Zak's Ultimate Guide to getting cheap, uncensored games on Steam

Short version

In this blog post, I will explain a method to get very good prices on Steam games.

I will be using my own dispenser.tf shop links in the tutorial so if you want to support me, buy from there. However there might be cheaper sellers though so feel free to compare prices across trading sites instead.

For those familiar with the terms "TF2 keys" and "game gifts", read this short version. If you have questions or are unfamiliar with these terms, read below to understand how it works.

1. Purchase TF2 keys from the shop, community market or via Paypal. You will be using these keys as currency to trade for games.
2. Use my shop link or the search field next to "SELL" to find a trade on dispenser.tf and click on any of the items within the trade to open the trade view, it should look like this: http://dispenser.tf/trade/69744/
3. Sign in via Steam, it is optional but makes things easier later on
4. On the upper row, click on the game/item you want so it is marked blue
5. On the lower row, click on the item(s) you want to use for payment
6. Click "Steam Purchase". It will add the trading bot to your friends list. If you signed in above, the bot will trade you automatically, otherwise you will need to follow the onscreen instructions and sent the given code to the bot in your friendslist.
7. Accept the trade request and place the payment keys into your side. The bot will then place the requested game into the trade and you can accept the deal.
8. Activate the game gift on Steam (or gift it to one of your buddies) under Games -> Manage gifts and game passes

Long Version / FAQ

What are Game Gifts and why are they cheaper?

Instead of buying a game into your Steam account, it is possible to purchase it as a tradable gift copy that lands in your inventory like TF2 / Dota2 / CS GO items.
There are people who purchase these game copies in a cheaper region (Russia, Brazil, USA), ideally when they already are on sale. For example a game that normally costs 30€ in Europe and is on sale for 10€ might sell for around 5€ in Russia.
The resulting gift copy however is (unless it says otherwise when you hover it) usable in all regions of the world and most likely uncensored.

So the following describes how to get games well below the normal price and often below the sale price (while the sale is still on and sometimes a little bit after).

 How can I benefit from cheap game gifts?

These people do not only buy the games for themselves. They trade them in bulk to traders like myself who give them valuable virtual items in return, but we will get to that. The games then end up on various trading sites like TF2Outpost.com bazaar.tf and dispenser.tf.

On these sites you will find listings which list the available games and prices. Since the Steam TOS are prohibiting allowed to sell games for money, the "currency" used are TF2 / Dota2 / CS GO keys which cost around 1.80€ and trading them for games is completely allowed and commonplace.

How do I find the game I am looking for?

I'll explain a couple options here.

1. dispenser.tf: my preferred site. They are using a bot system where sellers will move their items into a Steam account that is controlled by an automated trading bot. The buyer searches for the game title he wants in the search box, obtains the required amount of keys and then swaps these with the automating trading bot for the game gift. The main benefit of using bots is that you don't have to check if the seller is currently online.
   So search for the game and take note of how many keys the seller wants for it.
   
   
2. TF2Outpost  Use the search function and pick "Steam Inventory" on the dropdown. Type the game name in the field on the left and you will get a list of people selling it. Click on one of the offers to see a detailed description. If you sign in using your Steam account, you should enable "Automatically show notes for all trades." in the TF2Outpost settings, it makes it much easier to browse through the results.
   You will need to add the seller or send him a trade offer and wait until he/she accepts.
   
   
3. bazaar.tf Use the search function and pick "Steam" on the wishlist on the right. Type the game name in the field on the left and you will get a list of people selling it. Basically it works like TF2Outpost, so see above.

If you know other good ways, feel free to comment below so I can add them.

How do I get the keys to pay for the game?

Various methods, sorted by price from worst to best

1. Buy them from the ingame or web shop of TF2, CS GO or Dota 2 for 1.80€
2. Buy them on community market from another player for ~1.64€ (Dota 2 keys) or 1,75€ (TF2 keys)
3. Buy them from a trustworthy seller via Paypal for around 1.40€. This is a bit risky unless you know what you are doing, so I recommend you to ask someone experienced with trades for real world money or pick a seller that has been on TF2Outpost for a very long time.

I found a seller, I have the keys, how do I get the game?

For TF2Outpost and bazaar.tf you'll need to get in touch with the seller or send him a trade offer and wait until he/she accepts. Since most people want their games instantly, I recommend looking for a seller who is currently online or - better - use dispenser.tf where you will always trade with a bot.

For dispenser.tf, use the explanation in the short version.

I have the game, how do get it into my Steam libary?

In Steam click on Games -> Manage gifts and game passes (or open your Steam inventory), Select the gift and click "Add to my game libary".

