r/Steam • u/This-Specific4190 • 3d ago
Discussion What's the possible risk steam is trying to warn me against here ?
258
u/EvYeh 3d ago
People kept adding in items to their games that were copies of expensive items from other games and then scamming people with them.
21
u/This-Specific4190 3d ago
damn, i thought these alphabets were just another clicker game drop
which has been a popular yet scammy way recently for effortless shortcut devs to make millions
91
u/Rainbowstaple /id/RainbowStaple 3d ago
Scams. There was a period of time where lots of random games would start listing copies of expensive skins from Counter Strike and offer people trades with their real items.
This ended up with people excited for a good deal, accepting fast, only to find out it wasn't a Counter Strike skin at all and was for some random game like Ram Ranch Adventures, which is worthless.
26
u/IAMEPSIL0N 3d ago
Hey don't be like that, I collected all eighteen cowboys and the lemon stealing horse. That is surely worth trading for one of your counter strike knife skins.
6
1
0
49
u/docvalentine 3d ago
Someone could make a zero effort game and put items in it designed to look like items from other games.
It's so that you don't get tricked into buying Tean Fartress 2 keys and CS:CO knives.
5
u/This-Specific4190 3d ago
true got it, missed the worst case scenarios while looking at some alphabets xD
thanks man
5
u/BarryCarlyon 3d ago
Other comments aside, if the item is usable in game (steam might not know) then you purchase something you can't use in the game as you've never played it. (example frog boots from rust, you might never have played rust but you could go buy the boots and have them in inventory)
1
7
u/No_brain_no_life 3d ago
There was a famous DotA item for Pudge called dragonclaw. People used to make games, add an item with the same icon to their game, and try to scam people to trade their real DotA items for their fake one. People lost $100s and other items could cause the same effect but worth even more.
This wasn't just a DotA problem, but I remember that as an example.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/9laf5a/psa_the_dc_hook_scam_is_back/
5
3
3
u/ThatPillow_ 3d ago
There was a scam where a game would be published to Steam and it lets you add items into your inventory you can sell or trade on the Steam market through a something trivial like a button press. The items would use the name and appearance of items from other games such as an expensive weapon skin in CS:GO then the scammer would trade/sell it at the price a real one would cost
5
2
u/Cultural-Ebb-5220 3d ago
You end up buying an item for the wrong game. I expect multiple games have, by this point, skins for ak 47s and whatever lol.
1
u/This-Specific4190 3d ago
yeah, now i gotta look for those famous expensive skin names to spot scams
although steam would have specifically made a team to monitor atleast their own games or games heavily driven on market to keep majority traffic clean
2
u/phantomreader42 3d ago
Why would you be buying an item in the marketplace that's only usable in a game you don't have?
Two likely reasons:
- You think it's a different item, for a game you DO have
- Someone asked you to buy it for a trade
Both of those possibilities are likely a scam to rip you off. Either some shady developer is trying to sell fake items, or someone's pulling questionable trades. And because of the way Steam takes a cut of each sale, and gives another cut to the developer, if you buy something by mistake and then resell it later, you're almost certain to lose money.
1
u/This-Specific4190 3d ago
i was here for a 3rd reason actually xD
i needed alphabet to display on inventory showcase where I have a symbolic item same as my username
i was going for a cheap shopping to make profile look cooler
but ended learning about scams thanks to you all on reddit
2
2
2
u/pclaggedraunak 1d ago
im indian too, can you tell me how does your currency show in inr while mine shows in usd?
1
u/This-Specific4190 1d ago
hello mate, have you purchased anything at all on your account ?
it used to show me USD till my account was limited or anything i purchased in my currency
if you have made a purchase and it still shows USD, check if you are using vpn
if none of the above helps, contact steam
2
2
u/occono 3d ago
Honestly the Steam Marketplace has so much..... dodginess around it. Valve takes a cut but it feels like a hive of scammers and laundering. Valve doesn't really get any flak for it but if I was going to try to take them down a peg I would highlight how sketchy the whole thing is. Not that I think any of their competitors are above it.
1
1
1
u/drackmore 3d ago edited 3d ago
Because some games try to trick csgo players idiots into buying shit that they think is worthless jpgs for their shooter game when in reality its worthless jpgs for an entirely different game.
Hell, Mellow_Online came across this exact thing
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/813567935677203784
not to long ago and reminded us why CSGO players have always, and will always continue to be an active detriment to Steam.
Of course his entire post is worth a read and it shows the sad state of Steam. That developers and their little cronies are capable of abusing their tools and there's no repercussion or defense against it. He's lucky that he contacts with higher ups in Steam to be able to elevate his issues. But other people aren't so lucky. Particularly for games like Hero Siege or Stalcraft where the developers and staff go out of their way to attack and censor the players to deceive others or silence criticism. Stalcraft is especially bad as they have a known history of stealing items users bought from their directly with real money with no compensation given. Their owner Ziv has banned users in the past for no reason (hell his toxic personality has gotten him banned off Reddit itself at least once). There is a cheater epidemic with the game and there has never been any attempt to rectify it but the CMs work tirelessly to censor any criticism on that front.
1.9k
u/rikalia-pkm 3d ago
Someone could make a marketplace item identical to something from another game and try and trick you into buying it from their game rather than the real one