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I accidentally triggered Steam’s fraud detection and now my accounts are locked

Carlius

Carlius

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,000
Buenos Aires, Argentina
I just got TWO accounts suspended on Steam because i tried to buy 5 copies of PUBG for friends.

My friends were all new to Steam, so they all wanted to play PUBG and "start a team" lol....long story short, i ADDED FUNDS to my steam wallet, bought the games and gifted them all one by one, only to be met my a FRAUDULENT ACTIVITY MESSAGE...that revoked all games and MONEY....

I was like WTF....so i tried on my other account, the one i use for my website (videogames). SAME THING.

Unbelievable....i contact Steam support and of course...nothing. I may have to wait weeks for this to get resolved, but their policy of buy 5 times the game = FRAUD. Come on!

Mod Edit: This thread has a specific focus and should not be use to air your general grievances pertaining to Valve or Steam. If your comment isn't about customer service or fraud detection, don't post it.
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Last edited by a moderator:
sredgrin

sredgrin

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,276
I mean, I can kinda see why they would do it that way, it can seem like pretty odd behavior, and I'd bet if anything there's scammers doing things for games like that and like CSGO. Sucks, but I can see why it would get flagged.

That being said, if you want a workaround, just buy copies off Greenmangaming or other third party sites. Will usually have a voucher or something going on too.
 
RadioactiveLobster

RadioactiveLobster

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,738
USA
My guess is that they've had problems with cheaters mass buying/gifting PUBG, especially to new accounts.

Honestly it doesn't surprise me that it would raise a red flag.

Your best bet it to just see what Support says.
 

Deleted member 14002

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,121
Looked like a shady transaction.

You were dumb enough to do it a second time on your other account so that's on you.

Next time break it up 2 on each account
 

UnderNewOwnership

Member
Dec 4, 2017
3,097
They had issues with people breaking into other folks' accounts and spending loads of money to 'gift' games.

You should pace your gifts. No more than 2 copies of a game per week or something.
 
finalflame

finalflame

Product Management
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,538
Fraud team works through these issues quickly if you weren't doing anything shady. Steam Support has a wealth of information and a very competent fraud team.
 
Forsaken82

Forsaken82

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,935
Whether your purchase was genuine or not, Steam had a right to question the purchase because the last thing they are thinking is that you are buying 5 copies for friends hoping to squad up when the squad max is 4.
 
Bjones

Bjones

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,622
Two accounts from same ip address, multiple purchasees of popular MP game that people cheat in all the time.

No that seems very normal
 
Stiler

Stiler

Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
6,659
Should have bought it off a third party store (IE gmg, cdkeys, etc) and then just had them use the keys to activate it on their steam accounts, that wouldn't have been flagged.
 

Battlehenkie

Member
Mar 7, 2018
43
You should've contacted Steam Support after the first time that you get a "Fraudulent Activity Message". It's beyond me why you would just try to brute-force it again when obviously Steams payment validation systems tag it as suspect. Just speak to a rep, get it fixed so you can make your purchases, explain why you think it sucks, that's all that's required.
 
ebsy

ebsy

Member
Feb 25, 2018
152
Thanks for the heads-up. It does seem a little extreme. Hope Steam Support gets this fixed for you.
 
nekkid

nekkid

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
21,823
Is it related to discounts?

On Xbox you can only gift a discounted game twice, otherwise you could effectively stockpile a cheap game for when prices go up or sell to people ineligible for the discount.
 
Evolution of Metal

Evolution of Metal

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,960
nekkid said:
Is it related to discounts?

On Xbox you can only gift a discounted game twice, otherwise you could effectively stockpile a cheap game for when prices go up or sell to people ineligible for the discount.
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Steam has removed that. You can only gift for the moment, you cannot buy the game to the inventory anymore.

OP, just wait for someone at Valve to get back to you, request the cancellation of those transactions citing that the delay of the purchases makes the items unwanted. After it settles, go to cdkeys and purchase the PUBG keys.

Cheaper, faster, easier and apparently no risk of getting your account suspended.
 
eonden

eonden

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,134
You can't even give gifts to new people in Steam (they have to spend at least 5$) as well as being able to add friends to prevent smurfs and all that shit, so it is not that weird that happens. About Steam Support, I have had no issues with it always being quite fast with my issues but it seems that is more case by case experience.
 
Eila

Eila

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,953
When Dark Souls III was really cheap I could only buy 6 copies. They locked me out of buying more. I got to keep them, though.
 
BernardoOne

BernardoOne

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,289
Evolution of Metal said:
Steam has removed that. You can only gift for the moment, you cannot buy the game to the inventory anymore.

OP, just wait for someone at Valve to get back to you, request the cancellation of those transactions citing that the delay of the purchases makes the items unwanted. After it settles, go to cdkeys and purchase the PUBG keys.

Cheaper, faster, easier and apparently no risk of getting your account suspended.
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Actually buying 5 PUBG keys at once on cdkeys will probably land you on their fraud verification as well and you will need to provide personal information to lift it.
 
Alej

Alej

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
399
... But what he has done is totally legal.
So what ?