Why I am losing faith in Steamrep

Why I am losing faith in Steamrep

Disclaimer

I know this will upset some of the people working for Steamrep, and I am sorry for that. I thank you for your service but I still feel the need to write about these issues. I hope it will promote a healthy discussion in the community and am looking forward to your replies.

Here we go

It's been a while since I last wrote over TF2 scamming.
Loads of stupid noob scammers added me over the months, most don't even have a working Paypal and insist that I should go first despite them not having any rep at all.
As a good citizen I report even the smallest scams to Steamrep, a website that tries to track who is a scammer and who is not.

It should work like this: A scam victim (or victim of a scam attempt) writes a report with proof, a responsible person at Steamrep takes a look at it and bans the scammer if the report is valid.

But recently I have been losing faith in them, for various reasons. I will list them and use a current case I investigated to demonstrate these flaws.

They are overworked

A while ago Steamrep had a warning up that you should search for open reports since they are hugely overworked and take ages to make decisions. Eventually this warning went away but they are still responding extremely slowly to reports.

Case in point, the scammer who added me two days ago. He was using stolen Paypal accounts and therefore willing to pay first before receiving items. A few minutes after receipt of the items, Paypal would freeze the payments or the owner of the account would chargeback the payments. As I researched some more, I found an actual victim and immediately filed a report. I even personally commented on an admin's profile to make sure it gets handled quickly.

Two days later, nobody has even looked at it. Meanwhile the scammer made around $2000 (that I know of).

Due to the lack of the mentioned notice, people do not even know that visiting a person's Steamrep profile is insufficient. How should they know that the tiny link "Search SteamRep Forum" lets them to the open reports against this person.They open the Steamrep pages, see no warning or tag and carry on with the trade. In the case of our Paypal scammer, they would have found these: http://forums.steamrep.com/search/1846908/?q=76561198026342583&o=date
Two days later, not one of these reports have been handled.

Which brings me to my next point:

They are making arbitrary boundaries that hugely delay getting scammers banned

Look at this report: http://forums.steamrep.com/threads/scammer-alt-76561198026342583.43866/
It has all the needed information. Scammer, victim, transcript, screenshots for proof.
But wait - recently Steamrep decided that it would be best if people would upload screenshots to their servers. Fine by me but this went completely unnoticed by almost the entire community. Even me, one of the more experienced traders, failed to notice it.
A report gets usually handled by a minion that screens reports for their correctness. This may be necessary due to the volume of reports they receive. But instead of fixing the minor flaws themselves (like uploading the posted screenshots to the site, heck even a bot could do that), these minions only reply that people should upload the screenshots, often causing a delay of another day or two.

They do not give priority to severe cases

Look at this report: http://forums.steamrep.com/threads/76561198026342583.44110/

When he posted, my own report as well as the other victim's was already up there. So there were 3 independant reports of this guy being a scammer. But because the reporting person failed to record the original payment agreement, the minion just dismissed it as "Need more info". In a report of a very dangerous scam type and a $800 damage. How much more info do you need than 3 independent top tier traders reporting him to be a scammer.
By blocking this report, the minion makes sure that no person with some actual knowledge of scammers ever sees it.

They have no early warning system

If a person has one or more reports against them, this should show on their steamrep profile. Yes, innocent people may be temporarily annoyed by false reports, but then again making false reports is a bannable offense. You could have an explanatory statement like:
This user is currently under review, please take a look at the open reports against him <link to search>.

You basically have to get let yourself get scammed if you want to get a report through

Take a look at this failed report of mine: http://forums.steamrep.com/threads/76561198036142699-Поиск.39860/
The guy randomly adds me to buy a game (I do not even sell games for money).
He then:
- Gives me a fake Paypal account email (was unable to received a mail on it)
- Lies about having a verified Paypal account
- Gives me a fake IP and a fake location
- Refuses to send me a $0.01 payment to prove that he actually has a means of paying me for the game
- Refuses to receive a "test" payment from me to prove that he actually has a working paypal account at all

Yet the minion in charge claims that none of this "is deemed as deceptive or fraudulent trade activity by SteamRep admins" (quoted from Steamrep FAQ) and does not even give him a warning tag. So basically I had wanted to get him tagged, I would have need to trade him the game. Fuck that, if that is not the most transparent scam attempt, I don't know what is.

80% of the victims will never even open Steamrep.com

This is technically not Steamrep's problem and makes a weak last argument, but it still one of the biggest problems of the scene. Even if the slow and painful process gets a scammer tagged, they will still be able to scam loads of people who do not bother to use Steamrep or who do not even know about it. There should be talks with Valve on getting the Steamrep API integrated into the trading window, so people see something like "Community Warning" when trading with a Steamrep tagged scammer.

