VAC BANNED due to skin trading

[Richiscooked]

On 05/17/2024 I received a Black Nile AWP through a trade I did on "Skinsmonkey.com"...apparently that skin was reported as stolen by its original owner? I'm now currently banned due to the "Investigation of theft" because of this, as well as money laundering and some other accusation that was outrageous. If you purchase a vehicle in your local area...and that car happens to be stolen but you've genuinely got absolutely NO CLUE...should you go to prison for car theft? Am I at fault here? Maybe I'm coping but I figured I'd throw a post on here to see if someone else believes I'm at fault because I've genuinely done nothing wrong but am facing a VAC BAN as well as my inventory being stripped because of someone's incompetency with 3rd party trading...

[FFL2and3rocks]

It's a scam. Your account is compromised and someone is trying to hijack your account. You are not VAC banned.

The trading website you were using is a phishing site, and you gave away your login information.

[Richiscooked]

@FFL2and3rocks

Are you serious...?

I've used Skinsmonkey for so long and have never had anything like this occur before. The account looked like a real rep from valve that was contacting me through my steam account and everything. They even said I could transfer all of my skins to a trusted friend in order for them to be verified as "legal" skins.

Is there a way to confirm that I'm not VAC banned? Because I was given a case No. and everything. Skinsmonkey being a phishing site is so heartbreaking to hear.

[Gold]

Originally posted by Richisco:

@FFL2and3rocks

Are you serious...?

I've used Skinsmonkey for so long and have never had anything like this occur before. The account looked like a real rep from valve that was contacting me through my steam account and everything. They even said I could transfer all of my skins to a trusted friend in order for them to be verified as "legal" skins.

Is there a way to confirm that I'm not VAC banned? Because I was given a case No. and everything. Skinsmonkey being a phishing site is so heartbreaking to hear.

These types of 3rd party websites were never truly trustworthy to begin with.

Your account is not VAC banned, if it was then that would be visible in red letters on your profile. These scams exploit as much gullibility from people as possible, which is why they're still a thing.

[Richiscooked]

I feel like an absolute idiot now. Welp. This is a rather harsh lesson to learn but I appreciate the quick and well put responses. Time to cope harder than I ever have before and reset all of my passwords

[168cm 83kg 13cm]

SkinsMonkey is legit tho. You haven't been "robbed" by skinsmonkey. You fell victim to the API scam by someone replacing skinsmonkey trade offer to their own.
One of the oldest tricks in the book.

[BJWyler]

Originally posted by Kimchi Enjoyer:

SkinsMonkey is legit tho. You haven't been "robbed" by skinsmonkey. You fell victim to the API scam by someone replacing skinsmonkey trade offer to their own.
One of the oldest tricks in the book.

Skin monkey is not legit, and it's exactly how the API scam was placed. None of the skin trading sites are legit and all have had scams and hijacked accounts traced back to them.

[Callahan420]

Originally posted by Kimchi Enjoyer:

SkinsMonkey is legit tho. You haven't been "robbed" by skinsmonkey. You fell victim to the API scam by someone replacing skinsmonkey trade offer to their own.
One of the oldest tricks in the book.

All third party skin trading/gambling sites are scams.

[168cm 83kg 13cm]

Originally posted by BJWyler:

Originally posted by Kimchi Enjoyer:

SkinsMonkey is legit tho. You haven't been "robbed" by skinsmonkey. You fell victim to the API scam by someone replacing skinsmonkey trade offer to their own.
One of the oldest tricks in the book.

Skin monkey is not legit, and it's exactly how the API scam was placed. None of the skin trading sites are legit and all have had scams and hijacked accounts traced back to them.

yeah buddy, y'all need to take off your tin foil hat. I believe multimillion-dollar skin trading companies have more important business to do than rob you of your 30$ worth of skins lmaao

[168cm 83kg 13cm]

Originally posted by Callahan420:

Originally posted by Kimchi Enjoyer:

SkinsMonkey is legit tho. You haven't been "robbed" by skinsmonkey. You fell victim to the API scam by someone replacing skinsmonkey trade offer to their own.
One of the oldest tricks in the book.

All third party skin trading/gambling sites are scams.

