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How to Determine Scammer's Alts


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Hello guys. First of all, English is not my native language.Therefore i can do some grammar mistakes, please ignore them. I am trying my best. And also if you are a moderator and have some knowledge about trading plz read my post till the end. Anyways, recently i got banned from outpost and then bp.tf afterwards for 2 weeks. The thing i've done was trading with an obvious scammer's alt. Don't misundertand me, i am not gonna cry here. Outpost moderator didnt give a fuck to my appeal, but thx for one of the moderator on bp.tf understood my issue and reduced my ban duration to only 3 days. But said the next one will be permanent ban. 

 

The thing is, how to determine these "obvious" scammer's alts. I mean, most of them are not tagged. Mine was 1 level, yeah, no excuses, I was a bit incautious while i try to get the good deal before everyone else. I just looked at if he got tagged. He wasnt then i traded with him. But i know it is my fault. I needed to check it well first. Because the things are getting serious now, I need to have some definite answers of my questions from a moderator or an admin if possible. 

 

How to Determine The Scammer's Alts?

 

This is a question. The answer is not written here. Like i said i need the answers from the authorities. I am an unusual trader. I buy so many quicksells in a day. Sometimes i buy more than 20 unusuals in a day. I might do some mistakes like i did recently. But they wont forgive you even if you say it was a mistake. Because it was so "OBVIOUS" like they said. So i will make the adverb of "obvious" be the matter for discussion.

Firstly, The Level is important of course, but this does not mean low level accounts are not trusted. Some people might not care about their levels and dont buy games, they only trade. This doesnt mean 1 level accounts are not trusted but also 4-5 level accounts are fully-trustable. It is so easy to get levels, even scammer's bots might be 10 level or more. So what is the key factor here ? The join time ? It might be the clue to find them, but let's say 6 months or more is fine, they might still be one of the scammer's alt. Cause they have been scamming the people 6 months ago, they of course have those 6 months old accounts. What is the next clue ? His backpack ? Some people do not trade much so it is possible to see instant fluctuates on his backpack graphics. Maybe he purchased some keys from a trustable guy lately ? So this might not enough too. His total games ? A trader doesnt need games unless he is a game trader but still doesnt need to add them to their library unless he wants to play or needs more level. His reps? Fakes reps are possible. In both sides of course. I sometimes see 2 negative ratings on his bp.tf profile. But they wrote them cause he didnt accept his trades or did some tiny things before and moderators didnt remove them.

 

These are enough i think. I know mine was obvious. He was only 1 level, newly created account. The thing i am trying to ask is "Is my case your "obvious" scammer's alt example or do the other things make me to get in trouble lately?" If it is only the first one, then it is easy to avoid them. Just ignore 1 level unusual sellers and move on. But i know this is not enough for you. You say " It is the responsibility of all users to fully investigate who they're trading with so that unwanted members of the community do not profit." . So explain this fully investigating thing to me briefly. People got scammed, Scammers got their profits , But somehow we got banned and we need to play the police role here. We need to investigate all of the history of the hat. Believe me i am an unusual trader and most of the time i am not even checking if the unusual is duped. I just checked the history of it. If it was not taken from a scammer i just buy it. If it was the scammer itself i just block him. But what if he isnt marked ? The problem occurs here. You can accidentally purchase and there is no turning back. There is no rule to protect us. Some people trade 10 unusual in one month and some people like me trade for more than 30 in a day. Sometimes 200+ people add me to sell his unusuals in one day. Our risk is bigger here. But we have only 2 chances like them. 1 mistake and you are done my friend. Even in most of the games their leaver buster system decide if you got banned according to the amount of the matches you have played. But in here i've seen trades you've done is not important. You might be tired to check all of their identicals unless it is a big trade. Mine was only 10 key profit maybe less, and i said i can even gift that unusual to the person who got scammed off. For free yeah. Like i scammed that guy so it is funny. But no fucking way ! They just dont understand you. They just treat you like you are the scammer itself. Right ? You cant make a mistake, cause you are not a human, you are just a trading robot. And i have only 1 fucking chance before not getting banned permanently after this. So plz briefly explain how to avoid this ban. Cause there is no turning back from now on.