Conclusion

I am seriously contemplating not writing any more Steamrep reports. The time and effort it takes to create a report is completely wasted if the reaction time can be measured in weeks, not hours. Look at my previous reports: http://forums.steamrep.com/search/1847242/
Each of these reports take a lot of time. First you have to spot the scammer. This is easy, they come to me daily. But then you have to entangle him in enough lies and deceipt to warrant a report, proving that your intuition (and knowledge of red flags) was spot on. Even after doing all that, making screenshots and going through the hassle of formatting a report, you risk that it gets rejected for some stupid reason. And if it doesn't, it still takes days if not weeks for Steamrep to react. By then a good scammer has made $10.000 from the profile using the fake (or real) rep he received.

If Steamrep wants to stay ahead of the game, they need to drastically change the way they operate. For example you could give people with at least X accepted reports the ability to hand out temporary warnings and/or bans. This will effect a tiny minority of innocent people but would be a huge step towards a quick reaction. Top tier traders are a popular target for scammers so they quickly learn how to spot them. It does not take me 2 weeks to know that the community needs to be warned about these people.

TF2 scamming through links (cross-site scripting)

Another day, another scammer

I wasn't really planning to do more posts on this blog but today something came to my attention, that I do not want to let go. Maybe you read about it already but Steam has a huge security hole that allows scammers to take control over your trade window.

Basically, it works like this:

1. Scammer approaches you while you are ingame or asks you to go ingame
2. Scammer opens a trade window with you
3. While the trade window is open, the scammer asks you to open a link he prepared for you under some excuse
4. The link contains custom Javascript that will place your items into the trade and click accept for you (when opened in the steam browser)
5. The scammer has your items and deletes the custom URL so you cannot analyze what happened.

The nerds call this a cross-site scripting attack. The attacker is using code from his own malicious site (tf2-items.com) to influence code execution on the target site (Steam Trading Window), thus "cross-site". This is a huge securty flaw and Valve should really get this fixed as fast as possible.

Real life example

Apparently even being "Steam Batman" doesn't protect you from being the target of these attacks.

Check out this screenshot:

The guy had randomly added me and asked for my Larrikin Robin with Green Confetti, an Unusual hat worth maybe 2-3 buds. He pretended to be interested on paying my B/O (buyout), which is usually overpriced. First red flag. I open his profile and it is set to private, second red flag. After I open my trade window, he sends me the URL tf2-items.com/id/zakmcrofl which is scarily similar to real tf2items.com URLs (http://tf2items.com/id/zakmcrofl).

Using Wireshark to get his IP

Luckily I had already heard of this kind of attack so I closed the trade window and obtained his IP address using the wireshark method:

1. Install Wireshark
2. Open it and in the interface list, select the interface that connects you to the internet
3. Set the filter to "frame.len == 98"
4. Send a Voice Chat request to the scammer. It doesn't matter if he accepts or ignores it 
5. Check the wireshark log for the IP.

Here is how it looked in this case:

Apparently steam is (usually) using UDP Traversal Through NAT which includes information about the private network on both sides. In this example. 192.168.100.1 is my local IP. 76.69.4.79 is the public (internet) IP of the scammer and 192.168.2.11 is his local IP address without his network. This is very interesting information if the public address is in a university and in case the local IP is static within the dorms.

Don't be hasty

Unfortunately I was a little hasty in scaring him off by posting his IP in the chat. There realistically isn't much I can do with this information but I can still hope he notices he is not anonmymous. What I should have done is analyze the Javascript code he has on that URL but unfortunately it shows different content when viewed with a non-steam browser. The detection is most likely done by User Agent but I had that idea too late. By the time I faked the User Agent in Firefox, he had already removed my URL.

How to protect yourself

1. Always check the profile of people asking for unusuals. If it is private or if you cannot view their inventory, do not trade with them (they are doing this to hide their stolen goods). Other tells are very little play time (newbies do not buy unusuals) or a freshly created account.
2. Do NOT click any links until this exploit is fixed. If you must check out a link, close the trade window first and don't do it ingame. Your normal browser should be safe against this kind of attack.

Steam Batman

DISCLAIMER: 
This old story only contains a part of the story and is written for educational and entertainment reasons only. It is important to note that scamming scammers, for example by offering them money for their stolen hats and then not paying it, is frowned upon by the trading community and NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Do NOT be a vigilante. Convincing a scammer to return his items is acceptable, as I have done in this case, but do not pull scams on scammers. I borderlined on breaking the Steamrep rules by accepting his hat.
Allowing vigilante stunts opens a whole new can of worms of people doing bad things with good intentions.

This is quite a long story and I created this blog just to tell it. Rest assured it is epic and you will not regret reading this wall of text. You will learn about the dark side of TF2 trading, how to protect yourself against it and finally, how to scam a scammer!

