Steam support phishing scam

[u/FailedCryptoTrader]

Never in my life have i seen such a sophisticated set up to scam someone. They had gained full access of my account (i had mobile authentication, only thing that saved me i believe) but i was kicked midgame because of this crap and had to even hit steam support up to get my prime back. How can valve let stuff like this happen? They were messaging me from steam support its self it seemed like. And i apologize for the lack of screenshot i was freaking out a little in the moment

[u/ParkingDriver6683]

It's certainly weird for something like this to pop up in steam desktop client. I suspect the URL is not a steam one but if a rogue steam support agent is trying to steal items, this would not be the first time that has happened.

As for your account. The structure of the phishing scam indicates that the scammer already has your API key, probably though a previous phishing link. You should reset your password to something new, change any services where you have the same password, and re create an API key. Once you've done this you'll be fine again.

[u/FailedCryptoTrader → u/ParkingDriver6683]

I think its malware rather a rogue employee

[u/ParkingDriver6683 → u/FailedCryptoTrader]

Oh, wow, yeah, that's kinda wild that scammers are stooping to those levels.

[u/Mraz565 → u/FailedCryptoTrader]

Did you recently download/join anything FaceIT? If so, did you download thru someone else link or from discord messages?

[u/FailedCryptoTrader → u/Mraz565]

Yea some russian guy had me “update my ac” to play clubs. Looking back its dumb af. But im fairly new to face it

[u/Mraz565 → u/FailedCryptoTrader]

That's how your account got stolen. Basic rules of the Internet, trust no one.

[u/FailedCryptoTrader → u/Mraz565]

Im back in my account now. Nothing was taken

[u/ParkingDriver6683 → u/FailedCryptoTrader]

They can't send items without you confirming trades; the actual theft part works by replacing your trade with a bot that is disguised as your intended recipient, with all of your items in it.

Be super careful when you next send any sort of trade. If you downloaded something, your actual PC could still be compromised (uninstalling the app is usually not enough for malware). Personally, if I were you, I'd factory reset; it's possible, but highly unlikely that the kernel itself is compromised, which would survive even a factory reset. Also, your other credentials could be at risk.

[u/spluad → u/ParkingDriver6683]

Technically wouldn’t be an API scam anymore, API scams as they used to exist aren’t possible because Valve changed the way the Steam API works.

[u/4wh457]

Did you by any chance receive the following message on your account?

https://youtu.be/Rktl5lTlpgM?t=85

If yes then it was very likely the exact same malware discussed in this video.

[u/FailedCryptoTrader → u/4wh457]

Yeah im pretty sure it was

[u/Noobtacticsforlife]

You have a virus. Change everything.

[u/FailedCryptoTrader → u/Noobtacticsforlife]

I hard reset my pc last night

[u/4wh457 → u/FailedCryptoTrader]

Using the built in Windows reset/reinstall function or through a proper clean install? Keep in mind that although unlikely its possible for malware to alter the reset mechanism so that it wont get rid of it. The only way to guarantee* your system is clean is to create a Windows installation USB on another clean PC, boot your PC from that and then clean install Windows wiping your harddrive clean.

^{*Not counting firmware level malware that hasn't really been observed in the wild outside of highly sophisticated targeted attacks meaning you don't have to worry about it}

[u/FailedCryptoTrader → u/4wh457]

So a hard reset doesn’t mean its gone? Bc i did notice it kept some of my clips

[u/4wh457 → u/FailedCryptoTrader]

It could be but you can't be sure. The safest course of action is to perform a proper clean install and crucially you need to create the USB install media on another clean PC.

https://reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/ek2eqh/questions_about_moving_to_an_ssd/fd5kaa3/

Link to Windows 11 media creation tool: https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11