Hey guys,

I had a chat with Chet Faliszek from Valve about the new scammers from today. Hopefully this will be of some help.

P.S. If the victims involved could go to the scammer's page and file a "Report Violation > User Misconduct" and describe what happened, that'll probably be helpful to the Valve/Steam staff looking into this. Please include the URL for the contest/giveaway involved if possible. Also, file a ticket with Steam Support to the same effect.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011
1:07 AM - Princess Peach: Hi Chet
1:08 AM - Princess Peach: I was wondering if I could talk to you about one or more persons scamming people on Steam by impersonating other's profiles
1:08 AM - Chet: sure, what is the profile?
1:09 AM - Princess Peach: they're taking advantage of a site i frequent
1:09 AM - Princess Peach: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamgifts/announcements/detail/1335536413970265261
1:09 AM - Princess Peach: http://www.steamgifts.com/
1:09 AM - Princess Peach: it is a site where people gift away games to other users, via a lottery
1:10 AM - Princess Peach: what the scammers have been doing is changing the profile name + picture to match the winners' and then contacting the gifter of the contests
1:10 AM - Princess Peach: if you view those accounts’ name change history, they match the winners list
1:11 AM - Princess Peach: in one particularly bad example, a scammer changed their name to PtB, the winner of this Skyrim giveaway
1:11 AM - Princess Peach: http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/ae1tf/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim
1:12 AM - Princess Peach: http://steamcommunity.com/id/gibddeshnik/namehistory
1:13 AM - Princess Peach: the gifter felt so bad about the mistake/being scammed that he bought another copy for the rightful winner :\
1:14 AM - Chet: thanks, we will look into this
1:15 AM - Princess Peach: i've advised the Steamgifts site owner/mods to ask the victims of these scams of report the violations on their profiles, as well as flagging down the scammer's original Steam IDs in case they change their custom url
1:15 AM - Princess Peach: so hopefully, there should be something there
1:16 AM - Princess Peach: the only way i know of for getting a list of earlier winners from that site is via http://www.steamgifts.com/closed
1:16 AM - Chet: cool, thanks again - this sucks people do this
1:17 AM - Princess Peach: sorry i can't do any better than that I'm not a mod/admin so that's the best I have
1:17 AM - Princess Peach: thanks a lot Chet, for looking into this
1:17 AM - Princess Peach: If you have any advice/contact email/etc for the site staff or victims, please let me know
1:18 AM - Princess Peach: again, thanks for looking into this

13 years ago*

Comment has been collapsed.

Well done

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks for doing this, Peach.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Well done, Peach.
I don't think he'll get banned, but at least Valve can remove the Skyrim from his account.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Would they do that? I really hope so.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

If enough people report him, then I'm pretty sure they will ban him. I have seen similar things happen before, like for example a guy, who offered to buy a 4-pack of Borderlands and after getting the money he didn't send the games. I've only followed the thread on the Steam forums, but I'm pretty sure he got banned by Steam, because he came back a day later and apologized and asked the guys he scammed to help him, to get his account back :P

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Wow this happened to the Skyrim giveaway? Thanks for letting them know.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

wow im surprised how do you know them? are you sure they work for valve?

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

He's on my friends list and yes.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I guess it wouldn't be as much of a problem with Skyrim, as it is not released yet the scammer hasn't played it so remove from their account and return to sender.

Valve are not going to be so happy to return a released game though I don't think. I'm sure they'll still remove it from the scammers list but I think that might be there limit :(

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

In the case of Skyrim, I would suggest to Ridlas, the giveaway creator, to include in their Steam Support ticket regarding the scam an additional request to refund that particular purchase. As many already know, it is possible to get a refund on a pre-release game, as long as it hasn't been released yet. This holds true even if the gift has already been sent and redeemed. Normally it would be a dick move to refund a pre-release game that you've already gifted away, but in this case it is more than justified.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

More than justified is an understatement! I hope that he's able to do this. That person can rot. >:(

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

That's sad, scamming on a gift site.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yeah, totally agree.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Where is the rep button on the forum?

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I had no idea that it happened on the Skyrim giveaway. That is really low, and it sucks that the person had to purchase another copy. Hopefully Steam will pull through and not succumb to political bullshit and sit on their hands!

Maybe the person in question will get banned, and the gifter will have their copy returned so they can re-gift it in another auction! Or use it themselves, if they haven't already.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

i think ridlas purchased another copy for the real winner.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

thank you peach

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

People are su friggin retarded and downright evil. Ok, i geti it, it IS skyrim, but at the end of the day it's just another toy you end up playing with. Sad to see that people's morals are in the gutter...

On a side note, that Chet guy sure is eloquent...

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

admns position for this peach right now i'll say

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

+1

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

and build your pc now!!!

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

almost done

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

maybe the scammer will get banned and all his games will be given to steamgifts to be given away as gifts ?
yea i know.... won't happen, but man would that make the scammer pissed....LOL
I would want to see his face then....

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thank you Peach. Peach for mod/admin

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

+1

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

+1

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

+1

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

+1

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks for asking about that

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

+REP

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I just checked the scammer's recent name changes, looks like he is trying to scam the recent Super Meat Boy giveaway.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Peach you just got my <3 and respect... thanks for doing this!! ^^

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Excellent :)

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I hate scammers so much. I hope karma ends up scamming them later in the future.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

thanks Peach!

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Dont the Winners have their Steam Community Profile linked in their Steamgifts profile? AFAIK they do, thats how I contacted the Winners to make sure I got the right ones. But it still sucks that there are such people...

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Some people just don't check the links and I've seen a few people that post giveaways and write asking the winner to add them on Steam when the giveaway ends to receive the gift and don't look at this site anymore.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Did the Giveaway actaully do so? Dam I think he should get something back Dam scammers >:(

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Valve won't do anything... that pointless what interest they have? Remember what I will say now THEY WON'T DO ANYTHING... remember

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

-_- polish/russian telling us off

Valve has an interest to make sure that gifting goes smoothly since they implemented the TF2 steam trade beta. They already have several scammers that they're dealing with in that arena.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I agree they have interest in their STEAM TRADE BETA, but not in 3rd site (here) that isn't bend with valve in anyway. Thats the same way like I will report ppl form any steam server that are offence someone, so they won't do anything.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It would be awesome to see the outcome of this

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Closed 13 years ago by Peach.