Home Gaming Beware Steam trades – Valve are no longer returning items lost to scams

Beware Steam trades – Valve are no longer returning items lost to scams

2 min read
25

WAAAAH

“If you’re having scam problems, I feel bad for you son. I got 99 problems but returns ain’t one” – Valve

Yup, that’s right. If you happen to lose any precious items to a scam, Valve are no longer going to hand them back. This is according to a an update in the Steam Scam FAQ which states the following (via Destructoid):

Why will Steam not return items that were scammed?

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.

 

We sympathize with people who fall victim to scams, but we provide enough information on our website and within our trading system to help users make good trading decisions. All trade scams can be avoided.

It may seem a little harsh, but I can fully understand this stance from Valve. Some items are worth hundreds of dollars (believe it or not).

Yes, it costs nothing for Valve to duplicate said item for the person who lost it, but it has a negative impact on its value if they do. This is unfair to those who shell out hard earned cash – a consequence they face thanks to somebody being ignorant enough to fall for a scam.

Honestly, they’re easily avoided. I have received countless trade requests and random chats over the years, and you know what I do? Ignore/close/block them… it’s not difficult.

One thing that remains unclear, is how Valve treat items stolen from hijacked accounts – accounts that have been forcefully hacked. I would think that those goodies would be restored once the account is returned to its rightful owner. This doesn’t seem to be the case though.

A few months ago, a friend of mine had his account hijacked, along with some really expensive Dota 2 loot. He got his account back, but Valve never returned everything that had been stolen. Perhaps they felt his account was compromised because he clicked on dodgy link or something – which could’ve been avoided entirely in the first place if true.

Moral of the story: If you liked your Steam account, then you should’ve put a ring on it. Wait, no that’s not right. The point is, remain vigilant! Don’t go accepting random invites… you’re only setting yourself up to have your awesome loot nicked.

Last Updated: June 30, 2015

25 Comments

  1. How to avoid scams when you have a Valve account with over 200 friends and hundreds of awesome DotA and/or Counterstrike items:

    Step 1: Open Steam
    Step 2: Uninstall Steam
    Step 3: Perform Seppuku

    Reply

    • hairyknees

      June 30, 2015 at 13:18

      Me too, but I always chat and confirm before clicking anything 🙂

      Reply

      • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

        June 30, 2015 at 13:21

        You see I’m in two minds about chatting to these people if you’re worried that they might have hacked your mates account.

        Because my mother always said “don’t talk to strangers.” And a link is BASICALLY candy.
        RUN!

        So I end up instant defriending them instead… 😛

        Reply

        • hairyknees

          June 30, 2015 at 13:26

          I LOVE CANDY! But I love my Dota 2 goodies more 😛 got some really awesome shit I would haaate to lose. For example, a Puck set that isn’t worth too much, but it has gems tracking the hundreds of games I’ve played with that hero. DON’T TAKE IT PLEASE MR HACKER!

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief's Adventure

            June 30, 2015 at 13:28

            [makes diabololical plans to hack a hairy kneed one’s account]

          • hairyknees

            June 30, 2015 at 13:29

            Pfffft… I don’t accept Candy! GOOD LUCK! 😛

          • Admiral Chief's Adventure

            June 30, 2015 at 13:32

            Challenge ACCEPTED

          • Lord Chaos

            June 30, 2015 at 13:33

            *Passes Admiral the key codes

          • Admiral Chief's Adventure

            June 30, 2015 at 13:43

            I’ll hold his items ransom and make him minion #2

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            June 30, 2015 at 13:46

            Hey! Hey kid! You like some chips with salt & vinegar?

          • hairyknees

            June 30, 2015 at 13:51

            OOOH THANKS MISTER!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            June 30, 2015 at 14:19

            I used to be a gamer like you, but then I took a hack to the hairy knee.

          • Deceased

            June 30, 2015 at 14:59

            XD

    • Splooshypooh

      June 30, 2015 at 13:18

      Seppuku it is then 🙁

      ;P

      Reply

  2. Alien Emperor Trevor

    June 30, 2015 at 13:08

    If you liked your Steam account, then you should’ve put two factor authentication on it.

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      June 30, 2015 at 13:11

      That reminds me, I need to enable two factor authentication.

      Reply

      • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

        June 30, 2015 at 13:13

        You could buy it a chastity belt while you’re at it. 😀

        Reply

        • Lord Chaos

          June 30, 2015 at 13:22

          You really think HE needs it?

          Reply

          • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

            June 30, 2015 at 13:24

            Well I can change that to “buy it its very OWN chastity belt”?

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          June 30, 2015 at 13:44

          Why would I want to connect a console to my PC? 😉

          Reply

      • Ottokie

        June 30, 2015 at 13:16

        Is that where you have to enter the emailed pin as well?

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          June 30, 2015 at 13:44

          That’s it. They do it when you log into your client from somewhere new.

          Reply

      • Admiral Chief's Adventure

        June 30, 2015 at 13:19

        HAHA

        Reply

  3. Lord Chaos

    June 30, 2015 at 13:21

    They should probably the following to that to ensure the safety of some people:
    “Don’t eat the yellow snow”

    Reply

  4. Ottokie

    June 30, 2015 at 13:29

    Off topic, my bad: cant seem to log in to our groups area at the moment.

    Edit:Never mind just got in. Thanks if someone did something behind the scenes 😛

    Reply

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