Some background information about TF2 trading

The game Team Fortress 2 has a virtual item economy. It allows trading of such items via a safe Steam Trading mechanism. Traders like myself use this system to get items they prefer in exchange of items they like less or that are worth less.
The most sought after items are Unusual Hats which offer special particle effects like flames over your head.
Since they can only be unboxed with a chance of 1% using keys that cost $2.50 each, they can be quite valuable.

This leads to the deside to sell or buy these hats for real world money. The catch is that Steam Trading does not allow for monetary transactions so that such a trade is insecure by nature. Either the buyer or the seller has to "go first" by giving out the money or the item without knowing if the seller / buyer will keep their side of the bargain. This risk is somewhat reducable by using an independent, trusted "middleman". The seller gives his item to the middleman, the buyer can verify it is there and transfers the money. After receipt, the seller confirms payment receipt to the middleman who gives the item to the buyer. Aside from possible Paypal chargebacks, this process is relatively safe (using other payment methods).

I will explain how people exploit this process and try to scam others in the process.

Approached by a scammer

After years of trading, I have many valuable items and unusual hats in my backpack. So there I was on an unsual hat trade server, checking out other nice hats people are showing off and trying to sell. Suddenly I get a trade request from a guy on the server, let's call him Skychief. Skychief's first question is "Can I buy the Unusual you are wearing for $120?". This is very odd for two reasons.

1. He did not even ask me how much I am selling it for
2. The value of the unusual in question was much lower

This behavior is actually on purpose, the point is to invoke greed in the victim. Sure I want to sell my $30 hat for $120. However for an experienced trader, these points are obvious red flags.
Anyways, I decided to play along because I was curious what he was going to try on me and of course he might still just be a moron looking to spend $120 on a virtual item he loves.

So I ask him some basic questions, like do you know how this works ("No, first time") and if he is familiar with the middleman method. Conveniently, he already has a middleman available. This was another red flag, either people have traded unusuals before, then they know and select a middleman, or they haven't and they will take a long time understanding the concept, even longer to find a middleman.
So he sends me this Steam profile link to his middleman:
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198045981486

Following the sourceop link we find the profile of the real (albeit not widely known) middleman:
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198010040423

A couple more red flags: the name history on the fake profile shows many other names, especially of other middlemen. Also real middlemen are usually old school TF2 players and therefore have old steam accounts as well as. And short playtime as our fake profile has, is a good indicator of a fake (usually it is even less).

So anyways, I again decide to play along at first and tell Skychief that I will add the middleman. Suddenly Skychief seems to get cold feet and tells me that the middleman might be untrustworthy. This very confusing and rare, I assume he googled my nickname and found some of my sourceop scammer reports. Worried that he might find another target, I add a guy who was on the server with us and is also on  Skychiefs friendslist, his name is Mr.Shnipz. I ask him if he was approached by Skychief and tell him to watch out since Skychief seems to be a scammer. Now it gets weird. He gets all defensive, says that Skychief seems to be an innocent and nice guy. When I tell him that I will monitor Skychief for a while, he says its probably not necessary and that he will keep an eye on him for me. Very fishy and I go to bed with the lingering feeling that they are connected. But I keep both Skychief and Mr. Shnipz on my friendslist in order to keep an eye on their activities in the next days.

Day two - Justice

The next day Mr.Shnipz starts chatting with me again and tells me that he needs my help to trade his two unusuals 2:1 for a certain hat (unusual steaming anger) held by another guy that is worth way less than his two. I check out his backpack and sure enough he has two unusuals that I didn't notice the day before:

http://www.tf2items.com/item/786758567 (Orb fire Jeepcap)

http://www.tf2items.com/item/779968197 (Stormy Marauder)

I decide to talk to the previous owner or the Jeepcap, Hunter:

Never tell your password to anyone.
Dienstag, 10. April 2012

21:22 - ZakMcRofl: hey there

21:22 - ZakMcRofl: quick question

21:22 - Hunter: yes?

21:22 - ZakMcRofl: you used to have an unusual jumper cap

21:22 - Hunter: YES

21:22 - ZakMcRofl: what happened to it

21:22 - Hunter: oh my god
21:22 - Hunter: it got scammed
21:22 - Hunter: do you have it???

