How to avoid being scammed or phished.

So, basically this is a guide on how to not get scammed or phished. Self explanitory.

Note:
THIS IS SERIOUS. AND SHOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUS.

Reasons for contributors:
Eren Jaeger: He has been through my pain of phishing
ROA: Helped me out when someone was attempting to scam me.
Dun Bother Me: Old accout that got phished to death. Steam never helped me recover it.

Introduction

Alright everyone, this is a guide on how to not lose all of your games, or any other purchased stuff on you account. Here is a guide on how to not get scammed or phished.

You may be asking what's scamming or phishing?
Scamming: Paying more money/items than needed from the information from the other person.
Phishing: Loosing details to something important (like your credit card info etc.) from a site
EX: http://www.steamred. neg3. com <--Enter at your own risk. (I put spaces so Steam doesn't think I'm trying to phish)

How to avoid being scammed (long)

Scam:
1. Always have a price checking site (I recommend backpack.tf).
2. Have a middle man (someone close to you or one from steamrep.com).
3. Always check the rating on Steamrep.com for major trade (like Unusuals).
4. Make sure they have it in their inventory.
5. Make sure that is the real person. They can just change their picture and name and impersonate them. Always have the ID in notpad or something


Here's a story on someone almost being scammed (me)


"This user "your last resort:):" has tried to scam me.

His ID: Steam ID: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198078485433/

His new names (after he un-added me):
your dfgdfgdfsdfsdfsdasdasdsadsf
your dfgdfgdfsdfsdf
your dfgdfgdf
your last resort!:( (differing from "your last resort:(:
sd
sdssdasdasadasdasdfefeasdwasdwas
sdssdasda
sdssdasda
the yield face
the yield face

Me leading him into our "doubling TF2 items" conversation:

your last resort!:(: do you want me t odouble your tf2 items i have a whole website about doubleing you give me items i put them on my website then my clients double them

NORM: whats the process?

your last resort!:(: i put them on my website my clients check to see if we have them in stock they get the item they double it and they give it to me and then i give them back

NORM: can i see the website?

your last resort!:(: doesnt have an official name and me and my clients only have accses to it

NORM: hmmmm

NORM: so

NORM: do i like give you all my items?

your last resort!:(: ok if you want to

NORM: no i mean

NORM: like

your last resort!:(: its your choice

NORM: for the process

NORM: do i give you my items?

your last resort!:(: yea

your last resort!:(: dont have to give me all of them

NORM: how many people did this already?

your last resort!:(: 23,345

your last resort!:(: ive had the website for 1 years

your last resort!:(: 2 years sorry

NORM: the funny thing is

NORM: you only have 55 items

your last resort!:(: i know

NORM: hmmm

your last resort!:(: i give them the items and i have 104 people

your last resort!:(: who do the same thing i do

NORM: can i see some other people

NORM: for like proof?

your last resort!:(: they arent on my friends list

your last resort!:(: they are just my clients

NORM: okay

NORM: seems fair

NORM: you

NORM: are

NORM: a

NORM: dumb

NORM: ass

NORM: im not falling for that ♥♥♥♥

NORM: im recording you

NORM: i have your steam id

your last resort!:(: i have a website im not kidding

NORM: you ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up

NORM: oh yeah?

NORM: lety me see

your last resort!:( is now Offline.

This was a obvious scammer"

How to avoid being phished (long)

Phish:
1. Make sure the URL spelling is correct, same with all the grammar and spelling on the site. Any company that cares enough will make sure the grammar is 100 percent correct. *ahem* Activision dosen't care *ahem*
2. Make sure that you know the person. Don't go adding random people for the hell of it.
3. People with private profiles can be suspicious.
4. Make sure the layout of the site is correct, if it isn't, than close it out ASAP.
5. Test on a alternative account if wanted. What ever you're into. ALTERNATIVE


P.S. Most hijacked accounts are turned into bots that add random people and spam them with a phishing site. So beware of that. *ahem* Tip 2 *ahem*

P.P.S. Check their Steamrep, they have it for a reason.

Here's a story of someone almost being phished (not me)

"just almost got phished, i saw that it wasnt steam though, lucky me Feb 25, 2014"

Yes.. that's apperently it. No proof or anything. Why the ♥♥♥♥ is this on Steam rep. Hold on. (still not me)

Scam Report

"Report Type: DO NOT SUBMIT TO STEAMREP - Phishing
Virtual item type involved: [Steam] Other Community Items

Accused profile: 76561198104530569 (packyak)
| steamname: packyak
| steamID32: STEAM_0:1:72132420
| steamID64: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198104530569
| customURL:
| steamrep: http://steamrep.com/profiles/76561198104530569

Victim profile: 76561198084236887
| steamname: Bed Room Set $44.00
| steamID32: STEAM_0:1:61985579
| steamID64: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198084236887
| customURL: http://steamcommunity.com/id/bedroomset
| steamrep: http://steamrep.com/profiles/76561198084236887

What happened? Description:
Sent me a link to "His friend"'s profile. Link was fake, almost got phished. Luckily , google chrome protected me

Provide Evidence:
Never tell your password to anyone.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
packyak: Hi. My friend want to trade with you.
http:// steamncommuniity .com/id/AlvinZ/ <-- Enter at your own risk
Add him.

xX_BedRoomSet_Xx: hi

xX_BedRoomSet_Xx: how may i help you

xX_BedRoomSet_Xx: haha

xX_BedRoomSet_Xx: Nice phising link

xX_BedRoomSet_Xx: Reported

packyak is now Offline."

That's better.

This is a story of Eren Jaeger being phished (calaborator)

"So my friends account was phished and was turned into a bot, sending me a message saying: "Dude, you have to check this out, you can get 3 free games from steam right now! (link here)".
Back then I didn't know about phishing, and I was younger. Seeing this made me flip in excitement and opened the link. The website looked excatly like the Steam Community login screen, so I put in my info. the login consisted of my email and my Steam logins. after I "logged in" my Steam instantly logged me out and same with my email. Typical phishing; changed the passwords and logged in.
It took me about 10 mins to figure out what happend and quickly jumped into my linked email account and changed the password to that one. After that, I logged into my main email, and changed my Steam password.

The moral of the story is: Don't accept free games from a phishy site, and always have a backup account."

Ending

So yeah, just be careful. People can be really cruel. Believe it or not I got phished. The account name was "Dun Bother Me" and who ♥♥♥♥♥♥ me was simply "Hi." Yeah. That bastard. Stay safe.

Remember: Better Safe than Sorry

[CHIMICHANGAS]

:)

[CHIMICHANGAS]

thx

[CHIMICHANGAS]

thz

[76561198067124408]

It's safe

[CHIMICHANGAS]

can u plz tell me if i is safe

[CHIMICHANGAS]

warehouse.tf i think it is or something like that i guess i think many people use it or something i suppose

[CHIMICHANGAS]

is warhouse (site) safe

[CHIMICHANGAS]

hi