Types of SCAM on steam and more!

In this guide, I will talk in detail about all the current types of fraud on Steam and not only related to deceiving users for various things, for example, skins in CS2.

Scam - what is it?

Definition of the concept of SCAM, and a short monologue.

So let's begin. Scam is the definition of fraud, that is, scammers are ordinary thieves who are no different from criminals and
how bandits, just like in real life, commit illegal actions - they steal, deceive, etc.

Fraud, as in ordinary life, is punishable by law, and I hope that those who commit such actions on Steam and on the Internet in general will bear the appropriate punishment. Alas, over the past years and time in general, scammers have become more numerous, as well as methods of deception.

Platforms where there are scammers!

Here I would like to list those applications where the largest number of scammers live, and how they communicate in one or another messenger.

Application: - Discord, Steam, Twitter, Twitch, Telegram, VK (for the RU segment), various sites for selling skins, chat, Instagram, YT - not all, but the main platforms where scammers live.

What 'basic' sentences do they write in these messengers? Of course, scammers have the same goal - to deceive you, but sometimes they modify the messages, depending on the messenger and what is there, for example; Discord - a person writes from an exchange server, and accordingly, his message subject will correspond to the type - Hello, your items are currently available for exchange, or - Are you ready to exchange right now?

Discord

So, discord is the most popular messenger in general for gamers and is a convenient platform for trading items from cs2 due to the availability and possibility of creating servers for exchange. Since there are many such servers, as well as people trading on them, there are naturally quite a lot of scammers too. The most basic messages they usually write are 1. Hello, let's trade!
2. Can I purchase skins for cash?
3. Interested in exchanging for (a specific item)
Of course, there are ordinary users who want to exchange, but after such messages you should strain yourself and become more attentive. Also, if a person asks strange questions like: Are skins available for exchange? At the same time, you sent a link to a trade where you can see what skins are available, then this is already strange and most likely this is a scammer. It is also worth understanding that you can send an exchange proposal directly in Steam and, if necessary, add and discuss the trade on Steam.

Steam

Well, Steam is the most popular platform among traders and, accordingly, scammers, unfortunately. How to identify them - scammers? Easy and simple, firstly, many have default Steam accounts - with lvl from 10-30, but most often from 10-20. Further, they have default accounts with beautiful illustrations, closed comments/friends list/inventory. Further, many people have clocked up hours in games, usually from 1-3k hours. Further, they write default comments of the type - lets trade, etc., which is easy to determine.
Further, if you have added them as friends, and they write with a proposal to play a tournament/vote for a team in a tournament, then you know that this is a scammer and you can safely block him. Alas, there is no point in reporting it, since usually scammers have entire “networks” of accounts, and by banning one of their accounts they will move to another.

Twitter

Next on the list is Twitter, also a fairly popular messenger for exchanging skins, where there are also plenty of scammers. Alas, I haven’t used this offer as much as the ones listed above, and therefore I won’t be able to describe it in detail, but, having interviewed my familiar traders, I can point out that they usually write some kind of nonsense like in discord, offering an exchange for real money , or asking if items are available for exchange.

Twitch

Next on our list is unexpectedly... Twitch. Yes, this is not a messenger or a place for exchange, but nevertheless there are just as many of them there, but their design of deception is different, namely, they are looking for streamers with expensive equipment, and write to them with an offer to play a tournament on behalf of the same streamers or YouTubers (yes, they create channels and get everything on them - subscribers, views and comments). Also, they may offer to play on some third-party platform where you register you will lose your account data. In general, about 90 percent of the people who write to you on Twitch and you have a low online level are scammers, be careful.

Telegram/VK

Telegram and VK are two not very popular messengers in Europe, but very popular in the CIS segment, where scammers also live in huge numbers. Both here and there, they almost always cheat when trying to sell you some skin at a super cheap price, so if you see a price that is too distracting from the one on Steam and on official markets, you should know that these are scammers. Also, if you want to sell yours for real money, then it’s better to do this is on the sites, because when you try to sell it to an ordinary person, most likely they will try to deceive you by offering a “guarantor” - a person responsible for the transaction, who is like an intermediary between the person receiving the skin and the recipient of the money, who will be the scammer’s partner and will defraud you. Also, people trying to buy/sell something from you always force you to send skins/money first, but you should NEVER agree to this, as most likely you will be deceived.

YT/Chats/Instagram

Well, YouTube, like Twitch, is not a messenger, and especially scammers don’t sit there, except to use the videos there to track those who have expensive events and write to them with the aim of deceiving, so just don’t follow any links and sites that are sent in the comments. Instagram is also not a popular messenger for trading skins and scammers, but they can also send malicious links and write in private messages about the 'trade' where they will try to deceive you, so be careful.
then there are ordinary chats on markets, I simply don’t recommend being there, because there are few worthwhile offers there, and there are a lot of scammers calling to discuss the purchase of skins in discord, so, being on sub-sites, I simply don’t advise sitting in such chats and not moving to other applications.