21:22 - ZakMcRofl: i thought so

21:22 - ZakMcRofl: no

21:23 - Hunter: aww :(

21:23 - ZakMcRofl: i am talking to the guy who has it

21:23 - Hunter: DOOD

21:23 - ZakMcRofl: mr shnipz

21:23 - Hunter: omg please

21:23 - ZakMcRofl: i believe he is a scammer

21:23 - Hunter: i would do anything
21:23 - Hunter: if u could get it back

21:24 - ZakMcRofl: let me try

21:24 - Hunter: ok

21:24 - ZakMcRofl: i can give you the profile link

21:24 - ZakMcRofl: but do not add him

21:24 - ZakMcRofl: now

21:24 - ZakMcRofl: it will scare him off

21:24 - Hunter: ok thanks\ u soooo much, i wont
21:24 - Hunter: i was lookin so hard

21:24 - ZakMcRofl: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198061280822/

21:24 - Hunter: i love you

21:24 - ZakMcRofl: valve might be able to help you

21:24 - ZakMcRofl: explain what happened

21:24 - ZakMcRofl: they can look into the trade history

21:24 - ZakMcRofl: least they will do is restore the item

21:24 - Hunter: yup it was a lvl 77 jeecap w orb fire
21:25 - Hunter: thats it

21:25 - ZakMcRofl: it is the same hat

21:25 - Hunter: ya
21:25 - Hunter: exact same

21:25 - ZakMcRofl: http://www.tf2items.com/item/786758567

21:25 - ZakMcRofl: history

21:25 - ZakMcRofl: how did he scam you?

21:25 - Hunter: he hacked a trusted middleman

21:25 - ZakMcRofl: 1sec

21:25 - Hunter: atom, he had a good rep, only later did i read he was being impersinated

21:26 - ZakMcRofl: i think i understand their scheme better now

21:26 - ZakMcRofl: i just need to get them to admit to it

21:26 - Hunter: ya
21:26 - Hunter: ok
21:26 - Hunter: who r u?

21:26 - ZakMcRofl: i will voice chat you

21:26 - Hunter: like steam batman?

21:26 - ZakMcRofl: just another potential victim

21:26 - Hunter: cool

If you prefer to read the rest of the story as a chat transcript, I have uploaded it here: http://pastebin.com/JJRQQY4J 

So I explain to him that I think that Mr. Shnipz is trying to do the TF2 equivalent of the "Fiddle Game" con on me:

21:38 - ZakMcRofl: V = victom, A= scammer A, B=Scammer B

21:39 - ZakMcRofl: A approaches V telling him that he would pay 100 for something worth 10

21:39 - Hunter: yup

21:39 - ZakMcRofl: B conveniently offers the item for 50

21:39 - ZakMcRofl: V buys from B, hoping for quick profit

21:39 - Hunter: yup

21:39 - ZakMcRofl: A is suddenly not interested in it anymore

21:40 - ZakMcRofl: thats what he was pulling with me i think

Mr. Shnipz has gone offline by now so I spend some time with Hunter reconstructing how he got scammed. He still has the scammer who approached him on his friends list and it turns out the fake middleman was the same one that was used when I was approached, only under the name "Atom-3000+hours of TF2" (trusted middleman). By the way, if you ever need to trace back who you traded with, go to View -> Inventory and click "View Inventory History" in the upper right. Anyways, I promise Hunter to try to build a case against those scammers and ask him not to scare them off in the meantime. I try to contact the other unusual's previous owner with no success.

Finally, Mr. Shnipz returns. Since we still cannot be sure that he is part of the scam and didn't just buy the hat from the scammer, I try to lure him into lying:

22:23 - Mr.Shnipz: hey

22:23 - ZakMcRofl: hi

22:23 - Mr.Shnipz: you talk to him?

22:23 - ZakMcRofl: not yet, no

22:24 - Mr.Shnipz: k he add you?

22:24 - ZakMcRofl: he is offline, so no

22:24 - Mr.Shnipz: ok
22:24 - Mr.Shnipz: yea if you get get it that be great :)

22:25 - ZakMcRofl: cool unusuals, where did you get em from?

22:25 - ZakMcRofl: unbox?

22:27 - Mr.Shnipz: nah...i bought them when i first heard about unusual hats...and i got like 500 dollars for my birthday so ya :D
22:27 - Mr.Shnipz: its good investment :P
22:27 - Mr.Shnipz: you unbox yours?

22:30 - ZakMcRofl: how can you play tf2 and not hear about unusuals :)

22:30 - ZakMcRofl: its the world's biggest hat simulator after all

22:31 - Mr.Shnipz: well at first i played the game reg. with the defaut games like 2fort...then i got onto a server and i saw one...and i was like wtf!
22:31 - Mr.Shnipz: lol
22:31 - Mr.Shnipz: so ever since :)

22:31 - ZakMcRofl: and you paid 500 bucks for it?

22:31 - ZakMcRofl: thats insane

22:32 - Mr.Shnipz: no liek 100 for the jeep and like 180 for marauder...spent rest on soccer cleats :P
22:32 - Mr.Shnipz: but anyways...you postitive youll get the hat cuz im about to buy 2 white paints

Ah, he is getting pushy again. Time to test my theory so I add the owner of hat he wants so desperately, let's call him Spock. Carefully I try to figure out if I was right about my suspicions and if Spock is trying to get some of my fine unusuals from me. Since he is asking a low price and seems like a nice guy, I explain the situation to him and keep him friended.

