Stop Steam Moderator "Accidental Report" Scams on Discord via Pop-ups in Steam Applications and Steam Store Banners.

[SF64]

Users on Discord claim that your account was flagged/reported for some reason, and a ban is incoming unless you talk to Solo, a Steam administrator. On Discord.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's run into this, and I know people who have had their accounts hijacked. They have their items pawned off, and their accounts are eventually banned, with seemingly no appeal. Discord takes their accounts down, only for the problem to increase. It's like a hydra, you cut off its head and three more take its place.


These users take the victim's full name, phone number, linked email, password, payment information, purchase history and Steam Guard codes. In return, they remove the victim's recovery information and wrench control from the victim, claiming that they need to "unlink all of their devices while the system resets their status".


Not only is this a serious violation of user privacy (ESPECIALLY for minors), it's a violation of the rules Steam has in place regarding impersonation of staff and phishing for personally identifiable information.


In the dawn of the summer sale, we're going to have a rough start. People saving up may have their accounts drained alongside their wallets, not only preventing them from buying games they may be looking forward to, but will ruin their Steam experience as well. Let's let the Steam userbase know:

1. Steam will not request for you to contact them in a support ticket.
   
2. Users aren't likely to contact you claiming that a false report has been filed.
   
3. Steam personnel will not look into tickets on Discord.
   
4. Steam will contact you if something wrong happens via the primary contact method on your account, and
   
5. If someone is claiming to be a Steam Admin on a platform other than Steam, it is likely someone aiming to phish you.

We should also make it strikingly clear that any personally identifiable information should go through the proper channels (ie. https://help.steampowered.com/en/wizard/HelpRequestCantLogin).

[м]

People already ignore the warnings on steam before they get scammed, i'm sure they will just do the same with warnings on discord.

[Edifier]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย FALL1N1:

I talked to a moderator in discord called "solo' and he has a steam moderator shield. Because i had some trade issue and i receive an email ask me to contact this moderator. Is this real?

No, it's a scam. A blatant scam.

No Steam Moderator is going to branding their Steam Moderator power on Discord. It's just not gonna happen.

Also anytime a "Moderator" ask for your stuff, account details, passwords and other stuff they are trying to scam you.

[FALL1N1]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Edifier:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย FALL1N1:

I talked to a moderator in discord called "solo' and he has a steam moderator shield. Because i had some trade issue and i receive an email ask me to contact this moderator. Is this real?

No, it's a scam. A blatant scam.

No Steam Moderator is going to branding their Steam Moderator power on Discord. It's just not gonna happen.

Also anytime a "Moderator" ask for your stuff, account details, passwords and other stuff they are trying to scam you.

But this title shows 'unless you talk to Solo, a Steam administrator. On Discord.'

[Count_Dandyman]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย FALL1N1:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Edifier:

No, it's a scam. A blatant scam.

No Steam Moderator is going to branding their Steam Moderator power on Discord. It's just not gonna happen.

Also anytime a "Moderator" ask for your stuff, account details, passwords and other stuff they are trying to scam you.

But this title shows 'unless you talk to Solo, a Steam administrator. On Discord.'

That is a lie from the scammers to try and make you fall for the other lies they tell you after to get you to hand over what they want.

[FALL1N1]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Count_Dandyman:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย FALL1N1:

But this title shows 'unless you talk to Solo, a Steam administrator. On Discord.'

That is a lie from the scammers to try and make you fall for the other lies they tell you after to get you to hand over what they want.

so how do i contact them?

[Edifier]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย FALL1N1:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Edifier:

No, it's a scam. A blatant scam.

No Steam Moderator is going to branding their Steam Moderator power on Discord. It's just not gonna happen.

Also anytime a "Moderator" ask for your stuff, account details, passwords and other stuff they are trying to scam you.

But this title shows 'unless you talk to Solo, a Steam administrator. On Discord.'

Even if he was real, a Steam Moderator do not help you with trades. So it's a scam.

Please trust us on this.

[Count_Dandyman]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย FALL1N1:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Count_Dandyman:

That is a lie from the scammers to try and make you fall for the other lies they tell you after to get you to hand over what they want.

so how do i contact them?

You don't the entire thing is a scam and false

[[N]ebsun]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย FALL1N1:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Count_Dandyman:

That is a lie from the scammers to try and make you fall for the other lies they tell you after to get you to hand over what they want.

so how do i contact them?

It's a scam, you don't contact Steam anywhere but Steam. If you are having problems with Steam or someone somewhere is telling you to contact Steam support - log a Steam support ticket on Steam through the Help > Steam Support button.

[MagicMight]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย FALL1N1:

But this title shows 'unless you talk to Solo, a Steam administrator. On Discord.'

You need to acquire two skills if you want to wade through the internet without issues.

The first one is comprehension. I.e. you quoted the second half of the above sentence by itself and that changes its meaning.

Second, LOGIC. Try to understand why something is happening. Whatever someone tells you, could it be of advantage to them?

Are they who they say they are? For example, if I talk to you on discord with a steam shield, sword or lance icon next to my name, should you trust me? Calm down and use logic. Don't make fast decisions just because someone is telling you to rush.

If you practise those two basic skills you will never again need anyone to explain to you whether something is a scam or not. And this mindset will be useful in real life as well.

[Sleepy Yoshi]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย FALL1N1:

I talked to a moderator in discord called "solo' and he has a steam moderator shield. Because i had some trade issue and i receive an email ask me to contact this moderator. Is this real?

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6639-EB3C-EC79-FF60

read the first box titled "watch out for Account Hijacking:"

[[N]ebsun]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย MagicMight:

Calm down and use logic. Don't make fast decisions just because someone is telling you to rush.

Good advice there, a sense of urgency is one of a few common tactics used by scammers, liars, thieves, or people with other such similar malicious intent, to try attack your mental state and make it more difficult for you to act rationally.

When you are stressed / rushed - that is when you make mistakes, so any time someone is trying to rush you or stress you - calm down and think.

[FALL1N1]

so what does moderator do exactly?

[Edifier]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย FALL1N1:

so what does moderator do exactly?

Moderators on these discussion Moderate posts made on the discussions. They ban trolls and lock topics that are spam among other things.


But trades are not one of the things they deal with. Not even Valves own Moderator team deals with trades. Trades are user interaction only.

[Tito Shivan]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Edifier:

But trades are not one of the things they deal with. Not even Valves own Moderator team deals with trades. Trades are user interaction only.

Just to add on top of this:
Neither Steam moderators nor Valve staff will contact users in regards their accounts, trades or items. specially through channels outside of Steam

All official communication through Steam will be delivered through the Steam Client. And forum/community bans & warnings through your community messages on your account.

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย FALL1N1:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Edifier:

No, it's a scam. A blatant scam.

No Steam Moderator is going to branding their Steam Moderator power on Discord. It's just not gonna happen.

Also anytime a "Moderator" ask for your stuff, account details, passwords and other stuff they are trying to scam you.

But this title shows 'unless you talk to Solo, a Steam administrator. On Discord.'

So what? If i edit a screenshot saying I'm the President of Uruguay are you going to believe me?