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I've finally been scammed, $4,700 lost


Hoste

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Early this morning I received messages from a user I've traded with in past, someone named gawS or Justin (https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198189534714). In past experience with this person I've handled selling my keys to them for cash via a bank transfer and the transactions have gone through well enough, and now this person was looking to get back into trading TF2 items after cashing out about a year or so ago. They offered to buy a good number of higher-end items that I had listed for sale, items that I had either unboxed or collected over the years but now was looking to finally retire, to sell, and to leave TF2 almost entirely.

Justin and I discussed prices and settled on a total cash transaction for about $4,700 AUD via bank transfer for the handful of my items, of which consisted of:

 - Frozen Icefall Tundra Top

 - Snowfallen Rotation Sensation

 - Roboactive Company Man

 - Abyssal Aura Brain-Warming Wear

 - Dead Presidents Hawk Warrior

 - Refragmenting Reality Gauzed Gaze

 - Sparkling Lights Chill Chullo

 - Cloudy Moon El Jefe

 - Glamorous Dazzle Pooped Deck

 - Winter Spirit Scooty Scoot 

He was hesitant to pay saying he needed to "sell NFTs" and other assets to actually afford it. Lately when trading with people I've had to deal with people who offered keys they didn't yet own for a trade, so as much as this was a red flag there wasn't anything I could do at this point since the trade was already sent. He kept making excuses for it taking so long like needing to wait for the funds to transfer and all that garbage, and since he already had the items all I could do was hope he was telling the truth.

It's been several hours and I'm finally convinced he's not willing to follow through with the payment. I've since looked at some of the item histories and added some of the new owners to ask about this person, and a kind user named Estel had informed me that Justin had added them to try and sell the items in bulk for keys of approximately 1200 keys pure. The items have already been traded from his account, and the keys he received have already been sold, and I won't be seeing any bit of it. I usually pride myself on being cautious with my trades and in past have steered away from scams, but I took a chance with this person based on the fact that there has been history of this type of transaction and an already-built reputation in the local Australian ozFortress comp scene. All I can do is move on from it after now having lost thousands of dollars of value. I felt that with his language and choice to not buy certain items like the Misty Skull Waxy Wayfinder that he was actually interested and really meant he would follow through, but now I feel like I was just slow-rolled by his actual intentions. 

Below is a rolling screenshot of the Steam chat with Justin. To anyone is reading this forum post, all I ask is you please spread the word with any traders you do know so nobody can accidentally act as a fence for this person. I don't expect anyone to help me further than that, but well wishes will definitely help. Thanks. 

IMG_20230314_085100.jpg

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I'm in the process of creating a SteamRep report, and in real time I saw Justin come online then unfriend me and change their custom URL and other credentials to try and run. 

 

Fuck you Justin Lang. 

prof2.png

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bit late on the no fencing part...

 

https://backpack.tf/item/8392213381

https://backpack.tf/item/8348599342

https://backpack.tf/item/547255652

https://backpack.tf/item/9045872230

 

looks like the scammer sold all expensive stuff to inv buyer

 

 

sad, but really why ya'll trusting peeps who hold a personal inv of like $100?

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2 hours ago, AwesomeSause said:

Damn bro that's a mega fucking oof, hope you can track down the guy he sold it to and negotiate 

Ha, good luck with that.. 

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11 reps and no bp value and trusting them with 4700$. Thats kinda asking to be scammed.

 

Goodluck and take care and lets hope this will be a lesson for others

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Sorry you got scammed bro, but you really have to be cautious who you trust. In this case you had no leverage at all. Shame that people have to do this.

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he was trying to quicksell to me as well, i was lazy to offer anything and luckily didnt duy anything from gaws, saw later and he already sold everything. i was a bit sus about it and here is see damn!!

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4 minutes ago, duskfen said:

Normalize being extensively cautious with who you trust with your money

I'm a fuckin Ebenezer Scrooge 

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11 hours ago, Hoste said:

I'm in the process of creating a SteamRep report, and in real time I saw Justin come online then unfriend me and change their custom URL and other credentials to try and run. 

 

Fuck you Justin Lang. 

prof2.png

Sorry to hear, Hoste. Good luck and take care.

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Expect this shit to happen more often, please stop doing cash trades with other players.

 

We are 3 years into a pandemic that has caused a worldwide economic recession and runaway inflation.

 

Outside of the top level scams you can’t get in trouble for “stealing skins” so this shit will become more prevalent as people use their rep and backpack value to make a quick buck.

 

Anyone with half a brain would know that a dude with “rep” that has been out of the game but now wants back in randomly isn’t a person to do a $5000 cash deal with. 
 

You got impatient and greedy, saw a cash out offer that was too good to be true and jumped on it. Steamrep report wont do shit btw, I got my scammer banned 10+ years ago and he probably just took 3 seconds to make a new account. Sucks but that’s how it is sometimes
 

 

 

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56 minutes ago, Bananas said:

Expect this shit to happen more often, please stop doing cash trades with other players.

 

We are 3 years into a pandemic that has caused a worldwide economic recession and runaway inflation.

 

Outside of the top level scams you can’t get in trouble for “stealing skins” so this shit will become more prevalent as people use their rep and backpack value to make a quick buck.

 

Anyone with half a brain would know that a dude with “rep” that has been out of the game but now wants back in randomly isn’t a person to do a $5000 cash deal with. 
 

You got impatient and greedy, saw a cash out offer that was too good to be true and jumped on it. Steamrep report wont do shit btw, I got my scammer banned 10+ years ago and he probably just took 3 seconds to make a new account. Sucks but that’s how it is sometimes
 

 

 

The pandemic has nothing to do with this.

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