DAMNIT!!!! I accidentally synched my account and now it has that crappy avatar.
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Also going to have to cancel my 6 month HB sub if I can't get it back by this Friday. And I still had 4 months left on it.
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Well, I was thinking, and what came to mind actually calmed me down. This might be a blessing in disguise. I'm at an age where I should really find something else to do. Plus, I haven't been using steam much for gaming anyway. Just idling.
Plus, I still Origin, Uplay and GOG. And my new Dragon Age Inquisition I got for 9,99 is on Origin so I can still play it. And I got a physical copy of Anno 2205 at a Gamestop for US $0.51 after taxes.
And at least I didn't have a credit card saved on steam so that's safe.
I really couldn't care less if my inventory is drained. It's only cards, backgrounds and emotes. And there was a grand total of US $0.08 in the wallet so they won't be getting much.
And no more worries about not seeing Spacecat. anymore as I won't be entering anything.
Is there any way to remove the account from SG so I can just use the forums?
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Why are you giving up so fast? :(
I'm sure you'll get your account back, just give it some time with Steam-Support. ;)
As to your question, you can only delete your account completely and this isn't reversable for at least 1 year. Posting in the forums requires you to have an account, and limiting the account to the forums only isn't possible, as far as I know.
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Don't give up on your account. The fact that your account is linked here is proof of ownership. I'm reporting the account for you as well. Hopefully, you will get it back soon. They are probably slow to respond due to the volume of support tickets during the sale.
I'm assuming that you already sent in a ticket to Steam yourself.
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Probably yes, I linked this thread when I reported his account as compromised.
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You will recover your account for sure if you have followed Steam guidelines. When you regain the control of your account, make sure you activate Steam Guard: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4020-ALZM-5519
You were hacked if you were using the same password in another (compromised) site. Check this website: https://haveibeenpwned.com/
There's no risk entering your emails there.
If it shows any result that means some site where you were registered was hacked and they got your email&password. That is why you should never use the same password in two different sites.
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I did have the steam authenticator on my phone. And that was removed.
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That's what I am wondering. It's supposed to recognise a login from a new IP address.
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You can't, you need to have access to the associated email or use some kind of malware to gain direct access to the victim's computer (much less probable)
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Usually the scam sites trick you into entering the SteamGuard code into the site pretending to be real Steam, so they can use that code to remove it instead.
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Did you have the same password in Steam and your email account?
It's explained here: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4020-ALZM-5519#stolen
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That's pretty terrible actually. Having SMS as the primary means of restoring an account would probably be more secure.
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You should never allow access to your email account in the first place. Most email providers now support 2FA, so if you don't use 2FA in your email and you use the same password everywhere, you will be hacked sooner or later. There is plenty of useful data inside a mail account to do very bad things.
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In an ideal world, the majority of people would use 2-factor verification, but unfortunately, I know as well as you do that people just don't bother. That's how hackers are still getting away with this kind of thing and why it's happening so often. Having SMS verification would probably lighten the workload on Steam support if nothing else.
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Until they get you by putting some malware in the app store and your whole phone gets compromised. Then all of your mobile clients, 2FA and SMS wont protect you from anything but give them instant access instead. Plenty of those for online banking etc, but just a matter of time until someone makes a mobile SteamStealer.
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That's also true, I guess.
One of my professors at uni a couple years ago ( I was doing a computer science related post grad) said that he would never ever sign up for online banking because he didn't trust it, plain and simple. Same guy did some work as an EH on and off, so yeah. Other people might not agree with him, but... he kinda had a point.
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That would be kind of impossible to do here, I think I'd rather get scammed once than spend an hour or couple in line at the bank with 100 grandmas every time I have to pay a bill. In this case it would be like not using Steam at all so the account wont get stolen. But the better solution is to not install all the crappy apps you can find, just the ones you actually need from trusted companies.
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Haha! Well... not the same for everyone. If you have fixed bills, those ones are going to be direct debit anyway. When it comes to the utility bills here, it's a 2 minute trip to the post office (any day but Friday). I think it depends on where you live and what kind of business you have to do, but I know I could definitely survive without it if I had to, with very little inconvenience. :)
I can totally see how he's quite content not to go online with his banking. XD.
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Bills are electronic and go straight to the online bank, which could be set to auto accept them but I prefer checking them out first in case of errors. I could pay more to get paper bills and then pay much more to go pay them at either the bank or at a nearby kiosk. Because nobody gets paper bills or reads newspapers, there are very few post offices so their job gets handled by the kiosk as well. Also as a much more relevant safety measure, I buy stuff online with a separate card and bank account, to which I move money when needed, so buying a bundle safely would mean going to the bank to move money or then having HB charge $$$ every time they decide I wanted a yearly sub.
Yeah things are different, at least you have SEPA and I hope are not sending cheques in the mail like 3rd world barbarians. :)
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I never said I followed his advice though, just explained how he could get away with it. Not sure why you think I live like a barbarian based on that? lol.
