eSports Team Scam - How to spot it, avoid it, and recover from it

Old guide I made to help people out since this is a pretty common trick people fall for all the time recently.

Also available on Gamebanana: https://gamebanana.com/blogs/19239

Introduction

You're probably already familiar with this scam. It's already widespread and it's been beat like a dead horse. But unfortunately, people still continue to fall for it. This is very similar to the old "Free game for new users!" scam from around 2018 or 2019.

I've seen it dozens of times and it legitimately hurts to see people fall for it, because a lot of them never get their accounts back simply because they don't know what to do when this happens.

I've been there, done that. We all have at some point. Yes, even yours truly has fallen for obvious and dumb looking scams before. But here's the thing: You're not stupid for falling for a scam. Everyone can have it happen to them. Whether you are unfamiliar with the scams, in a good mood and not very aware, or just simply having one of those days, we all get scammed. Infact, you would be surprised what tricks scammers can come up with to make anyone fall for it. Everything they do, every step they take, has a purpose. And as such, if you have an open mind, you can figure these out.

How to Catch and Avoid the Scam

Assuming you've gone through the steps of going to the team's website or page and trying to vote, you'll spot a fake login box.

Unlike the older "free game" scams, the new fake esports team scams actually put the fake login box in an HTML iframe (on desktop only), so that they can create a fake window that pretends to be a normal Firefox or Chrome pop-up. They do this so that you can't see the real title bar of the browser window, and they can put their own fake URL in there.



There is an easy way to spot these fake windows:

• If it does not match your Windows theming settings
  
• If you're using MacOS or Linux then it won't blend in with your desktop at all
  
• Try to drag the window around, you'll probably notice some heavy mouse lag.
  
• Try to drag the window outside of the main Chrome or Firefox window, you won't be able to do it if it is fake.
  
• Try to drag the main Chrome or Firefox window. If the scam window moves with it, it is fake.
  
• Right click inside the window. If you see "Reload frame" or anything similar in the context menu, it is fake.
  
• Switch to another tab. If the window disappears and you cannot find it in your taskbar, but it comes back when you switch to the scam tab (which it absolutely shouldn't), it's a fake login box.
  
• Open a new tab on steamcommunity.com. Make sure you're logged in. After you're logged in, refresh the fake login box. If it doesn't show your name and a one-click "Sign In" button, it's a fake login box.

On mobile, it's a little easier to spot because they don't use this fake window tactic and instead choose to send you to the actual fake page directly, which will expose their real domain name. If you don't see a fake window, look at the URL bar!

Watch out for messages that look kinda like this:


...especially if they are from someone you don't know.

However, don't give any extra trust to someone you already have added--that's what the scammer wants. They'll often steal accounts like how they're trying to steal yours, so they can use your friendships to easily get victims.

What to do when Someone Else Gets Scammed

If you ever run into a situation where a friend of yours has their account compromised, and they are sending you the messages I showed you above, then calmly follow these steps:

1. Don't expose the scammer or let them know you're not falling for it. If they don't think you're cooperative enough, they will straight up block you so that you can't leave a comment warning others about them. This also has the potential to ruin a friendship if the owner does get their account back. You must be extremely careful.
   
2. Stall the scammer. Don't make it obvious you're wasting their time, either. Come up with an excuse, like homework or babysitting, or simply ignore them and hope they haven't figured it out yet. Usually, they will just wait for a few hours, or a day or two, and try messaging you again. The scammers aren't always bots though and they might be able to sniff out what's going on either by conversation or just sheer suspicion, so watch out.
   
3. Report the account. Report it as "sending suspicious links" and "appears to be compromised." Practice good opsec--don't let the scammer know you've reported them.
   
4. Talk directly to a real Steam moderator. You can find a list of them here. Colt is my personal favorite. Just leave a comment on their profile, or report the user another way if the moderator suggests so on their profile info. Moderators are very busy and probably don't like random DMs or friend requests. Try to include the compromised account's real Steam ID or URL, not the cosmetic one. If you're having trouble finding it, you can get it by looking up the account on SteamRep or the SteamDB Calculator.
   
5. Contact the friend outside of Steam, if possible. Let them know what to do to get their account back by sending them this guide.

