Attn Card Farmers: Do NOT Use SteamX !

[_Soj_]

"Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!!"

Needing to farm a boatload of cards -- and seeing how Idle Daddy has now fallen into disrepair and is essentially unusable -- I decided to roll the dice on the "functional but questionable" SteamX app, with it's odd need for full login permissions for its servers (i.e. Steam Guard code needed. Yes, I know. Very risky).

App seemed to perform well, and all seemed fine.

A day later, while using Steam Mobile, I suddenly get logged out of my account. I passed it off as probably just another one of Steam's periodic, system-wide resets, and so thought nothing of it.

So, I waited a little, then tried logging back in. But now my phone was suddenly showing the dreaded "Unrecognized Device" message! Yikes!

I went through the account recovery process, and successfully (and thankfully) restored my acct. I can safely say 'restore' because upon completion of that maze-like series of steps, I was finally met with relief at being presented with the "Welcome Back!" screen. Whew! I also have a mild, two-day hold on traded items now -- more proof that something nefarious had been attempted.

Now, I need to clarify something here: I never have nor ever will use ANY Counter Strike trading sites. I have always paid Lord Gaben his tax by using Steam Market EXCLUSIVELY for such items, and Barter.vg-based trades of other inventory items (e.g. Sacks of Gems).

Trusted, well-established sites like SteamTrades, SteamGifts and Barter, which I have used for years and have had zero problems with, can then be effectively ruled out as suspects.

So, what does that leave? The "clever" criminals of SteamX, who I believe are masquerading as businessmen providing a card farming service.

Upon establishing their server as an authorized device, they probably not only run a script in order to flag certain valuable accounts to be targeted and then later seized, but also have a way to de-authorize your device (temporarily, at least) and make theirs primary.

If they did this to everybody there would have been such an uproar that Google would have taken down their app long ago. Instead, they keep it selective, so they can continue to fly under the radar. Now I see how they operate.

TL;DR: Avoid SteamX for farming cards. You may be in for a nasty surprise...

Note: Here's a handy tip.. To quickly check all current authorized devices for your acct -- and remove anything suspicious and/or not recognized -- go to Steam Guard, tap on the gear icon in the lower right corner (if you're using Steam Mobile), then select Authorized Devices, and inspect the list.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Repirt the app properly in the app store.

[lavalobster93]

shocker, the third party app was not safe to use with your account credentials

[_Soj_]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Repirt the app properly in the app store.

:winterbunny2023:

People already have. No action has been taken. I thought it better to 'report' it here, in the hope that it may reach more people.

Edit: Went ahead and wrote one, anyway...(Username: Pist Uzer)

[_Soj_]

Originally posted by BOT Anna:

shocker, the third party app was not safe to use with your account credentials

Yeah, I know. It was risky and I learned the hard way. Never again.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

I don't know anyone on the main forums that has ever mentioned that app for idling. Probably a good reason why.