Just because I pay ONE paper bill at the post office? That is necessary for reasons. :P
Besides, anyone who says that they never ever use the post office is lying or incredibly lucky considering postage stamps are expensive nowadays. While 95% of things are electronic, for some things, I have absolutely no choice in the matter. I won't explain because that's private. Would I love the convenience of scanning and emailing? Of course.
I worked in the print industry as a graphic designer for years. Yes, I had to send out samples to clients before stuff went to mass production. Colours look different on screen. There are many reasons why snail mail will never die completely.
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I never said that, I assumed you have some kind of service at the post office that doesn't involve mailing cheques. Here they don't offer anything like that so I had to guess how it works.
I don't use the post office for anything other than picking up delivered packages and sending stuff I sold online, but haven't been doing that in recent years so don't even know how much a stamp costs these days. Everything else I can handle online, including sending scanned documents if that's ever needed. I still get some official crap on paper because they haven't updated their systems yet, but fortunately not even one per month.
People like you that require it for their job are a minority tho and here it's dying so badly that they are desperately trying to find other work for the postmen, so they offer lawn mowing in summer and snow removal in winter to elderly customers and are trying to switch to 3 delivery days per week, now they are at 4 in most places.
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They closed all of the rural post offices over here, but every town and larger village has one, so it's not gone that dire around here yet. Besides, all the little old ladies, what would they do about collecting their pension on a Friday. hahahaha!
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Sounds like your post offices are more bank than post. Here they are filling the banks withdrawing it and paying bills with cash the next day.
Also the post office services are handled by kiosks and markets on commission, so even rural people have access to them.
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Haha! That sounds like mayhem.
Here, there are small towns that have a post office and no bank lol. I think it might be working slightly the opposite in some ways. XD. I live in one of the bigger towns in my county so none of it affects us, and around us, (we have many banks) there are small towns where the banks are all closed.
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Yep that is why I try not to install any apps I do not use. Its convenience but it goes both ways, its easier to hack too.I'm not sure if I should log out of apps since there's a chance of hacking during log out hours, its more of a precaution but I am distracted/irritated by the alerts.
Online banking here issue me with a separate physical key generator. If account is compromised, call the bank, 24hrs here. I do not download the banking app, its just way too easy as you mentioned. Whats worst? My government is pushing towards digital money which means thinks are even more easily accessible to hackers. The immediate effect is us users will get lost easily for what you pay for and what was charged to you. Lot less human interaction. I guess the government is always looking at the profit side of the implementation.
I do not have auto billing for my billing accounts, i want to know what I am spending on and what I am charged on. As mentioned above, we forget easily. I do not check unless I am billed. I used to get paper bills which I use the barcodes to make payment easy but recently they want to go paperless because "Environmental Friendly" and wants to charge me $1. I called in, ask if there's a method to use the barcode on the new bills, the Customer Service told me to print the bill. I Loled immediately. I actually had an answer by using my old bill, I just wanted an official clarification so I do not implicate payment which they agree in the end.
Technology advanced alot in the past 20-30 yrs. We may have gone on too fast for the generation to understand and pick up what we lost with the ease of technology. What was a simple interaction is lost and when we are compromised the process like on Steam gets complicated. I stayed away from Steam for a long time until a Streamer I met on Twitch requested one as a way of verification.
Since you mentioned Computer Science and your professor, I just want to give some input. Hope its not too long to read. Cheers and have a great day ahead, Cruse~ :)
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if you don't use 2FA in your email and you use the same password everywhere
I wanted to say "or" instead of "and". 2FA is not mandatory but was meant as a workaround for those who use the same password everywhere. Using a password manager with different and complex passwords for every site should be enough.
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I use the 2FA along with complex passwords because you can never be too careful, especially when it comes to more important things.
Meh, I'll tell you a good one orono.
I was community admin of a forum with six-figure membership and that made us a target. We got hacked one day due to an exploit in the vBulletin (crapBulletin) software. Many large forums got attacked that week due to the same exploit. As soon as I saw, I force reset everyone's passwords to protect their accounts. The number of people who admitted that they just used the same pw everywhere was staggering. I mean, no one really cares about a forum account, but using it on your email and stuff... OMG. We actually put a sticky up about it for a while to educate these kids on being secure online smdh. People do dumb stuff. LOL.
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I myself used the same password for irrelevant accounts in the past (before I started to use a password manager), but I would never use my email password in another site, it's a matter of common sense.
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I still Origin
Wasn't your Origin account hacked/phished a few days ago too? Did you get it back?
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Good grief did he use the same username and password everywhere?
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Similar name, different password. And the Origin one was ok. Just somemthing minor. No real hijacking there and all, but the 2 step, is well. Was playing Dragon Age Inquisition in the meantime.
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Just somemthing minor. No real hijacking
What was it then?
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I also reported the account as compromised. Don't give up.
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DO NOT GIVE UP! Your games will miss you. Reported as compromised. If you give up hope, that trash bag "wins."
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Just as an afterthought, I unlinked my HB account from my steam one for now.
Just as a precaution.
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Well that sounds like an absolutely shitty way to spend a holiday weekend. Hope they can get you fixed up soon.
