful information about what Steam Support is able to assist you with.

I realized what I did wrong when I realized I was scammed, so I don't exactly understand how refusing to give me my items back helps teach me anything, but alright. I kind of give up. Had trouble trading the huntsman anyways. Thanks for the help.

[ManiacMal]

It's a tough love situation honestly. At least you are taking it well and not threathening to burn down valve or anything like some crazy people do. I commend you for that.

[Tito Shivan]

引用自 Pie4Pigs：

I realized what I did wrong when I realized I was scammed, so I don't exactly understand how refusing to give me my items back helps teach me anything, but alright. I kind of give up. Had trouble trading the huntsman anyways. Thanks for the help.

Usually, giving back the items ends up giving the wrong message.
People would end up realizing that 'scams can be rolled back'. Which turns them more careless because Support would be there to 'undo the wrongdoing'
Which means more scams happen, more people turn out to support because 'they already helped me once'...And if you do an exception once, sooner or later you'll have to make another, and another....

By not returning the items, people keep in mind the loss on future trades, keeps them more vigilant, less prone to falling again on a scam.
It's the stick part of the carrot & stick.

I've lived it on my daily work. Tell users until boredom to make backups of the important data, then when a disk goes gaga, you have to go through salvaging the data.
You insists on them making the backups... pray on deaf ears, another drive dies another struggle to get the data back, another time you insist on the bloody backups....
...
The day they really lose the only copy of their holidays photos, is the day they start taking backups seriously and take precautions and keep their important info redundant.

Many people need the stick in order to learn. And although you seem not to be one of those cases (by far ;) ), rules have to be set for the lowest common denominator. Dura Lex sed Lex.

[ChrisW]

Also, if they give you back the scammed items, the account they were removed from will now submit a support ticket. He will claim he is not a scammer and demand to have his items back. He may even claim he is the victim. For all we know, the person claiming they were scammed may be trying to scam someone else. How do we know the other person did not send them a cd key of pay money for those items outside the system? If so, having the items returned would be a way to keep the money and get your items back. Basically, there are two sides to every story which is why Valve will not (and should not) get involved.

[dirrtymartini]

引用自 ChrisW：

Also, if they give you back the scammed items, the account they were removed from will now submit a support ticket. He will claim he is not a scammer and demand to have his items back. He may even claim he is the victim. For all we know, the person claiming they were scammed may be trying to scam someone else. How do we know the other person did not send them a cd key of pay money for those items outside the system? If so, having the items returned would be a way to keep the money and get your items back. Basically, there are two sides to every story which is why Valve will not (and should not) get involved.

That's a great point. Giving back items means Valve has to deal with the issue TWICE -- twice the manhours, twice the costs, etc.

[Bufori™]

your item back?

[Felix]

引用自 chrissy™：

your item back?

No. If you actually read the Steam Trading Policy you will see that scammed items are not returned and it is your responsibility to verify the legitimacy of the trade.

[Геппатитб]

Nice