Well, many more different applications/messengers can be discussed and given as examples, but I have highlighted the main ones. The most basic protection is not to click on links, not to add suspicious people as friends, and not to move from one sentence to another.

Types and methods of scam!

A long section about what methods of deception there are and what types of scam there are.

Types of Skam

There are actually many types of scam: Scam using phishing links, websites, servers/groups, tournaments. Scam with the help of social engineering, Scam during trade, Scam with substitution of trade, Scam during sales, Scam on behalf of popular personalities.

Scam using phishing links

Well, one of the most popular methods of deception is using phishing links. Links are posted everywhere - on Discord, Steam, in various instant messengers, and even in comments on Instagram, etc. Well, one of the most popular methods of deception is using phishing links. Links are posted everywhere - on Discord, Steam, in various instant messengers, and even in comments on Instagram, etc. Sometimes, one click is enough to steal some of your information from your accounts, but most often these links lead to phishing sites when you register on which you will lose access to your account. But usually malicious links contain third-party software that will automatically download third-party software to your PC, which can download viruses, or begin to read information from keys and gain access to passwords, etc. So, I strongly recommend that you do not click on third-party links or download anything from them.

Websites

Next, the sites refer us to phishing links, and when you click on them, you will be redirected to phishing sites. Phishing sites can be presented as anything - Steam, Faceit, a site selling skins, a site with roulettes, etc. They are all excited by the fact that when registering, another window appears, and there you need to register. If you previously entered data into official Steam and you saved it, then it will ALWAYS be automatically inserted you don't need to enter anything to login!
Further, I would like to list where such links most often exist, namely: on Steam, in comments, in personal messages, etc. Most often they lead to a site for exchange or registration for a tournament. Also, on Faceit there is something similar, you are invited to play a tournament and asked to confirm the rules of the tournament - you proceed, and by registering you lose your account data.When going to the site, you must check whether the link is the same - since instead of the usual link to steam - https://steamcommunity.com/, there may be a similar one - https://steammcommunity.com/, with two letters m.

Servers/Groups

Sites and groups. These are things that are everywhere, but which are created by scammers. For example, in Discord there are servers with 1-5k people on the server, but in the administration there are scammers whose goal is to deceive you, and there are the same ones in Steam.. Alas, it is very difficult to find and complain about them, since they constantly change everything, after a major deception and reports do not work for them. Here we already need banal caution and attentiveness, since, for example, there was a case when people were deceived using a regular, legitimate website.. How did the cheating happen? And it’s very simple, the person didn’t know the language the site was in, didn’t know the mechanics of its work and... simply lost his skins, from which we can conclude that firstly, you always need to understand how this or that site works, understand the language that is used on the site and be very careful.

Scam using social engineering

The most common type of fraud. In general, when you communicate with a person in a voice channel, or in a regular chat, when the scammer gains your trust and they are ready to spend weeks/months on this if you have very expensive inventory. Usually they work in rootstocks or one at a time, it also depends on the situation. The reason they will find you is an offer to play a tournament/sell something. When calling you into the voice channel, they often try to talk you out,to talk you out and you lose concentration so you need to be careful. Further, they can often be too polite and rush you into making a decision.

Scam on behalf of popular personalities

an old way of deception - on behalf of YouTubers/media personalities asking for skins for a video, or for a fictitious category, for example, where they ask for skins and then, after 7 days, they send more, as if saying - that you are great, but, in fact The scammer will simply block you or feed you with promises that he will return the skins. Never trust such people, because NOBODY cares about you, especially YouTubers.

Scam when using third-party software

The scam method is no less harmful than those listed above, but less widespread, in my opinion. Panels on websites are a relatively old method of deception, a person writes to you, introducing himself as the administrator of one of the roulette/case sites, where he offers you a contract - you are given a balance, the admin adjusts the roulette so that, say, red comes up, passes the information to you, you bet on red and.. win. This offer is conditional on withdrawing the money and dividing it 50/50.What’s the catch, you ask me, and it lies in the fact that in order to withdraw money you first need to upload a certain number of skins for a certain amount, and even after doing this, you will have to send more and more skins, and the admin will say that there is a site error, and in the end you will not receive anything.Or, there is another alternative - you are offered to become the administrator of such a site, and in addition to registering on the site, you also need to download this very “panel” with which you will manage the sites, but, of course, this is an ordinary virus, nothing more. This was one example of how you can be scammed using third-party software.