 

Thank you for reading my post. I hope you find me right.

 

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Lv <10.

Low hours.

Only played TF2.

Loads of cheap/free/humble bundle games.

Quick backpack value increase on bp.tf.

Private backpack.

Most of game time in the last 2 weeks.

 

These are the easiest ways to tell if he's a alt or not.

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I tend to look at a few things:

 

1) steam level, generally players are not going to have 50bud+ unusual and still have a 0 steam account

2) content of the steam profile (games, paid games, hours played, comments...etc)

3) trades on trading websites.

 

Generally speaking accidentally trading a scammed unusual will not get you banned even in the worse case you would get a warning to be more careful with your dealings, however mutliple dealings with scammed items (most of which are of significant value) can easily get you a ban...etc

 

Cases are all evaluated on a case by case basis there is no "definite rule" made, traders are human too and mods realise this if you genuinely made a mistake people can easily tell. Obviously you should pay more attention to unusuals of more significant value as bans for those are more strict.

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This is an example of an obvious alt

 

When you started did you have several unusuals and started quickselling them ? If they have no tf2 hours, they shouldn't have high tier items readily available for you to purchase at discounted prices, especially if they aren't active on any trading site. 

Scammers and hijackers make alts because you wouldn't buy from a marked user, and they have a better shot at users risking buying from an alt over marked users. 

 

When buying unusuals there are several steps you must take before even thinking of offering or accepting. 

 

You must check:

 

Steam Profile

Flags that they are an alt 

0-5 games with low to no hours. They are free to play games. 

Few friends.

Little to no comments. 

Low steam level.

You don't start tf2 with unusuals and quicksell them.

Private Profile (Shady just avoid them)

 

Usually you can determine if they are an alt just from this first step and a quick backpack check if they are a friend request. Hit ignore and you don't have to continue with the following
 

SteamRep

Check if they are marked or have pending reports

If they have pending reports, review them. They are a sign that you probably should avoid the user. 

 

Trading Site Profiles

Check Outpost profile

Flags that should make you cautious of the user

Recently joined the site but has unusuals

No history of open trades (Plenty of users aren't traders so refer to signs of being an alt)

They are banned for scamming or being an alt

 

Backpack 

Check for abnormalities 

Recent value spikes from nothing. In this case check if they trade other game items or unboxed an unusual, by revering to their trade history in trading sites or unusual ID

Private backpack 

Just avoid users with private backpacks. 

 

Item History

Check if the item has been recently stolen

If they were scammed or hijacked. 

Check Original ID they might have unboxed it 

 

Basically get in the habit of background checking every friend request before accepting the request. You will save time, and avoid buying stolen items, why would you even bother accepting an add from an alt if they most likely are going to sell you stolen unusuals. 

If you get in this habit you will not be perma banned or marked/cautioned for trading with scammers or alts because you will have been taking the steps to avoid them and purchasing their items. 

 

I do this every time I receive/send a trade offer, no matter how small the value of the trade is, or a friend request. It something that takes less than a minute to do and it isn't troublesome. 

 

Hope this helps and was information that you will find helpful in your trading 'career'. 

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I dont trade often, but I am level 4 and I have over 930 hours in TF2. I also only have two people do +rep on my profile. Am I safe from me looking like a scammer?

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I dont trade often, but I am level 4 and I have over 930 hours in TF2. I also only have two people do +rep on my profile. Am I safe from me looking like a scammer?

 

You spent 1.25 months on TF2 so yeah. I wouldn't prepare a account for 1.25 months non stop idle just to look legit.

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You spent 1.25 months on TF2 so yeah. I wouldn't prepare a account for 1.25 months non stop idle just to look legit.

 

So the level is not that important. Comes to my point :)

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So the level is not that important. Comes to my point :)

 

It is just one of the red flags. 