Why you are defending Steam here, people ?
 
sredgrin

sredgrin

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,276
Alej said:
... But what he has done is totally legal.
So what ?

Why you are defending Steam here, people ?
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Because it's an incredibly common thing. Banks do this all the time for similar behavior. I've had to call my bank multiple times because I've made purchases late at night or because I bought something digital from some site that's technically in like Europe or China and so they think someone stole my card and is using it physically in China.

The real issue is that Steam support is slow as shit. But them flagging this sort of behavior is very easy to understand.
 
Aphex

Aphex

Member
Apr 13, 2018
46
If buying five of the same game as gifts trips a fraud sensor...why does steam allow people to buy the same game five times to gift in the first place?
 
QuadOpto

QuadOpto

Member
Nov 7, 2017
327
Yeah...I don't really get the scam thing people are talking about. If the OP is still spending money for 5 copies of the game, it shouldn't really matter if he gifts them to others,; they still got 5 person's worth of purchases, right?

if it was a case of possibly thinking someone hacked his account, a quick request for verification should be all that's needed to clear that up, or the person who got hacked would have to had to deal with it through credit/transaction company (which would be when headded the funds in the first place)

In any case, a warning and a request for verification would be more effective than revoking all the games and credit of someone who just purchased 5 copies of a game?
 
Pixieking

Pixieking

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,987
Aphex said:
If buying five of the same game as gifts trips a fraud sensor...why does steam allow people to buy the same game five times to gift in the first place?
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Because it's not illegal, or against the TOS, it's just a standard anti-fraud measure that a lot of places have. I've been in stores where I've had to speak to fraud prevention for a suspected purchase - the staff cannot let me keep the purhases until I've been cleared by bank anti-fraud department. Same thing, really.
 
GrantDaNasty

GrantDaNasty

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,081
They're scared about accounts/payment methods being hijacked (because you're buying copies that would not apply to your own account...I think you see where this can go from an abuse/fraud perspective).

They should try to make sure all is set right with you, but as someone who works in a business where we very recently started taking card payments..I 100% see why they are very careful in this regard.
 
BassForever

BassForever

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,040
CT
Wonder if this is a new policy or if it's just cause it's pubg. I'm pretty sure I've gifted 5 copies of trails in the sky fc before and I remember back when pirate warriors 3 was a dollar on steam someone on twitter gifting 30ish of them no problems.
 
Pixieking

Pixieking

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,987
Ascheroth said:
That's basically just a meme at this point, the one or two times I contacted them I got a response a few hours later.
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Yeah, you can see the support ticket wait times on their stat page here. Game and Steam Technical is the worst at 3.51 hours to 2.08 days, typical response time. Purchase and Billing (which is the OP's issue) is less than 24 hours typical.
 
Evolution of Metal

Evolution of Metal

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,960
GrantDaNasty said:
They're scared about accounts/payment methods being hijacked (because you're buying copies that would not apply to your own account...I think you see where this can go from an abuse/fraud perspective).

They should try to make sure all is set right with you, but as someone who works in a business where we very recently started taking card payments..I 100% see why they are very careful in this regard.
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They aren't being careful, careful is:
• Informing the customers about the purchase limitations
• Setting up measures to limit the amount of purchases
• Adding additional verification requirements like email or phone confirmations
• Having the live-support to contact the user in cases like this, instead of 2 days (best case scenario) steam support

You cannot leave the customers stranded with the locked account, it is insanely inconvenient to have the entire account, not just the purchase, suspended.
 
GrantDaNasty

GrantDaNasty

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,081
BassForever said:
Wonder if this is a new policy or if it's just cause it's pubg. I'm pretty sure I've gifted 5 copies of trails in the sky fc before and I remember back when pirate warriors 3 was a dollar on steam someone on twitter gifting 30ish of them no problems.
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I imagine they continously review their workflow and policy with regards to user activity. Probably doesn't help that PUBG inspired a lot of account hacking and stealing as a result of its sudden popularity.
 
GrantDaNasty

GrantDaNasty

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,081
Evolution of Metal said:
They aren't being careful, careful is:
• Informing the customers about the purchase limitations
• Setting up measures to limit the amount of purchases
• Adding additional verification requirements like email or phone confirmations
• Having the live-support to contact the user in cases like this, instead of 2 days (best case scenario) steam support

You cannot leave the customers stranded with the locked account, it is insanely inconvenient to have the entire account, not just the purchase, suspended.
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I don't agree with you on the definition of careful there (if only because you aren't taking into account all the factors we are not privy to at this time based on this case).

If Steam truly did not inform him via e-mail or any other communication method, then yes that's bad on their part, but we don't know if OP has 2FA enabled, how long he waited with regards to contacting Steam support for a response, and whether or not he used the same payment method on the other account.

Valve/Steam should absolutely improve the process, but I consider what they did to be standard practice.
 
Funny Valentine

Funny Valentine

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
2,904
You likely tripped an anti-fraud measure and then did it again. You just have to work with Steam to prove that those were all legitimate transactions but you'll likely be stuck with 10 copies of PUBG, lol.
 
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