Inform reporters if actions were taken when you report another Steam Profile.

[Crash]

For this instance I am mostly targeting the Steam Profile from scammers. I am probably not the only one who gets regular invites from random players and after accepting their invite, it turns out they are after my items. Some say they are a moderator at this gambling website and others direct you to a website which uses phissing to get access to your Steam credentials...

I usually report these accounts straight away, but after having filled in numerous of reports over the years, I noticed that I never received a notification about what happened with my reports. Unlike CSGO for example, where you get informed if actions were taken due to you having reported another player, Steam does not give you any feedback whatsoever. I feel like it would encourage players to actively report scammers, if the reporter got some kind of a verification that his reports are actually making a difference.

-Crash

[Satoru]

you get an email or a community message when actions are taken

[Gus the Crocodile]

Yeah, a while back they did add Community Message notifications for when action is taken on something you reported ("Thanks for reporting a profile", "Thanks for reporting a discussions post" etc). Personally I'd prefer they were more specific, as in telling you which item they were actually referring to and notifying you in cases where Steam has decided to take no action, but the notifications do at least exist. There's just a bit of a delay on it since I guess Steam is always working through a backlog of reports.

[Crash]

Originally posted by Satoru:

you get an email or a community message when actions are taken

If that is actually the case, then I think none of my reports have made any impact... :P

[Crash]

Just double checked, but I have never received an email about Steam having taken action on any of my reports. Not even anything related to it.

It's just a shame, cause especially those phishing websites which are being used more and more often, have been quite effective into stealing Steam credentials. A couple of my friends got scammed this way as well and lost a serious amount of valuable items from their account. You might say that it's their own fault, but it feels like Valve is taking no measurements at all to stop these scammers. At least highlight the problem, perhaps showing a popup with some detailed information when everyone boots their Steam.

The only reason why phishing sites are so commonly used lately, must be that they are a really effective in obtaining someone else's Steam credentials. I think being able to report Steam accounts is a good step in the right direction, but we (players) can only do so much. Valve has to make some bigger changes if they want to fight against these scammers.

[Crazy Tiger]

As far as I know you don't get an email, but you do get a notification (top right corner, the little envelope also has a tab for community messages). I received a couple in the past 2 weeks.

Regarding phishing websites, not that much that Valve can do about that. People logging in on sites they shouldn't is a user problem.
Reported profiles are being looked at, but just because you see no action, doesn't mean no actian is taken. Often the profiles scammers use are stolen profiles anyway.

[Crafozura]

You don't receive an email. You will receive a steam community message about it. You mailbox at the top right in steam overlay(or at library) will turn green. Click on it and scroll down and it will say "Community message".

It can take weeks or months before an action has been placed. Just keep in mind that there are daily 1000000s of reports. Fake or real ones,

--------

It is their own fault and they weren't scammed, i think they clicked on one of the bot links that directs you to a fake website.. You will add in your pass and username to "receive " the item. Which you will never get and you pretty much get robbed.. So it's their own fault and loss for their greed. Valve has warned the users many times about this before and trading outside steam.. No item's will not be returned.

So they aren't scammers as they are pretty much bots in the first place.. And you can't call them scammers as players are stupid enough to believe into this.. Greed makes people blind.

[snozIQ hetshasse]

you dont get an email or a community message when actions are taken

[ KARR™]

Originally posted by Matthew Thacuk kom slå mig:

you dont get an email or a community message when actions are taken

Then i have no idea why i get these:

Action has been taken on a report you submitted — 21 Jan @ 11:39pm
Thanks for reporting a profile
A profile you reported has been reviewed and action has been taken. Thank you for helping to make the Steam Community a better place.

Please visit our Community Rules and Guidelines Article for more information on how we moderate Steam.

[Crash]

Originally posted by  KARR™:

Originally posted by Matthew Thacuk kom slå mig:

you dont get an email or a community message when actions are taken

Then i have no idea why i get these:

Action has been taken on a report you submitted — 21 Jan @ 11:39pm
Thanks for reporting a profile
A profile you reported has been reviewed and action has been taken. Thank you for helping to make the Steam Community a better place.

Please visit our Community Rules and Guidelines Article for more information on how we moderate Steam.

Then either all the reports I have made in the past 3-4 years were invalid or perhaps they do not inform players from certain regions?

[Crash]

Originally posted by みoƦƦoƦ ₣o父:

You don't receive an email. You will receive a steam community message about it. You mailbox at the top right in steam overlay(or at library) will turn green. Click on it and scroll down and it will say "Community message".

It can take weeks or months before an action has been placed. Just keep in mind that there are daily 1000000s of reports. Fake or real ones,

--------

It is their own fault and they weren't scammed, i think they clicked on one of the bot links that directs you to a fake website.. You will add in your pass and username to "receive " the item. Which you will never get and you pretty much get robbed.. So it's their own fault and loss for their greed. Valve has warned the users many times about this before and trading outside steam.. No item's will not be returned.

So they aren't scammers as they are pretty much bots in the first place.. And you can't call them scammers as players are stupid enough to believe into this.. Greed makes people blind.

I agree that it is their own fault and I know they are not getting their items back, however that was not the point I tried to make. I have seen a lot more scammers trying to use the phishing websites lately and I do think that Valve can take precautions against these. It is not solely the problem of the end user, Valve can easily make some steps into preventing more of their players being scammed. I don't believe this is totally out of Valve's control...

For example a simple start would be making a blacklist of certain websites. Whenever a new report is made about a phishing website, they could flag all accounts automatically which post those url's in their profile or in chat. That would be a great start IMO. Yes the scammers can easily host the website under a new URL, but as long as the reports keep coming, the websites should be blacklisted relatively quickly.

For all I know, they can automatically search through all links posted on the Steam platform, to see if there might be anything suspicious about the website.


Or actually... how about they change their Steam Guard...
Instead of entering the code on your phone, onto the website, they should make it the other way around. The website sends you a login request to your phone. On your phone you can see what the request is for.
For example:
- Incoming request to log into a Steam Client (USER-PC)
- Incoming request to log into CSGO-trading (Steam-API)
- Incoming request to log into the Steam Website

So in theory, external websites which support Steam logins make use of some kind of a Steam API. I assume all of the websites which make use of this API are listed somewhere by Valve.
So in the case of the phishing, the websites are probably not using an API, but simply refer to the Steam Client or Website. So if you try to login onto the phishing website and you get the request to confirm your login on your phone, but you see it tries to log you into a Steam Client, you'd know something is wrong.


I might be missing some things, but I am certain that Valve can do more than just let players report accounts.

Thanks for coming to my TED-talk
*drops mic*

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by Crash:

.
Or actually... how about they change their Steam Guard...
Instead of entering the code on your phone, onto the website, they should make it the other way around. The website sends you a login request to your phone. On your phone you can see what the request is for.

The actual system works with an offline mobile device, your system requires the device to be connected to the internet.

[Crash]

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

The actual system works with an offline mobile device, your system requires the device to be connected to the internet.

That is true, the current Steam Guard works offline and with the suggestion it has to be connected to the interwebs. I still think its a worthy discussion topic though.