It is much more than that, his less than 50 steam hours was the biggest red flag that yelled alt.  ;)

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What about the hijacked accounts ? How do we know if they are really cashing out or an hijacker selling his stolen unusuals by that account? Is it safe to purchase more than 3 unusual quicksells from the same account ? Do we got banned if we purchase an expensive unusual from them ? Cause they are not marked and you cant know if they're hijacked.

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What about the hijacked accounts ? How do we know if they are really cashing out or an hijacker selling his stolen unusuals by that account? Is it safe to purchase more than 3 unusual quicksells from the same account ? Do we got banned if we purchase an expensive unusual from them ? Cause they are not marked and you cant know if they're hijacked.

 

Ask him to play a game he played recently. Phishers won't really go and install their whole library to look legit will they.

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What about purchases through steam community markets. Everyone knows those good deals appear for only 1-2 seconds there and you need to be lucky and fast to get them. What if you accidentally purchase a possible hijacked unusual from community market ? You can easily check the level by hovering over its avatar but you cant check the stats in that limited time. I mean you cant always think that a 5 level account is a scammer's alt. Otherwise you will lose that hat. You cant even check if it is duped also, how do you check its history ? Steam must ban them at first.Then it is not our fault,right? So i ask again. What happens if you accidentally purchase an hat that is from a possible alt account? Cause i have seen a 13 buds executioner hat was sold for only 3 buds there. The account was totally clean but i have lost that chance by checking the profile of the seller. He was clean and probably unboxed it and got sharked. The rules allow those ? Explain plz. 

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What about the hijacked accounts ? How do we know if they are really cashing out or an hijacker selling his stolen unusuals by that account? Is it safe to purchase more than 3 unusual quicksells from the same account ? Do we got banned if we purchase an expensive unusual from them ? Cause they are not marked and you cant know if they're hijacked.

 

 

There really isn't anything you can do to prevent that. Just if the deal is too good to be true, it probably is. 

 

About the SCM 

 

If you buy from a marked scammer you will be banned. 

 

Theres a poll and topic about the scm in detail, I am not sure how outpost would handle buying from obvious alts.  

 

http://forums.backpack.tf/index.php?/topic/19543-what-are-reasonable-expectations-for-background-checks-on-scm/

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There really isn't anything you can do to prevent that. Just if the deal is too good to be true, it probably is. 

 

 

 

About the SCM 

 

If you buy from a marked scammer you will be banned. 

 

 

Theres a poll and topic about the scm in detail, I am not sure how outpost would handle buying from obvious alts.  

 

http://forums.backpack.tf/index.php?/topic/19543-what-are-reasonable-expectations-for-background-checks-on-scm/

 

 

True. But i think "accidentally" means nothing for this community. And you still got banned. The thing i am trying to say is i am not a robot. I have been buying quicksells since March 2014. And trust me i've bought more than 2000+ unusuals. And i've done only 1 mistake with a really cheap unusual and got banned. BAM! One more and it is over they say. Those mistakes cant be recovered according to them. Even if i give that fucking unusual free lol. It doesnt make sense to me. The person mistakenly buys that unusual is not the scammer here. The thing is if somebody repeats buying hijacked unusual you are right. But not me or the people who are in same situations like me deserve this treatment. Check all the trades I have done. Check all my bp history. See its expansion day by day even if i cashed out a lot. So many scammer added me, rejected all of them like everyone. Only 1 mistake, and of course he isnt marked at all. But still huge mistake anyways. But just think why would i risk my account on a really cheap unusual right ? I didnt deserve this ban, but i say it is ok i should have checked. I can handle it anyways. But the most important thing is now i have only 1 chance. It makes me crazy. You can be too tired, you can miss out to check something. But like i said we are not human. I think i will remove that unusual if i accidentally buys one. Yeah that makes more sense. So noone will cry :) If there is another way just tell me here.

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Id hop on the bandwagon and ask people to tell me how legit I look.

 

But Im level 61, 4 years of service, 200 games, about 3k combined hours and an inv near 7k, so no reason in really asking.

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