An idea forms in my head and I switch to Mr Shnipz's chat again:

22:32 - Mr.Shnipz: but anyways...you postitive youll get the hat cuz im about to buy 2 white paints

22:32 - ZakMcRofl: i am not positive, no

22:32 - ZakMcRofl: its hard to get stuff like that

22:32 - Mr.Shnipz: o

22:33 - ZakMcRofl: anger is a popular hat

22:33 - ZakMcRofl: the guy is looking for 6 buds

22:33 - Mr.Shnipz: yes but its 4.5

22:33 - ZakMcRofl: what did he say he was looking for?

22:34 - Mr.Shnipz: idk but he told me he doesnt like my marauder
22:34 - Mr.Shnipz: im sure one of your hats is worth what he wants :)

22:37 - ZakMcRofl: so do you want exactly this anger

22:37 - ZakMcRofl: or any anger?

22:39 - Mr.Shnipz: any..i would like an orbit fire one or g energy

By the way, this confirmed that they are not working together.

22:39 - ZakMcRofl: and you would 2:1?

22:39 - Mr.Shnipz: yes

22:39 - ZakMcRofl: that guy has smoking

22:39 - Mr.Shnipz: ok get it ...
22:39 - Mr.Shnipz: you can get it now?

22:39 - ZakMcRofl: trying to

22:40 - Mr.Shnipz: kk

22:40 - ZakMcRofl: steaming, not smoking

22:40 - Mr.Shnipz: how much it worth?
22:40 - Mr.Shnipz: o yes steamign is great
22:40 - Mr.Shnipz: get it  ....lol
22:44 - Mr.Shnipz: u get it?

22:44 - ZakMcRofl: not yet

22:44 - ZakMcRofl: relax

22:45 - Mr.Shnipz: lol ok
22:45 - Mr.Shnipz: you talkign to him :)?

22:47 - ZakMcRofl: yo

22:48 - Mr.Shnipz: yes?
22:48 - Mr.Shnipz: lol
22:50 - Mr.Shnipz: im just asking because i need to get the white paint for my boots and the hat, unloess you can find out if it already has white paint on it.. thanks for your help :)

22:51 - ZakMcRofl: its not painted afaik

22:51 - Mr.Shnipz: afaik? and ok

22:53 - ZakMcRofl: as far as i know

22:55 - Mr.Shnipz: kk.. you postive you going to get it?
Mr.Shnipz is now playing Team Fortress 2. Click here to join.
23:01 - Mr.Shnipz: how you doing on it?
23:04 - Mr.Shnipz: you there?

23:06 - ZakMcRofl: yo sorry

23:06 - ZakMcRofl: he's hard to deal with

23:06 - Mr.Shnipz: ask him if yed take my stuff
23:07 - Mr.Shnipz: who is it?

23:07 - ZakMcRofl: that Spock guy

23:07 - Mr.Shnipz: o ask him if hed take your hat and my jeep cap...
23:07 - Mr.Shnipz: and ill give you y marauder

23:08 - ZakMcRofl: i offered my crown and he said no

23:08 - ZakMcRofl: he said he would do it for the jeepcap and my crown

23:08 - Mr.Shnipz: offer something else dude..im givign you profit
23:08 - Mr.Shnipz: ok do it and ill give you the marauder

Now it gets tense! He opens a trade with me and places Hunter's Orbiting Fire Jeepcap into the trade. Apparently he wants to to give it to me, assuming that I would use it to get the hat from Spock.
Needless to say I accept with a pounding heart...

... OMG I have the hat!

Of course I have to tell Hunter about the new development right away:

23:09 - ZakMcRofl: 23:09 - ZakMcRofl: OH MY GOD

23:09 - ZakMcRofl: he traded me the jeepcap

23:09 - ZakMcRofl: for NOTHIGN

23:10 - ZakMcRofl: you there?

Hunter is now Away.

23:15 - ZakMcRofl: DUDE

23:15 - ZakMcRofl: GO ONLINE

Hunter is now Online.
23:15 - Hunter: why
23:15 - Hunter: wuts up?

23:15 - ZakMcRofl:  http://steamcommunity.com/id/zakmcrofl/inventory#440_2_791491348 (picture of the stolen hat with ownership info)

23:15 - ZakMcRofl: OWNED BY

23:15 - ZakMcRofl: ZAKMCROFL

23:15 - ZakMcRofl: i got your hat

23:15 - Hunter: dood thank SOOOOOO much

23:15 - ZakMcRofl: haha that guy is such a tool

23:15 - Hunter: i love you
23:15 - Hunter: i LLLLOOOOOVVVEEE YYOUI
23:16 - Hunter: im so happy...words cant express

23:16 - ZakMcRofl: haha

23:16 - Hunter: how?

