Got raped by Steam

Overslop · 15 Apr 2013 at 23:38

Jackaby said:
Glad I'm not involved in the trading side of things then!

But I do feel for you man, I'd be fuming if I lost my steam account - good luck getting it back!

Thanks.

Overslop · 15 Apr 2013 at 23:40

Hellfire257 said:
It might have been prevented by cashing in his chips and bailing out before it got to this stage.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying OP is at fault, but I think it would have been a wise precaution to have bailed as soon as the warnings came along - that or get in touch with support then.

Although, hindsight is 20/20.

I did get in touch with support then but they refused to cooperate. You are right though, should have quit then.

Overslop · 15 Apr 2013 at 23:42

Rezident said:
Scary, I've traded a lot but I don't know how you can ensure the goods you buy are all 100% legit. Very worrying.

I'd be worried too, though I'm guessing these kind of incidents are relatively rare.

Overslop · 15 Apr 2013 at 23:44

Frxn said:
That sucks man, it's obviously Steam that's at fault. Hope Gabe/one of his assistants are able to help.

Never knew there was so much money in TF2 items lol, had the game before it was F2P and only played it once. Amazing the amount of crap some people will spend money on.

I'm willing to accept some responsibility but in my view it's less than the hacker, Steam for failing to prevent the hack and the account holder who didn't protect his account sufficiently. That's why I think the permaban is massively unfair.

And yes, the prices of some of these items is indeed mental!

Overslop · 15 Apr 2013 at 23:47

genan said:
I had my account locked a few years back due to an unauthorized PayPal chargeback on a £5 game, never got it back so good luck.

Wow, hope you didn't have too many games in it! :eek:

Overslop · 15 Apr 2013 at 23:48

Wh00pS said:
He hasn't been arrested, his account hasn't been banned and he hasn't had the items confiscated he still owns them and can give them away if he wishes.
All that has happened is he has been stopped from trading. He gambled with a large amount of his own money and it's failed.

I agree mostly with what you say. But for me the perceived risk was losing money and being scammed; not getting banned for the reason they gave me.

Overslop · 15 Apr 2013 at 23:49

garnhamr said:
Hope this thread will atleast make others think twice about using this trading system. I know i'll not bother ever looking at it.
Hope you get some actual support from them op!

Thanks.

Overslop · 15 Apr 2013 at 23:49

Chrisbes said:
I suspect quite a few people either haven't read the post properly or don't understand what the steam trading is all about.

I think you should definitely contact someone higher up. It is obviously a mistake, there's no way in hell you could have known that the items you were receiving were, in fact stolen from an account that should have been secured. In reality, you should have been contacted first in order to work out what actually happened - But that cannot stand for every situation.

Hope you get your trading privileges back though, it'd be a right shame to lose that much considering you actually did nothing wrong.

Thanks, already contacted Gabe and a couple of Valve employees so crossing my fingers...

Overslop · 15 Apr 2013 at 23:51

gareth170 said:
I thought in the frequently asked questions it says to only trade and accept gifts from people you really know (friends & family)?

Perhaps but they also support a massive game trading forum on their website as well as linking you to various other websites that centre around game trading. They certainly don't discourage people from trading with strangers.

Overslop · 15 Apr 2013 at 23:52

genan said:
Steam like any other company is trying to fight piracy but they are doing it stupidly. You can lose your account by receiving one dodgy gift. Only accept gifts from people you know.

It doesn't have anything to do with piracy though. :confused:

And I haven't received gifts from random strangers. Just trades.

Overslop · 15 Apr 2013 at 23:53

Sleepery said:
Hope it gets sorted, and nice one OcUK for trying to help out. Some of the comments in this thread though, bloody hell, just go out and get 'I am an idiot' stamped across your forehead and that way people will be pre-warned when you open your mouth.

Thanks and yes, general support here has been fantastic - a big thanks to all!

Overslop · 15 Apr 2013 at 23:54

Semiskimmed said:
Its such a grey area this, its difficult for both sides to really know whos legit etc. However it would really suck to lose out from no fault of your own. Hope you get it sorted out and valve come up with safety measures for innocent traders.

Agreed and many thanks.

Overslop · 15 Apr 2013 at 23:56

platypus said:
Contact a few gaming websites if Valve won't help you. Kotaku, Rockpaperscissors etc.

I know RPS helped one guy before so it's an option a little way down the line, along with other sites.

Overslop · 16 Apr 2013 at 00:00

Evga_Gamer said:
I doubt Steam will overturn there decision, for all they know, you could have bought the stolen keys and known about them.

I don't know if it's some keys, a game or any other item - they won't tell me. I accept that from their point of view I might have known this mystery item was hijacked but slapping me with a permaban seems rather excessive to me. Especially as I certainly have NEVER traded for items I knew were stolen. If someone had offered me items like that, I wouldn't have accepted them. But it's highly unlikely anyone would advertise the fact an item has been nicked and as I've tried to explain it's nigh on impossible for someone other than the hacker to know any better.

anthony566 · 16 Apr 2013 at 00:32

Now I'm not sure if this applies to steam or not but in the UK you have rights under the Freedom Of Information Act and if this applies then you can request the information around there findings for your trading ban and they must provide you with the information you just have to put it in writing.

Overslop · 18 Apr 2013 at 03:35

anthony566 said:
Now I'm not sure if this applies to steam or not but in the UK you have rights under the Freedom Of Information Act and if this applies then you can request the information around there findings for your trading ban and they must provide you with the information you just have to put it in writing.

What about when it involved other people though? i.e. whoever is alleged to have given me the stolen items.

Not sure finding out would help anyway, Steam are ignoring all my messages and closing my tickets without responding now.

MarkeR · 18 Apr 2013 at 04:02

Foi doesn't apply to private companies. You can request all data held by a company using the data protection act, I am sure they will make you pay for it.

I would small claims court case them, they will probably not even turn up. You in and ask or a claim of the amount sitting in your trade acc that you cannot sell, up to 7500 I think now.

Overslop · 18 Apr 2013 at 04:22

MarkeR said:
Foi doesn't apply to private companies. You can request all data held by a company using the data protection act, I am sure they will make you pay for it.

I would small claims court case them, they will probably not even turn up. You in and ask or a claim of the amount sitting in your trade acc that you cannot sell, up to 7500 I think now.

SCC did come to my mind but I was advised my someone I know that it doesn't apply to my situation. I'm not sure this is true though.

Do you or anyone else know much about this?

Overslop · 18 Apr 2013 at 08:23

I expect it to get locked in no time, but I made a post on Steam's own forums:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=34302492#post34302492

Name · 18 Apr 2013 at 09:08

Nah you seem to have a lot of support Overslop. If that thread gets shut down Valve are REAL stupid O.o

If the thread gains enough attention, im sure somebody will lift your ban, they sometimes do when the support is overwhelming in favour of the customer.