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Sorry to hear of your misfortune, I pray for your account to be retrieved, Reported to steam support
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As a greater person than I once said- GOOD NEWS, EVERYBODY!
I now have my account back! Changed my password (wrote it down this time :P), changed the email account associated to it and readded my steam authentication on my phone.
Now to get a few friends back. :(
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Congrats! =]
I think a lot o ppl reported the stolen account so that finally worked.
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Yay, I'm happy you got your account back, and even Valve was surprisingly fast. You see, they won't let you go so easy. ;p :D
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I am glad its resolved, pretty quick too. I did not comment earlier as I thought it might be hacked but was commented. Due to different time zones, I am glad to wake up to see you have your account back. Do you remember what you did last before the infiltration? 1st account I was hacked was Origin, still bummed about them not resetting my achievements. I did not use 2FA until the 2nd time the account was taken over. I don't have much there. Pretty much 2FA all accounts with 2FA if its available for me.
I am also really glad that the community came together to report and get your account back! \(^o^)/
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That's really good news. Did you found out how they stole it?
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WOOHOO! I'm so happy for you!
So many of us reporting got their attention it seems. See? Never give up. :D
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Congrats on getting your account back!
Scary to hear that it happens more often than I realised.
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Also, I want to thank all of you for the help and support you gave me and for reporting the user for me. I'd make a nice GA for you guys, but unfortunately, it's going to have to wait for Fridays monthly unlocks.
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To be honest, hearing you got your account back is better than any giveaway.:)
Glad to hear your account is back where it belongs!:) Happy New Year!:)
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You gained a nice lesson and didn't lose that much other than time and effort. Let's hope the scammy buyer at least paid with PayPal or some other way that can be refunded so the scammer doesn't get profit.
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Nah. O hope, if it was sold, he does NOT get his money back. Let HIM learn a lesson to not screw with the wrong people. :P
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I think Starwhite was talking about buyer not scammer himself. It's not buyer's fault if they didn't know account was stolen.
By the way congrats for claiming your account back. And happy new year :)
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Just a tip for the future: most browsers have a password archive. I usually forget mine too, so I just look them up.
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No, browser asks you if you want to keep password.
If you agree you can go into browser options => privacy => saved log in data => show passwords.
At least it works like that on FireFox
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ah, yea, dang that feature, really help but sometimes its suck
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I generally and genuinely advise against storing passwords. Its easy access but there is danger. The least to say is not remembering the password if you do not use it often. My passwords usually get wiped 30 days into login so I need to log in once a month and at times I have trouble remembering all the passwords so its a good habit to log in often and you may also notice anything unusual doing that. Of course look out for any phishing/fake sites while doing so. Cheerios~
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You have a point, and sure, I also wipe all cookies and stored data on sites once to twice a month. But I've been saving passwords formerly with Firefox and now Chrome for years, and didn't have a single problem. It hepled me out several times where I absolutely NEEDED to remember an old password, lest I'd be screwed. It's also my private PC, no one's having access to it besides me.
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i'm really happy you had your account back!! =) I had some issues in the past too but luckily everything turned out fine for me too, now I'm way more cautious and I try to stay safe =P I learned a lot from these things ahah glad everything's ok! happy new year ^^
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Lets hope that the incompetents at steam support can help me in a decent time frame.
Seems a bit inappropriate now, given the circumstances. ;)
Congrats on getting your account back.
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Congrats in the first place! Steam support is getting better at least at the exposure to several user reports.
I wonder how/where your account got stolen. If it’s phishing site, we should be more aware of url when entering steam account credentials than before.
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well he got the message and probly entered the url ..by mistake ...and his interntet went down ...so he tought probly nothing will hap the one that stole his account sent message to all his friends with a url ....he send me 2 times cose i didnt enter and when i said nice try he removed me ...and i reported .was more a group effort his other friends reported him to and steam saw that we are many so they did something about it
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Hmm, it sounds like a manual computer virus when it infects through the victim’s friend list and try to deceive in the same way. Thank you for the info and stopping infection.
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Congrats! :D
I keep physical box with 1st game I activated on Steam, just in case like that. If I'd need to prove ownership if I'd get scammed.
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Next time just use paper and pen.The best way to remember your info.
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What did you do before losing access to your account?
A few days ago I received an identical message as the one described in https://www.steamgifts.com/go/comment/e4KG6Fr
Of course I didn't click the link, closed the chat and removed the "friend" that got "infected".
But I'm really worried how they bypassed Steam Guard alltogether, or did you do something else?
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Congrats on getting your account back! Glad that scammers got nothing today
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And now I can't get into my steam account. I logged out and for some reason it wouldn't accept my logon. And I can not remember my password I use since I have too many at the same time.
So I go into the part to change my password and it looks like a different email account was listed. I haven't had any issues in months and even recently verified my account. And now I can't even view my own profile online. It's as if my profile was almost deleted. And I was playing on steam a couple of hours ago.
Lets hope that the incompetents at steam support can help me in a decent time frame.
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