The above-mentioned scam with an invitation to 'vote'

One of the most common scam methods, by which you can identify a scammer literally 15 seconds after you accept him as a friend, namely, you add him, and he writes to you with an offer to either play or vote for his team in the 'tournament'. Both the first and second sentences mean that you would follow the phishing link that he sent you, supposedly to 'vote', but in fact, after registering on this site, or simply by clicking on this link you will lose access to your account. So if a person writes to you with these two sentences and sends a link, know that this is a scammer, and do not follow the link.

Types and methods if scam! (p.2)

Part 2, because it didn’t fit in the first.

Scam on behalf of Steam 'employees'.

Another and rather banal scam method, but one that many people fell for at one time. It consists in the fact that a person writes to you on Steam on behalf of a Steam employee, and says that you have problems with your account, and you need to provide him with account information, or he will start calling you on discord in order to discuss this outside. IMPORTANT NOTE, NEVER go to other apps to discuss something like this, as if you deceived then Steam support will not be able to help you, since it works and will ONLY check chats on Steam. Further, it is worth adding that people who introduce themselves as Steam employees may try to deceive you in a different, but more impressive way, namely: - you have already registered on some phishing site and third parties have gained access to your Steam, BUT, they didn’t do anything and they couldn’t be detected just by looking at your profile, that is, exchange offers, purchases, profile changes, passwords - everything is normal and does not arouse suspicion. BUT, at some point, they may start changing your profile - they will close everything - friends lists, comments, etc., delete your profile picture, change your nickname to numbers, as if it were your ID, then they will write either to you from another account or to section of the profile 'about yourself' that they say your account is in some kind of shadow ban and it needs to be unblocked, and then different methods are offered - go to discord with supposedly Steam moderators, or blackmail begins, that either your profile will be blocked, or you will give away some of the skins (depending on what the scammer needs). Please remember and know that moderators and Steam employees will NEVER write to you ANYWHERE, much less ask for your personal data and also not go to Steam. And, of course, they will not write anything in the 'about me' category.

API key and Trade substitution!

IP Key - what is it and what is trade substitution?

API Key - An Application Programming Interface Key is a secret, unique identifier used to authenticate and authorize a user, developer, or caller to an API.
What does an API key do? User Authentication - The Steam API Key provides a user authentication system, allowing users to log into their accounts on the Steam platform through external applications or websites.
In general, when downloading an extension for trading or anything else, for example for the buff163 site, your API key is used. Using your API key you can gain control over your account and therefore you need to take care of it and monitor it.

The concept of 'Substitution of trades' Substitution of trades occurs and is regulated through the panel to which scammers link you, knowing your API key or account data. That is, it makes no sense for them to steal your account if they can quietly monitor and manage it. How does the change take place? For example, you want to sell an item on a website, say for $100, and at the time of sending the exchange and confirming it in the mobile authenticator, the trade is replaced and sent to scammer bot. Using this panel, they can change the price at which the trade will change, roughly speaking, by sending an exchange offer from 10 to 100 dollars nothing will happen, but from 100 - the exchange will automatically be sent to the scam bot. You can also notice this if trades are canceled and sent without your knowledge. How to be careful? Change your account details, API key and do not follow links, do not register on phishing sites.

Conclusion!

Tips and Conclusion

So, this is the conclusion of my guide about what scam methods and methods exist. Perhaps what I would like to say is that this is a small part of everything and is not written in very detail, but it is quite clear to understand what types of fraud there are. The most important thing to remember: -
1. Be very careful and check EVERYTHING.
2. Don’t believe in freebies and the fact that you will be at a greater advantage, this is not true, free cheese is only in a mousetrap!
3. At a minimum, register on sites and do not follow links.
4. If you don’t understand something, figure it out first.
5. If this or that site/person/link seems suspicious to you, check EVERYTHING, all data, links, etc., and if anything confuses you, do not follow the link/register/don’t trust the scammer.
6. Check your IP key more often, because if it changes, urgently change your account data and create a new key.
7. Trust and go only to trusted sites.

Links to useful resources

API key - https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey
A site where you can check any link for virus content - https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/upload

Good luck everyone, be careful! I hope my guide helped you!

[Yamanawe]

Thank you buddy

[takk?]

Very nice)

[Yamanawe]

Thank you for appreciating my work and I am extremely happy to hear that my guide helped!

[Donut Knight]

It is SUPER admirable the amount of time and effort you put into trying to help people from being scammed, keep being awesome :)

[Yamanawe]

Thank you mate

[¡Poksoni B / S / T Skins]

nice

[PeekaBooo]

ty

[Yamanawe]

welcome!

[WLF]

txs

[Yamanawe]

Oh no..