How to Recover Your Stolen Account

Okay, first of all, and this probably sounds cheesy but... DON'T PANIC. People do dumb things when they are upset. The last thing you need to do right now is make a rushed decision. Now...

Securing the Stolen Account

Check your emails! Steam will often send an email to your email address if someone tries to change the email address to their own, and this email will often contain a link to lock the account. Click this link and follow the on-screen directions. Once you're done, visit your profile from your web browser. If you've done it correctly, your account should have a temporary Community and Trade ban on it, with the entire profile looking like it is private but without any red "This profile is private" messages. Steam Support will remove this restriction once the account is returned to you.

This ensures that the scammer cannot register stolen CD keys or attempt to trade your items away. It will also protect you from any unfair VAC bans incase the account is illegally sold to a cheater.

Contacting Support

Next, gather any and all information on your Steam account that would tie it to your real identity. This includes past phone numbers, past email addresses, the last 4 digits of any credit cards you've used, the full number of any gift cards or CD keys you have redeemed or own, and purchase dates or transaction numbers of any games you've bought. You can find receipts for your purchases in your email inbox, so assuming you haven't deleted them yet, start looking for them. Take note of the product purchased, the date, and any other information that may help identify that transaction.

Contact Steam Support by clicking "Forgot my password" on the login page and then going through all of the steps until you reach Steam support. You'll eventually be lead to a form where you can file a support ticket with your email address. Include all of the information you've collected, as well as a detailed rundown of the events leading up to your account being stolen, and an opening statement to help summarize what has happened.

Try not to scream, don't use all caps, and don't spam multiple support tickets. Don't cancel your support ticket to make a new one. All of these things will reduce the chance of Steam Support helping you. Try to sound professional and easy to understand. Most importantly: BE PATIENT. It will take anywhere from 2 days to even several weeks for you to get a response, unfortunately.

Things to Keep in Mind

There are some things to keep in mind while your account is locked down:

• Users already on your friends list are still able to be DM'd and therefore able to still be scammed.
  
• The scammer or hijacker will still have access to most of your account, and be able to see your Steam Community submissions, play your games, and see prettymuch everything you see. That includes your private conversations. They may even be able to make changes to groups that you own.
  
• If you login to other games or services using your Steam account, or play on servers that identify you by your SteamID, the hijacker will have access to those as well.

The purpose of locking your account is to prevent the hijacker from spreading the scam any further on your behalf to people you do not already know, as well as protecting your inventory contents. It will not protect you from everything forever, and you should try to recover the account as soon as possible.

Generally speaking, scammers do this for monetary gain, either to sell the accounts to cheaters as throwaways, or to sell the items for free money. A random scammer likely will not be concerned with your community posts or private messages. However, you can never be too careful.

Finding Chat Logs

In the situation that the scammer blocks you, or the other way around, and the chat window closes, you have up to two weeks before they are actually deleted. A full transcript of your chat logs can be found within minutes, and staff will be able to see it, so make sure to file a report as soon as possible and also comment what happened on a moderator profile so that it can be dealt with before those logs are truly gone forever.

Simply click Help in the top left of your Steam client, go to Steam Support > My Account> Data Related to My Steam Account, and scroll all the way down to Friend Chat Messages.

You'll have a full copy of any messages you have received or sent within the past two weeks, sorted from newest to oldest.

Epilogue

I hope this helps you stay safe from phishing scammers on Steam, and that you can use this guide to recover any stolen accounts.

If this guide helped you or any of your friends, be sure to Like and Favorite it


I strongly suggest reading these guides as well, as they provide a lot of useful information:

• Bans on Steam
  
• Avoiding Common Scams
  
• Steam Support: Scam FAQ (Confidence Scams and Trade Scams)
  
• Steam Support: Recovering a Stolen or Hijacked Steam Account

[pepto bismol]

just happened to me, only didnt fall for it because i have my account on my pc

[Dr. 3am]

this just happened to me and I fell for it but I got my acc back which is good

[iRook°͜°]

HAHAHAHA.....

[evil gal!!!!!!!!]

Damn this is underrated

[Аркан]

i received messages like this and i insta block them while they recover their accounts

[lightwo]

Read it for the sake of it (people still fall for this?), figured there's even an explanation how to deal with compromised friend accounts. Time well spent! Pretty good info.

[Run4ik1545 | mannco.trade]

Thanks you