The growing popularity of gift cards in the nexus of its booming global market is entrancing people to join the bandwagon of gift card trade, hence giving rise to gift card scams. Steam gift card scams are one of the many gift card-related issues perpetuated by some people to rip you off your fund. This is why it is important to bring you up to speed on how to report Steam gift card scams when you spot them.
It is essential to know that nobody is infallible to Steam gift card scams because they can come in different shades of gimmicks. Still, the ability to report its possibilities when being spot on is one the smartest defence to put on in toppling this sinister move by scammers.
Therefore, this article is to guide you on how to identify Steam gift card scams and how to report them in the event of their arising.
What Is A Steam Gift Card Scam?
Steam gift cards are to redeem items on the Steam store and not a payment method. So, a Steam gift card scam is when someone asks you to pay them with a Steam gift card for products and services. Often, most businesses do not accept gift cards as payment. Therefore, this is always a red flag when this comes up as a payment option.
For instance, a Steam gift card scam can come in the guise of receiving an email from a company that looks like Amazon (although it is not), in what look like the confirmation of an expensive laptop and phone (which has not been bought). The body of the email may contain a customer support number that would help you to make a call in case of a suspected scam or other queries.
Unknowing you, you called the number to report possible fraud, and you got a response from the supposed customer representative that scammers had compromised your bank account. To settle these scammers, you must go to Steam and load gift cards worth $500 each. The representative will promise to pay the scammers back off from your account while he pays you back.
These scammers do not exist, but the man disguising himself as the customer representative is the actual scammer. If you fall prey to this, you will lose your money and never hear from the impostor (customer representative) again.
This is one of many ways people lose their money to scammers that can be inarguably professionals in the orchestration of their fraudulent activities.
How Do Steam Gift Card Scam Works?
The pretence of scammers as popular and reputable businesses is the standard device of Steam gift card scams. They can either text, call, or email the victim about their account. In this case, the scammers will be persuasive in their tone to compel the victim to buy Steam gift cards and send the PIN to them.
This leads to scammers:
- Selling the gift card(s) online
- Buying items online and reselling them
- Buying items online and make a report to the Steam support team that the Steam gift card was mistakenly used and the sender needs a refund
How To Identify A Steam Gift Card Scam
There are varying ways how scammers work to defraud you. The following are some of the methods they use to trick their victims:
1. Steam Phishing Emails
Scammers might offer consumers fraudulent promotions or discounts by imitating the style and tone of Steam mailings. In error, victims click on phishing links in the hopes of finding a deal, which allows scammers to steal their credit card information.
2. Payment With Steam Wallet Gift Cards
Scammers are notorious for convincing victims to pay with Steam gift cards. Scammers may pressure a potential buyer into revealing Steam gift card codes as payment when negotiating the sale of a vehicle online.
3. Phony PayPal Invoices
Many people use their PayPal accounts to make purchases and anticipate getting an invoice. By changing the Terms and Conditions or Notes, scammers take advantage of this behaviour and create the impression that the victim still owes them money. Then they request a gift card for the remaining amount.
4. Impersonating Steam Administrators
In some cases, scammers assume the identity of Steam administrators and claim that a victim’s account has been compromised or is being terminated. They assert that paying a charge via Steam Wallet is the only method for the victim to have their account back.
This scam can also be used by someone who claims to have unintentionally reported your Steam account. Before stating that account recovery might only be feasible with a Steam administrator, they may offer an apology.
The purported Steam administrator will threaten to delete your account if you don’t give up your login information.
How To Report A Steam Gift Card Scam
According to Steam, reporting a scam on the victim’s Steam profile is better and more productive than submitting a Steam support ticket that contains your report.
1. Navigate to the Steam profile of the offending user.
2. Click on the drop-down located at the top right of the page.
3. Click on “Report Profile.”
4. Choose the category of offence that best describes your reporting behaviour.
5. Click on the violation.
6. Give a short statement of your interaction with this user and click “Submit Report.”
How To Avoid Falling Victim To Steam Gift Card Scam In The Future
1. Buy Steam Gift Card At A Reputable Retail Store
Endeavour to buy your Steam card (both online and offline) at stores with positive reviews. There is a proliferation of gift card traders across the gift card market, but it is important to ensure that you trade with a reliable platform.
Prestmit is one such place where you can trade your Steam card. You can sell Steam gift cards on our platform, as we offer the best gift card rates that are second to none in the market.
2. You Can Only Redeem Steam Wallet Gift Cards On Steam
This is a requisite knowledge when trading gift cards, not Steam gift cards. Steam is the mother company of Steam gift cards; as such, you can only redeem your Steam card on Steam. This is similar to how you can only save your iTunes and Amazon gift cards on Apple Store and Amazon, respectively.
3. Pay Attention To In-Store Signage About Steam Cards
Be reluctant to make approval of any competitor or sweepstakes; there is a likelihood of them being a scam. Therefore, absolve yourself in cross-comparing cards with screenshots on the Steam website. Pay attention to the signage designed by the retailer on bulk gift card purchases.
4. Secure Your Steam Account
It is essential to secure your Steam account with multi-factor authentication (MFA), which is another layer of security on Steam to ensure the adequate safety of your account from scammers.
5. Do Not Buy Steam Gift Cards In Bulk Online
Every Steam gift card has its unique PIN; as such, you may find it difficult to track the ones you have activated. So this may create a gap for scammers to breed in, as they can quickly get card numbers and PINs when you have many of them.
What Are The Best Practices For Online Transactions?
1. Use a hard-to-get password that contains upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols for your accounts.
2. You must always do online transactions on websites that with “https://” and avoid platforms that do not have an “s” after “http” at the start of the web address.
3. Change your password as often as possible, at least once in three months.
4. Do not click on any email link requesting your personal identification.
5. Do not use the same username and password for all your online accounts.
Conclusion
Steam gift card scams are on the rise, with different methods being crafted by scammers to defraud people of their funds. Therefore, it is important always to report any suspected scam or if you have been scammed to Steam support for necessary action.
Learn to be proactive with your account to forestall possible fraudulent activities on your account that may lead to loss of funds.