23:16 - ZakMcRofl: this story is so fucking epic

23:16 - ZakMcRofl: this is going on reddit.com

23:16 - Hunter: omg i bet

23:16 - ZakMcRofl: i am writing it all down

23:16 - ZakMcRofl: that guy is such a moron

23:16 - Hunter: you are....steam batman

23:16 - ZakMcRofl: i guess i am lol

I promise him to give the hat back later and keep it in my backpack in order to not scare off Mr. Shnipz. Having the upper hand now, I am trying to get him to admit to his lies.

Epilogue

I think that the rest of the story is most amusing in transcript form (scroll to 23:11 in http://pastebin.com/JJRQQY4J  ) but I will some it up here.

First, I get him to admit that his birthday is in january. Since the item history shows that he got the hat in April, me must have been lying about it being a birthday gift.
I give him a huge benefit of the doubt and let him try to prove that he purchased it.
He posts a hillarious fake Paypal statement:
http://i.imgur.com/ieLLE.png (I edited the email address)
and cannot resist to call him out on it:

23:57 - ZakMcRofl: wow you even suck at faking screenshots

23:57 - Mr.Shnipz: but i dont understand how to do it i just copyed and pasted it ff the site

23:57 - ZakMcRofl: Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

     Skychief12@yahoo.com

23:58 - Mr.Shnipz: yes thats his email

23:58 - ZakMcRofl: yeah, it doesn't exist

[...]

00:02 - ZakMcRofl: you can get it back if you provide proof

00:02 - ZakMcRofl: a crappy screenshot and some faked text is not proof

00:03 - Mr.Shnipz: your a bully faget
00:03 - Mr.Shnipz: thanks for beign a bully

00:03 - ZakMcRofl: i am not scamming people

00:03 - ZakMcRofl: you are

00:03 - Mr.Shnipz: you scammer
00:03 - Mr.Shnipz: i thought we were friend sand nwo you scammed me
00:03 - Mr.Shnipz: thanks a lot and imk contacting steam support
Mr.Shnipz left chat.

Damn, that seems to be the end of it. But wait, he is still in my friendslist!

Never tell your password to anyone.
Mittwoch, 11. April 2012

00:04 - ZakMcRofl: ok this is going straight on reddit

00:04 - ZakMcRofl: and to valve

00:05 - ZakMcRofl: i got your entire little scam circus on tape

00:05 - Mr.Shnipz: lol idc.....you scammer

00:05 - ZakMcRofl: you , your fake middleman

00:05 - ZakMcRofl: you want steam ids?

00:05 - ZakMcRofl: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198059470884

00:06 - ZakMcRofl: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198045981486

00:06 - ZakMcRofl: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198059470884

00:06 - Mr.Shnipz: lol yep and yepo...i SCAMM PEOPLE....IVE SCAMMED SO MANY THINGS FROM PEOPLE YOU DONT EVEN RELIZE>>>IM THE ONE WHO FUCKS EVERYONE UP...AND U MAKE IT STOP!!!lolIM NOT STOPPING...ITS ONLY THE BEGINNING!! :)
00:07 - Mr.Shnipz: HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

00:07 - ZakMcRofl: you realize valve will delete your account and all your game in it

00:07 - ZakMcRofl: and your friends

00:07 - ZakMcRofl: and your real account

00:07 - ZakMcRofl: once this goes to reddit.com

00:07 - Mr.Shnipz: LOL LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

00:07 - ZakMcRofl: i can't believe you fell for a reverse scam. scamming a scammer. that is GOLD

00:07 - ZakMcRofl: so greedy

00:08 - Mr.Shnipz: LOL IT WAS A FREE HAT IDC
00:08 - Mr.Shnipz: LOL
00:08 - Mr.Shnipz: YOU REALLY THINK I FUCKING CARE

00:08 - ZakMcRofl: it is illegal, fraud, if you get caught you could face jailtime. stealing a 100$ item is not a petty crime

00:08 - ZakMcRofl: i hope you realize that

00:09 - Mr.Shnipz: lol

Note that I only invoke reddit as my personal army at this point because I want to get him to return the remaining unusuals. Public shame seems like the best option, but then I get a better idea. Steam chat is P2P, you can easily notice by the huge lag the chat sometimes has. So I open up wireshark, record all outgoing IP traffic and click on the "Start Voice chat" button. He accepts.

00:14 - Mr.Shnipz: ?
Mr.Shnipz has ended the call.

