TF2 scams, and how to avoid them.

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snizzle

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Mar 3, 2018
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So here lately random players have been adding me wanting to trade, sure. I enjoy trading, making a profit is nice, but only when it's done the right way.
After the last few days at least 3 different users have tried to trade scam me, and usually they always sound fishy when they are wanting to 'check to see if my items are clean', after they mention that it really starts to sound scammy. for example, they might want to talk with a steam rep, (a 3rd party trade) to check the items.

Best advice I can give is when they mention having to check if the item is safe, marketable, or duplicated then so far, 100% of the time the trade is bogus, and its best to back away from it.
Even if the trade sounds really good.

Does anyone else have any suggestions on how to prevent trade scams? or any scam in general. I'm sure others would like to hear!
-Snizzle
 
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MissMaye

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Yeah, lose the shorts!
^ this is joke dont google it

accept trades from bots and listings on websites you trust, trade with people in-server, no escrow at all no matter how many +rep you see on a profile, DON'T accept steam giftcard code offers, plus other common sense things.
 

Jineron

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Jun 25, 2018
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If you have done unusual trading, you know what does that mean when an item is clean or not. You can check that out on backpack.tf, checking the history of your item and seeing its IDs to know if it is or not.

The difference between clean or not ; it is clean, then if your items got stolen, the support can "duplicate" it and you can restore your items safely. If it's not, then the support can't duplicate the already duplicated item and it often means you won't get them back.

It was back in the beginning of trading a big deal, since there wasn't any mobile authent. nor any email confirmation for a trade, so you could get hack really easily and lose everything, unless the support give you everything back but duplicated.

If someone ask you if your items are clean, it's for this purpose and for trading purpose ; most of people are still not inclined enough to get a duplicated item just for safety ( including me, I don't like them ) and it often means it will be hard to sell ( but I still have a doubt it will, since there is alot more security than it ever was ).

----

Back to what you've posted, since I wanted to let what I knew on that subject. It's a really old trick ; most of new traders doesn't know what a clean item is. They act this way ;

Trader A - Trader B - Buddy of A

Trader A ask to Trader B if their items is clean, because of whatever reasons.

Trader B doesn't know, so they ask them.

Trader A explain them they need someone with a rep or something to check if the items are clean <-------- That's where the scam begins :smart:

Trader B check the rep of Buddy A

Buddy A is like 51567457 +rep from strangers that doesn't have many post. Alts ? Oh why would you think of that mate :trump:

Trader B trust Trader A and trade their items to Buddy A expecting to know if they are clean or not ( which, once again, it is something you can see anytime you want on backpack.tf, clicking an item and checking "History" )

And then you know where it leads, since Buddy A won't trade them back, they delete and disconnect since they are scammers, blablabla, then they trade to many and many alts to avoid every troubles and sell the items to sites, like scrap.tf, mann.co, many more.

I know this from experiences, I'm a really old dog who traded many and many many many unusuals since years... Which is still something I'm doing :trump:


There is phishing links, bait sites, etc... You have tones and tones who tricks who wanna scam you in any ways. Just stay safe. Ask twice before you fall for something.
 

Lithium

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Jul 4, 2018
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If you have done unusual trading, you know what does that mean when an item is clean or not. You can check that out on backpack.tf, checking the history of your item and seeing its IDs to know if it is or not.

The difference between clean or not ; it is clean, then if your items got stolen, the support can "duplicate" it and you can restore your items safely. If it's not, then the support can't duplicate the already duplicated item and it often means you won't get them back.

It was back in the beginning of trading a big deal, since there wasn't any mobile authent. nor any email confirmation for a trade, so you could get hack really easily and lose everything, unless the support give you everything back but duplicated.

If someone ask you if your items are clean, it's for this purpose and for trading purpose ; most of people are still not inclined enough to get a duplicated item just for safety ( including me, I don't like them ) and it often means it will be hard to sell ( but I still have a doubt it will, since there is alot more security than it ever was ).

----

Back to what you've posted, since I wanted to let what I knew on that subject. It's a really old trick ; most of new traders doesn't know what a clean item is. They act this way ;

Trader A - Trader B - Buddy of A

Trader A ask to Trader B if their items is clean, because of whatever reasons.

Trader B doesn't know, so they ask them.

Trader A explain them they need someone with a rep or something to check if the items are clean <-------- That's where the scam begins :smart:

Trader B check the rep of Buddy A

Buddy A is like 51567457 +rep from strangers that doesn't have many post. Alts ? Oh why would you think of that mate :trump:

Trader B trust Trader A and trade their items to Buddy A expecting to know if they are clean or not ( which, once again, it is something you can see anytime you want on backpack.tf, clicking an item and checking "History" )

And then you know where it leads, since Buddy A won't trade them back, they delete and disconnect since they are scammers, blablabla, then they trade to many and many alts to avoid every troubles and sell the items to sites, like scrap.tf, mann.co, many more.

I know this from experiences, I'm a really old dog who traded many and many many many unusuals since years... Which is still something I'm doing :trump:


There is phishing links, bait sites, etc... You have tones and tones who tricks who wanna scam you in any ways. Just stay safe. Ask twice before you fall for something.
Although their is phishing links Valve has made it to where unrecognized links would give you the option to go to that website, also Valve automatically removes phishing links and replaces the link with "{ LINK REMOVED }". Also I have never been scammed before because I have looked up tons and tons of videos about how to be aware in-case of a scammer
 

DuckGod

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Aug 1, 2017
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Sometimes traders link backpack from backpack.tf to their profile.

If their inventory is private, this is most likely a scammer
But to make sure, click on the link.
You’ll get to the real owners backpack, all you need to do now, is go to the profile via backpack.tf and if this is a different profile, the first person is a scammer.
 
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snizzle

Member
Mar 3, 2018
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Wow this thread is getting a lot of attention! Thanks for the info Jineron.
You did say something that someone tried doing to me, and even though I didn't click it, this person/ ex friend of mine, sent me a message saying some of the items I had were duplicates , and have been 'banned' from their website. Now, when they sent me a link, it looked really screwy, and they asked over and over if I had clicked it. I told them yes(which I didn't), and they were like good, good, eventually they knew I hadn't clicked the link they had sent me, and later I told them I had snag'd a screenshot of our convo, and reporting them for trying to scam me. Which I did.
So knowing if I had not clicked a link, makes it even easier for someone to hack/scam your account.

Starting to catch onto these scammers, one thing to look out for is when someone is impersonating a trader with decent quality hats. Usually they will always ask you ' do you have skype, or discord', and usually I tell them No, I do not. They insist on it to the point where they are 'reducing the price' of the unusual I am wanting.
I've read that people can share your system on skype, if you are not carful.
Sorry to hear about your lost knife Keith =(. One thing we can do is to continue to report the scammers. Atleast, someone else higher-up can be made aware of them.
 

Jineron

Member
Jun 25, 2018
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France
Actually, it was indistinguishable from the orignal game to the fake game, that's why there was so many scams. Image of the game was same, the name, everything, could even add stuff on the item like spells, kills, etc... Now, they somehow fixed it by putting 2 warnings before trading to an unknown game you don't own / new to the steam store.

Neitherless, you can still ask the seller to check the item in game, now that I think of it. If they can't / don't want, then it's fake. Even if they want and they come in game but don't show it, then it still fake.

Thank god they managed to do something about it.
 
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