About this guide:
This guide covers every single type of scam I have come across. I know many scammers and many people have tried to scam me. If there is a scam not mentioned in this guide, please tell me and I will add it to the list. I’ve divided the scams into two categories, common and advanced. In no way is this guide designed to show scammers how to scam, but rather stop them from being able to.

IMPORTANT: Intro
Before we start, there are a few simple ways to avoid any scam that can be thought of. You should be skeptical about anyone that adds you. Especially someone that adds you and offers you a “deal” that is too good to be true. Never go first. That’s my rule. The one exception is when you add someone and offer to send your skin to them for some other item that can’t be placed in a steam trade. In general, money isn’t free. If someone offers you an insane or extremely good deal, just ignore them.
Scams Talked About

• Payment for Skins (i.e. PayPal, Steam Codes)
  
• Showcase Scams
  
• Artwork Scam
  
• Jackpot Scam
  
• Fake Gambling Site
  
• Fake Trading Site
  
• Fake Gambling Site Administrator
  
• Fake OPSkins Bot Scam
  
• Item Verification
  
• Phishing Scam

Phishing Scam:
First, for those of you who don’t know what phishing is here is what it essential is. Phishing making someone believe they are sending their person information (Such as usernames or passwords) to a source that should have them. This was a common scam before 2FA on steam came about, but it is still possible.

This is the most insane scam currently. I’ve witnessed someone scam a dragon lore using this scam. The scam goes like this. A random person will add you and ask to trade or gamble. During the conversation he will send you a fake link to a website. This could seem like a completely normal link, here’s an example off the top of my head. This site doesn’t currently exist, but I wouldn’t put it past a scammer to copy it.

Example: www.hellcasẹ.com

Now this may seem very easy to tell when looking at the link, but look at what happens once you underline it

Example: www.hellcasẹ.com
Steam automatically underlines all links posted in a steam chat, so don’t click on any links anyone sends you.

When you go to this you will be required to log in to do what they told you to do. (Some examples could be using a promo code on a gambling site, viewing an item on OPSkins, or just steam community itself) I’m not going to explain exactly how someone could scam you with this as that would just be helping the scammers. To prevent this from happening when you sign into steam always check the URL you are signing into. Also, if a steam sign in page does not have some of your information already filled in, that is a reason to double check the URL is correct. If you believe someone has phished, you and gained access to your steam account you can change your password to sign them out. Also on OPSkins there is a button on your Account->Account Security called “Sign out all other sessions”.

”Payment” for skins:
Anyone who adds you an asks to buy your skin is a scammer. It doesn’t matter what their profile looks like, who they claim to be, how many +reps they have or even their cash rep. Don’t do it. They may offer you PayPal, Steam Gift Card Codes, or some other form of payment. If they offer to buy your skin, make them go first. If they refuse to go first move on, their deal was most likely insanely good for you. However, even if the person volunteers to go first, make sure that the payment they send you is nonrefundable. Check your email and your PayPal account if they are sending you money via PayPal. Scammers are able to send invoices to you for free and it will appear to some people as if they’ve sent the money. Remember, always check to see if the money is in your account. Never go first unless you added the person and did a background check on them.

Showcase Scam:
As I said previously, never trust someone that adds you randomly. If you have a decent inventory, 95% of the time people add you randomly it’s to try to scam you. People trying to do the “showcase scam” will try to befriend you. They might invite you to play a casual or even a competitive game. Don’t be fooled their goal is to steal your skin. After playing with you for a bit they will start talking about “their” YouTube channel (Note: it may or may not be their channel, honestly it doesn’t matter). Soon they will tell you they are making a showcase video, in which they wish to show off your skin. Never send them your skin, if you truly believe they aren’t scamming offer to record the showcase of the knife on your computer.

Artwork Scam:
This scam is not as well known, but people may add you and offer to make you artwork. (For your YouTube channel, steam, or some other social media). They will either want full payment or 1/2 payment before they send you the artwork. There are plenty of good artwork creators that have good reputations. If you wish to find trustworthy art creators, you can join my group (ENTER GROUP). Remember these people will most likely add you first, so don’t trust them.

Jackpot Scam:
This scam has been around forever and many people have fallen for it. A random person will add you (as normal with any scam) and they will tell you that they are advertising for a gambling website. You won’t have ever heard of this site before as it is a site they made with the sole purpose of scamming. The “people” who appear to be playing on the website are all bots (Notice, you can’t click on their profile to see their steam account). They will tell you to add the site to your name and they will pay you in skins or money, they might ask you to do more but that is the basic idea. After this within a few minutes they will say that your payment is you get to win a jackpot on the site. They will be able to show you that they can pick the winner, but once you deposit your skins you will not win and the will block and unfriend you.

