Your experiences with scams/scammers of any kind (1 Viewer)

[Zeprus]

So maybe we can help each other out to avoid any scams and I didn't find such a thread yet so here we go:

Someone attempting a "middleman" scam:

Zeprus: Hi, how may I help you?
A for ACE: hi there
A for ACE: i just saw your outpost post and im interested
Zeprus: The Huntsman or the unusual?^^
A for ACE: your unusual hat
A for ACE has declined your trade request.
A for ACE: hmm
A for ACE: wait
A for ACE: your selling it for 20 keys right?
Zeprus: Yes
A for ACE: i can go for 20 keys but can i make sure first if your unusual hat is not one of those bug items that when after the trade session is done the item it self will disapear
A for ACE: i dont wanna be just like my friend
Zeprus: Sure thing, do you want a report with your free item?
A for ACE: what do you mean?
Zeprus: Obvious scam is obvious
A for ACE: what?
A for ACE: sorry but i dont understand you
Zeprus: I guess you want me to trade you the hat and you give me the 20 keys after you recieved it?
A for ACE: nope
A for ACE: do you have a friend there online to hold your unusual hat for a bit after i see it will apear on his inventory he can trade it back to you and we begin trading
Zeprus: So now you want to impersionate my friend and do the middleman scam?
A for ACE: what?
Zeprus: No, I'm sry. You can trade for the hat the normal way or I have to decline it
A for ACE: what do you mean impersionate?
A for ACE: sorry but i need to make sure
A for ACE: if you dont want its fine
A for ACE: i dont want to force you
Zeprus: I haven't heard of such "glitch" items yet
A for ACE: sorry but my friend was a victim and i dont like to be just like him
Zeprus: let me see...
Zeprus: Btw why is your backpack private? Aren't you trading with tf2outpost?
A for ACE: nope
A for ACE: my friend was get his keys in tf2outpost
A for ACE: and i just private my inventory to prevent such thing
A for ACE: so can i make sure first?
Zeprus: well there is none of my trusted friends online
A for ACE: can you call one of them?
A for ACE: sorry but i need to make sure
Zeprus: I'm trying to, wait a sec
A for ACE: owh

What is happening here? So basically a middleman scam is, for those who don't know, when someone asks you to first trade your item to a trusted friend of yours. And after you did that he's most likely going to create a Groupchat with you and your "friend" who is actually his friend impersionating your friend. Then he'll ask you to trade your item to him and run with it.

 

[MercyOnly]

That almost happened to me once - luckily, I refused to go out of World of Warcraft ( linked to Steam ), so he couldn't impersonate me at all.

Middleman scams are the worst.

 

[Jayy]

I once received a trade offer from a random dude from my friends list who wanted my unusual napper's respite. He didn't add any items in change for the unusual. However, the trade offer description had a copied text that said that 40€ would be added to my steam wallet if I accepted the trade. He was a 12-year-old kid and I assumed he didn't realize what he was about to do. I declined the offer and decided to talk with him.

So, I told him about what would happen if he got caught. I guess he got kinda desperate after that. He told me that he was a steam bot and that my account would be banned if I didn't give away my unusual. After that I just reported him on steam and ignored him.

If I remember right, @Ron made a steamrep report of this one for me and the guy got a scammer tag. He had a history of a few other unsuccessful scam attempts.

 

[RIS`]

1. This method was very popular but died out now, players would offer for your items without putting anything in the trade, and say that they would give you money for it. Never go through with that, as obvious as it looks, many have fallen for it.
2. Phishing links, really annoying. Private profiles should be given an instant block unless you know the person from somewhere. Clicking these links usually either adds a shitty virus to your PC/laptop or sends information to the scammer. Both are really annoying.
3. This isn't possible now but you all should still know if you don't already. While trading and not trade offering, the player would give their respective items and ask for yours. Legit price and all. Then he/she would ask you multiple times saying "are you going to click ready to trade now?". Before you clicked the ready-to-trade button, the scammer would quickly swap their valuable items for a shitty item such as a crates, without the notice of you and you would end up selling Bill's for a bunch of crates and scrap metal. This wouldn't happen if you're observant though, and it's not possible thanks to the steam confirmation.

 

[Supreme]

Not sure why, but no one has ever even tried to scam me before. People have tried the middleman scam on my friends before and I've helped them out but knew what the other person was trying to do, so it didn't work. However I've never had anyone even add me trying this sort of thing, besides someone adding me trying to buy keys with paypal w/o rep, that's the furthest I go.

 

[Zeprus]

3. This isn't possible now but you all should still know if you don't already. While trading and not trade offering, the player would give their respective items and ask for yours. Legit price and all. Then he/she would ask you multiple times saying "are you going to click ready to trade now?". Before you clicked the ready-to-trade button, the scammer would quickly swap their valuable items for a shitty item such as a crates, without the notice of you and you would end up selling Bill's for a bunch of crates and scrap metal. This wouldn't happen if you're observant though, and it's not possible thanks to the steam confirmation.

There is a new form of this in unusual trading in wich people try to sell a high tier unusual and after they added it and you added the Keys/Items whatsoever they'll get an excuse to remove their unusual or restart the trade and add a low tier unusual instead.

 

[Supreme]

There is a new form of this in unusual trading in wich people try to sell a high tier unusual and after they added it and you added the Keys/Items whatsoever they'll get an excuse to remove their unusual or restart the trade and add a low tier unusual instead.

That's been going on for years.

 

[Danny]

A long time ago I wanted to sell a Strange Shovel for 2 Scrap Metals. The market price for it was 1 Scrap. A guy wanted to buy it for the price I offered. I accepted the trade request and I placed the Strange Shovel on one of the boxes. He added two Scrap Metals. We both checked "Ready to trade" and I clicked "Make Trade". I didn't get shit, however I didn't get shit, since I wanted to get rid of that weapon. So I did not bother reporting the dude for scamming me for a Scrap Metal.
This is the one and only scam I have ever experienced.