I tell him on the call that by accepting it, he allowed me to record his home IP address (via wireshark). This apparently has the intended effect:

00:15 - Mr.Shnipz: look dude im srry ok i will never scam again...i promise

00:15 - ZakMcRofl: you are not anonymous on steam

00:16 - ZakMcRofl: your ip has been recorded

00:16 - Mr.Shnipz: ill give you my unusuals...im dont with the game

Now that we have admission of guilt, I talk to hunter to give him his hat back

        00:16 - Hunter: wow
        00:16 - Hunter: we should return the maurauder to its owner to

        00:17 - ZakMcRofl: yeah

        00:17 - Hunter: can i haz my hat back tho?
        00:17 - ZakMcRofl: ok course :)
        00:18 - Hunter: k thanks
        Hunter has accepted your request to trade.

        00:18 - ZakMcRofl: you're welcome
        00:18 - Hunter: u dont know what this meen 4 me man
        00:18 - Hunter: thanks so much
        00:19 - Hunter: im gunna name my child after you
        00:19 - Hunter: ZacMcRofl <HuntersFamilyName>
        00:19 - Hunter: the 3rd
        00:25 - ZakMcRofl: still in chat with him

        00:25 - ZakMcRofl: i got his IP adress

        00:26 - ZakMcRofl: he got caught with his pants WAY down

        00:27 - Hunter: lol

        00:27 - ZakMcRofl: do you plan to prosecute him?

        00:27 - ZakMcRofl: its fraud / theft after all

        00:27 - Hunter: im on a phone caLL WITH MY buddy, add him, your his hero

        00:27 - ZakMcRofl: i can't let him off the hook, that is up to you

        00:27 - ZakMcRofl: tell him to add me

        00:28 - Hunter: i honestly dont care, i got my hat back and i got taught a valuable lesson

        00:28 - ZakMcRofl: you mean HE got taught it

        00:28 - Hunter: but i also dont want this scammer loose
        00:29 - Hunter: ya,, but i also learned 2 be more carful

Meanwhile Mr. Shnipz is scared shitless and I force him to list all of his steam profiles. Turns out the fake middleman is also him, so I get him to switch to that account and make the backpack public. I am fishing for more intel on potential accomplices but he's either very loyal or there really weren't any. Finally he admits that he is just 14 years old and has scammed "only" 3 unusual hats which are not in his posession anymore. He seems to be pretty shaken:

Never tell your password to anyone.
Mittwoch, 11. April 2012
00:29 - vis: hey
00:29 - vis: so im srry again

00:30 - ZakMcRofl: make your backpack public

00:30 - vis: ok
00:30 - vis: k
00:30 - vis: you can look nothing in there
00:30 - vis: just sticky jumper

00:31 - ZakMcRofl: what other accounts are involved

00:31 - ZakMcRofl: (do NOT lie)

00:31 - ZakMcRofl: i got a list

00:31 - vis: what you mean...my other accounts
00:31 - vis: ?

00:31 - ZakMcRofl: all steam accounts that were involved

00:31 - ZakMcRofl: profile urls

00:32 - vis: nsane321

00:32 - ZakMcRofl: profile urls

00:32 - ZakMcRofl: like this one

00:32 - ZakMcRofl: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198045981486/

00:32 - vis: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198059470884
00:33 - vis: thats th eaccoutn i used to buy the hat from dresno just so you know

00:33 - ZakMcRofl: ok, what else

00:33 - ZakMcRofl: what other profiles

00:33 - vis: like my other ones?

00:34 - ZakMcRofl: yes

00:34 - vis: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198043908434
00:34 - vis: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198047533968

00:35 - ZakMcRofl: and do NOT bullshit me

00:35 - vis: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198007564932
00:35 - vis: im NOT

00:36 - ZakMcRofl: what about the rest?

00:36 - vis: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198061089758
00:36 - vis: those and mine currently right now

00:37 - ZakMcRofl: make the bp public on the last one

00:37 - vis: i swere those are it...i want to go clean and not do this anymore...i love the game and i respect you....i wouldnt ever do it again....i can sign a contract with you

Well I won't make him sign a contract but instead tell him that I would publish this story. And that he should duck and cover for a shitstorm of angry reddit nerds coming his way.
In a way I feel sorry for the kid, he is only 14, did some really stupid shit and is genuinely scared that the police might come knocking at his door. So I tell him to return all unusuals, if he still has any, to their rightful owners. And that I will release his IP if one of his victims gets in touch with me.

Finally I tell him to leave all the accounts I mentioned behind, to prevent the shitstorm.

So that's it, my first blog entry. Will it be the last? I felt that this story should be shared for the good of the community. I love this game and I f*cking hate scammers.

Finally I ask you, my reader, to please NOT hassle him, if you should find him. He is very scared and remorseful and will certainly not do it again.