Absolutely. Skin trading sites are scams. Crypto is scam. Credit cards are scam. Everything around you is scam, such a convenient word, isn't it?

[Vamp]

The skin trading sites themselves might not be scams, but the way they do business allows users to abuse the system and steal your stuff.
which.. makes the skin trading sites scam sites since they allow for these kinda tricks.

[168cm 83kg 13cm]

Originally posted by Vamp:

The skin trading sites themselves might not be scams, but the way they do business allows users to abuse the system and steal your stuff.
which.. makes the skin trading sites scam sites since they allow for these kinda tricks.

There is nothing wrong with how they do business. Idk if you guys actually don't get what happened or are just trolling. OP got API-scammed, most probably by logging into a fake steam login page pretending to be skinmonkey. Real skin-trading sites like skinmonkey/csmoney/skinport/buff163 don't need you to fill in anything because they use steam sign-in based on securely-transmitted codes. If you enter your steam credentials on the fake page, it will also ask for your Steam Guard authentication code. From there, the scammers log into your account and set the API key themselves. Now, any new trades you make will automatically get canceled and redirected to the scammer's account. These scammers also try to pressure victims by threatening them with VAC bans (exactly what they did with OP, that's why he is writing in this forum). This tactic causes panic and stops the victim from quickly taking safety measures.

There are hundreds of reported cases of this happening on steam forums and reddit, and none of the skin trading sites have anything to do with it. It's the same as how Microsoft has nothing to do with Indian scammers pretending to be Microsoft tech support and charging $80 to "unlock" your PC, you know what I mean?

Some interesting examples of "skinsmonkey/csmoney" scam, check out the comments:
https://www.reddit.com/r/csgo/comments/1cogs2b/finally_got_my_first_knife_tried_to_trade_on/
https://www.reddit.com/r/cs2/comments/183vi33/got_hit_with_a_skinsmonkey_api_scam/
https://www.reddit.com/r/cs2/comments/1cfhmnd/skinsmonkey_stay_away_wtf_anomaly/

[SpeedFreak1972]

Hmm using reddit as proof ....

[168cm 83kg 13cm]

Originally posted by SpeedFreak1972:

Hmm using reddit as proof ....

Proof of what exactly? Where am I "using reddit as proof"?
Damn, some individuals on these forums never cease to amaze me with their unironically below room temperature IQ. And ofc I'll be the one to get forum banned for stating that rather than those who post ♥♥♥♥ and contribute nothing to the OP's thread

[Lilim]

Originally posted by Richisco:

The account looked like a real rep from valve that was contacting me through my steam account and everything. They even said I could transfer all of my skins to a trusted friend in order for them to be verified as "legal" skins.

Is there a way to confirm that I'm not VAC banned? Because I was given a case No. and everything. Skinsmonkey being a phishing site is so heartbreaking to hear.

You have no VAC ban.

<vacBanned>0</vacBanned>
<tradeBanState>None</tradeBanState>

It was not a real Valve employee.

Read more about that scam here:

Scam: I Have Been Reported and Will Be Banned


Your account is compromised.

Do not trade until your account is secured.

Take the following steps to secure your account:

1. Scan for malware. https://www.malwarebytes.com/
2. Check that the email and phone number on the Steam account are still yours.
3. Deauthorize all other devices. https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage
4. Change passwords from a clean computer.
5. Generate new backup codes for your Mobile App. https://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage
6. Revoke the API key (there should be no key). https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey

Originally posted by Scam FAQ:

Why doesn't Steam return scammed items?

Our community assigns an item a value that is at least partially determined by that item's scarcity. If more copies of the item are added to the economy through inventory rollbacks, the value of every other instance of that item would be reduced.

[Ç!ｲ!乙3η-ﾒ]

Make sure you do all the steps mentioned above by Lilim.. number 5 is very important...

In future if a site asks you to log in via steam, open a new page and log into this address first using the same browser:

https://store.steampowered.com/login/

Once logged in refresh the page that is asking you to login via steam using f5 (again this must be on the same browser). If it is a legit page it will ask you to confirm the correct account is logging in by clicking a button, and not ask you to put your details in again...

If after you refresh the site page still asks for your login details then it is not legit.


Use this link to help with the security of your account: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6639-EB3C-EC79-FF60