Fake Gambling Site:
This is pretty similar to the previous scam, except someone will tell you about this great gambling site, (usually case opening), where you can get a free (insane amount of money no site would give away) for using a promo code on their site, usually around $50. Once you use this code $50 will be added to your account. Also, when you open cases with this money you will win INSANE skins. Some examples are a Karambit | Fade from a 0.99 case. You will be unable to withdraw this skin until you deposit an insane amount of money (this amount is different per person; with my experience it is 2/3 your inventory value).

Fake Trading Site:
Similar to the previous scam this is a fake trading site. To avoid this scam, don’t deposit on a trading site. It’s trading, not a depositing site. Usually the prices of the items you can withdraw are much lower than normal and the items you have are much higher than normal. Remember, if it is too good to be true, it is! Once you deposit any skins onto this site you will be unable to withdraw them.

Fake OPSkins Bot
For this scam, someone will add you pretending to be another person. Their real inventory is on private and they link you to their “main” account and tell you they are trading the skins in the person they are impersonatings inventory. The main point of this scam is for you to think you will profit from a trade. They then ask for your trade link to send the trade. After sending your trade link the topic will switch. They will tell you that you must verify your item is marketable on OPSkins. Don’t be fooled there are no glitches or duped items. They will usually ask to screenshare somehow. Essentially they will send you a fake trade from their fake OPSkins bot and hope you accept that one. A simple way to avoid this is accept the trade offer that is linked in the OPSkins window.

Item Verification Scam
This is one of the oldest scams and is relatively similar to the OPSkins scam. For this scam a person will add you and talk about trading. They may or may not impersonate another person. Eventually they will ask if you have “verification” that your item is not bugged or duped. Even if you have a duped item it is still tradeable and 100% legal, don’t worry. They will ask if they can employ a steam administrator to help you. All steam administrators are shown on SteamRep and have a special valve employee badge. Also, steam administrators will never ask you to send them skins or send skins to a “item verifier”.

Teamspeak Scam
For this scam a person will add you (either from a csgo game or just randomely). They will tell you that they need another person for their competitive team and you seemed pretty good. Once you agree to join they will ask you to join the team's teamspeak. Upon attempting to join the teamspeak you will get an error saying an update is necessary to join the teamspeak server. When you go to download the update, it will give you a virus. (This scam is no longer as common as a virus on a computer cannot send skins to the scammer unless they have access to your phone).

Dota 2 Item Scam
For this scam, a random person will add you and tell you they are trading their knife or expensive skin (Most likely this skin will be worth a considerable bit more than yours). They will tell you that they want a skin from Dota 2 (or some other game with a mass amount of skins) and that they will trade their skin, for that Dota 2 skin. They will tell you aboue a guy who owns the Dota skin they want. Once you add that person they will ask you to send them a trade offer for it. (Most likely you will offer your expensive skin because you think you will get the skin from the person wanting the Dota 2 skin). After they get your knife they will block you and unfriend. The reason that they can make you believe the Dota 2 skin is worth so much is because they buy other one off the market and then list one for a very high price.

• Credit for telling me about this scam goes to this guy.

Item Dupe Scam
The dupe scam is when someone will randomly friend you. (this may mostly happen if ur inv is public) Some of these dupe scammers try to show 'proof' they can dupe skins by 'dupng their skins'. The way they may 'dupe' their skins is buying the same skin that they already have about 2-5 times, the skin they are 'duping' either isnt statrak, covert, souvenir, or does not have a good wear or any stickers. A way to avoid this scam is to make your profile and inv private or ignoring/blocking random people that friend you. This deal is too good to be true, so don't trust it.

• This person wrote about this scam and sent it to me. Thanks!

Conclusion:
Scams are pretty easy to avoid. I’m not saying if you’ve been scammed that you’re an idiot. From now on you should know to never trust anything that seems too good to be true, especially from someone you just meet. If you do get scammed you aren’t going to get your skin back. The best you can do is report them on steam, and report them on SteamRep[steamrep.com]. This helps prevent them from scamming other people. If you’re a scammer and you read this far let me tell you one thing. You are one of two things. A young teenager trying to make some quick money or an old man sitting at his computer without pants on trying to scam kids all day. Just stop and get a real job or enjoy playing games on steam. If you enjoyed this guide and think it’s useful make sure you put it on your profile and share it with your friends. Leave a comment of any new scams or ones I didn’t mention.
Thanks,
Xange

Thanks for reading this far into my guide! I made this guide on my own with the help of everyone who has tried to scam me. I doubt there are any scams missing from here but if there are let me know.

Here are a few things you can do to help me!

• Join my steam group here
  
• Leave my a nice comment here.
  
• Leave a good review for this guide, scammers will probably rate down, don't let them win.
  
• Donate to me because I love free stuff. Well, if this guide actually helped you send me a gift because you won't get scammed now :). https://steamcommunity.com/tradeoffer/new/?partner=452740207&token=Xou5-vxp
  
• I'm looking for some free artwork! It'd be great and i'd give you a shoutout here :)!