I got Paypal scammed off my TF2 unusual

[Coyotie]

Hello,

 

I am (or technically was) the latest owner of a 1:1 Bonzo Drill, and just yesterday, I was one of many victims that fell for the scam made by a person whose TF2 credential is shown as follows: https://rep.tf/76561198260263740

 

To start with, this is my fault I gotta admit, however this person has put up a rather mischeviously deceptive show and I was at that time, fell for it.

 

I did some background check prior to the trade, the guy does have many positive rep votes on Backpack trust so I was off-guard. Many people have also lost valuable items to this person thru the same bait (check his BP rep page so you can see).

 

Now, I know I'm pretty much in no position to whine, the money is gone, I am sure I can be able to get it back soon, but I really do have my intention to try to resolve my issue.

 

That being said, I would be deeply grateful if you guys and gals could give me some opinion or advice for me to deal with this kind of issue.

 

Thank you in advance!

 

 

[Strife Hale]

There is nothing you can do unless you want to buy it back from another user if someone has that hat. You can report him on steamrep/backpack and ban him with all the evidence you got. I have no idea what you mean by "the guy does have many positive reps votes on steamrep". If many people like you let those scammers roam freely without reporting, they will keep going on and many more will be scammed.

[Coyotie]

7 minutes ago, One and only Ackerman said:

There is nothing you can do unless you want to buy it back from another user if someone has that hat. You can report him on steamrep/backpack and ban him with all the evidence you got. I have no idea what you mean by "the guy does have many positive reps votes on steamrep". If many people like you let those scammers roam freely without reporting, they will keep going on and many more will be scammed.

Hello and thank you for the reply.

 

I meant to say many positive rep votes on backpack trust section, not steamrep.

 

As of now, my unusual along with others have been transferred to another backpack (just had a look at his bp history) and I think the account that scammed me and other people will never be used to trade again. He is probably trying to sell it thru different channels right now.

 

Can we actually put a trade-lock on a specific TF2 item? That would be best because putting a trade ban on account level would not be efficient I think. Of course the scam account will be ditched and the new one will be used.

 

[Brown]

It's unlikely he'll be trade-banned in any capacity

Please make a steamrep report if you aren't already doing so, he is still free to trade with whomever, it's been over 12 hours and no one's made a proper report. Once he's banned, any of his accounts known to be alts will be banned in the future as well

This is all you can hope to get done for now

[Vrakos Anthrakir]

9 minutes ago, Vondutch said:

Hello and thank you for the reply.

 

I meant to say many positive rep votes on backpack trust section, not steamrep.

 

As of now, my unusual along with others have been transferred to another backpack (just had a look at his bp history) and I think the account that scammed me and other people will never be used to trade again. He is probably trying to sell it thru different channels right now.

 

Can we actually put a trade-lock on a specific TF2 item? That would be best because putting a trade ban on account level would not be efficient I think. Of course the scam account will be ditched and the new one will be used.

 

to respond to the trade-lock question:  Of course we can't (not in the way you're thinking) and valve won't/doesn't do that sort of thing

[h21]

Sorry to hear that; another big exit scam happening again

I wouldn't have trusted this account personally since it was made in 2020, +rep doesn't mean much when you can just farm it over a period of time then do a big exit scam at the end.

 

The only thing you can really do is be more careful for next time, do paypal trades with people that are actually a part of the TF2 community and have long invested time in trades (aka old paypal trade posts, or long +rep from the past to the present; actually have stable trading revenue so they don't need to exit scam).

 

If he has keys or has paid for many keys in the past, asking for keys wouldn't be that much of a stretch instead of a large paypal transaction if you want to be safe. Then you can cashout with keys at small increments to prevent a larger loss.

 

I've reported users in the past before for being alts of scammers (using IP software) with my tickets being rejected and two of them have already ended up exit scamming, you'd be surprised at how people with +50 cash reps just end up stealing thousands of dollars out of nowhere.

[D.Alex]

37 minutes ago, Henchman 21 said:

with my tickets being rejected and two of them have already ended up exit scammin

 

Sigh ... tell me about it, this is basically the story of my interactions with BP admins. Sometimes it feels like they do everything in their power to help these PayPal scammers while abiding perfectly by site rules.

This case was no exception: https://backpack.tf/issues?text=76561198260263740 for me is:

[kayalancer]

Your bonzo drill hat is on CS.Deals. He personally has it listed on there, he didn't quicksell it to some random bot. I would say try to contact the support team on that website and tell them about your situation with proof.

[Crazyy Cow]

6 hours ago, D.Alex said:

 

Sigh ... tell me about it, this is basically the story of my interactions with BP admins. Sometimes it feels like they do everything in their power to help these PayPal scammers while abiding perfectly by site rules.

This case was no exception: https://backpack.tf/issues?text=76561198260263740 for me is:

I got added by this guy. Thought he was legit. After checking back a bit I checked issue tracker and realized he was Korean Retard. Wish there was a button to automatically check issue tracker of someone.

[D.Alex]

39 minutes ago, Crazyy Cow said:

Wish there was a button to automatically check issue tracker of someone.

 

I do have this "button" added by userscript on top of every profile page:

and if I remember correctly admins refused to add this feature for everyone.

[Crazyy Cow]

2 hours ago, D.Alex said:

 

I do have this "button" added by userscript on top of every profile page:

and if I remember correctly admins refused to add this feature for everyone.

why would they refuse to add a feature that's just a bit helpful for those who want to check. It's public information either way.

[Toughsox]

I just wanted to address the criticism thats been brought up here about the Staff here and its reporting methods.   I came here close to 3 years ago from TF2 Outpost.  The rant back then was that we were too strict.   After coming here, I hear all too often how lenient things are.  

Believe me when I say, the Staff here constantly discuss issues brought up by the Community, and its a fine line. We lean one way, half the people complain. Lean the other way and the other half complain.   
No single set of rules is going to fix whats wrong with the TF2 Community, but as you can all see in multiple topics, we try.   Sometimes you may not like the decision but, it is never a knee-jerk response by our Staff as to how to go about fixing an issue.

As for the link you posted @D. Alex, I went over those reports you linked and came to the same exact conclusion that the other Staff members did.  We do not, nor ever did accept 3rd party reports, (nor do any other TF2 Communities) Also,  being IP banned on one site means something.....but it doesn't equate to an auto ban at another site.    Prime example is, a minor ban that escalates to multiple ban evasions.   TF2 Outpost would definitely IP ban a person.......that doesn't mean he needed to be banned at other sites simply because he evaded a ban on one site.    I'm not saying thats what happened but, its possible. 

Geel lets each site he owns to run independently. Yet Im sure if he felt the other site was in danger somehow, that he would intervene or pass along that information if it was deemed necessary. 

And, to think, even in jest, that we would even remotely condone Paypal scamming is actually an insult.  I have read way too many USER REPORTS to know deep in  my heart that the person being reported is guilty but, the proof is just not there.  So, we either take a stance that we need actual PROOF or, we just ban anyone that gets reported......... something that would not be tolerated by anyone.   It has always been, and always be about what we can PROVE, not what we THINK. 

And as for wanting that script item put into the system, Im not a coder so dont know what it would take to do that. But what I CAN tell you is that our main coder is CONSTANTLY fixing every issue that comes up thats humanly possible.....TF2 breaks stuff with every update, in case you weren't aware of that. 

In conclusion, everyone here at BP.TF works for the safety of the Community, whether you want to believe it or not. 

[mr. o.g.]

If you use Paypal (for bigger transactions i.e. over 40 dollars), you will probably get ripped off.  It doesn't matter who it is. If you did this and everything turned out ok--you got lucky...