This particular scenario is tricky because there is always a new trick scammers are using to impersonate a normal player. It can be very difficult especially if the scammer attempts to defend how their profile looks. While fail safes like the aforementioned browser plugins help, it is never 100% accurate because it relies on players reporting the actual account to third party services.

The best way to be sure a player profile isn't intended to scam you, you can use this short list to diagnose your suspicion about the recipient:

• Is their profile private? This is the first and biggest red flag. While a small handful of people prefer to privatise their profile to avoid scammers altogether, most have their profiles public to advertise the items they are selling. I would not recommend adding them in the case of a private profile.
  
• Is their inventory private? If they have the need to hide their inventory but not their profile while also claiming to want to trade, that is most likely a scammer. A normal player does not hide on and not both.
  
• How do they describe themselves in their profile? This one is rather tricky because its hard to judge a description of a total stranger. Based on my own knowledge in trading over the years, scammers seem to have some sort of pattern to their descriptions:
  
  • They are posting their entire pc specifications in a list. While not unusual, I found alot of scammers use this to blend in. The specs are usually not low-tier but not the highest either.
    
  • Alot of scammers, as of 2024, will have a profile at atleast level 10 so they can add some artwork or background as another way to blend in. The whole level 0-10 account is too obvious at this point.
    
  • While very normal today, they will most likely have an anime themed profile. It's a more friendly approach to the more susceptible user. While I can't recommend you don't add anyone with this profile, I would say to just be aware of course.
• What kind of hours and achievements do they have? This is a pretty big one that most scammers find hard to fake properly. Scammers fake achievements to seem normal, but you can look at the time and date of when they received their achievement. A scammer will have either all or most of the achievements unlocked at the exact same time and date. A unique way to test for scammers in games such as Team Fortress 2 is to also look at their statistics. You can click on "Achievement Progress" and see their kills, damage and points accumulated. A scammer will either have no points or very little in comparison to their achievements.
  

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  Here is an example of an account with faked statistics. Notice how the hours and achievements do not match the statistics:
  

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  Below is another example of faked statistics. Viewing their achievements shows they got all of their achievements on the same day and the exact same time and at the exact same minute. This is a sign of an obvious fake account. (I will personally go on record saying I did this a long time ago to my Team Fortress 2 statistics for the achievement rewards, but also have achievements I earned properly before said time. I do regret doing it, and have not done this since).
  

In this senario, lets say that someone is asking you to do favours like sending your items somewhere. This usually occurs when they ask if you can hire a middleman to help with the trade. Here is a few tips to look out for:

• If they want to hire a middleman, say no. It is possible to hire a middleman, but 99% of the time, that middle man is a scammer or a clone account of the real middleman.
  
• DO NOT SEND ITEMS TO MIDDLEMEN SO THEY CAN "CHECK" THE ITEM/S. Too frequently, people lose their items to people who claim to be middlemen.

For anyone who is unclear what a middleman is, they are people who step in and hold the items until both parties have been checked and the items have been identified as what they claim to be using in the trade.

The simple answer to this situation is that you should deny any trades that ask for a middleman. If they can't be bothered to do a one-on-one trade, its usually a scam.

It is possible to do virtual trades with real money, but there are safe ways of doing this. People who ask for items and then promise cash either through paypal or some other virtual money website will most likely be trying to scam you. If you do wish to sell your items, here are a few alternatives:

• Marketplace.tf - This website is best for trading Team Fortress 2 items. Marketplace.tf does ask for 10% of profits if you decide to use Marketplace.tf, but it isn't too much of a drop in cash if the item has low value.
  
• PlayerAuctions - Good for all-round trading. PlayerAuctions is a middleman website, but trusted and certified website used by users everywhere. You can go as far from games and dlc's to whole game accounts.

There are a few websites out there used for those who wish to trade their items for cash. Basically, if someone "promises" money after a trade, deny the trade and either ask for one of the above alternatives and if they deny them, they are most likely scammers and should be reported to Steamrep.com

This is a more serious problem then most people might think. Some of the big giveaways are the items they trade, whether it be a skin for a game or a whole account. An example can be seen below:

The item above appears to have nothing wrong with it. It shows the weapon condition, the image of the skin, the description of the weapon and even the icon for the game. However, where the item would normally show "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" in the circled area, it reads "Grigala Runner" as the game the item is from. Unfortunately, these types of games and items have become exceedingly common since 2015 as an easy way to scam many hundreds of dollars out of a potentially expensive skin. The games these items come from usually are only in the store for no more than a few months but its longer than it should be up.

In terms of game accounts, it is an entirely different ball park of shenanigans. It can go as far as faking images of bad accounts, links to the account going to the fake websites with similar url's and account trading websites being fake all together. It is another case of middle man trading aswell where you are misled to somewhere that isnt safe for you, your pc or your account. I'd like to provide a step by step process to helping you understand what to check.

Step 1: Identify the Trader

• The trader will have some sort of name or url linked to his account. It can be as simply going to google and searching for their name. It is just as easy to make up a believable name, so it can be hard to identify their trade history. Regardless if they seem safe, after undergoing a background search, you should move on to step 2.

Step 2: Understand their trade location

• Places like steam make it easier to complete a trade as it is a trusted place to trade from one inventory to another (remember, middle man trading is an immediate red flag). If this is the case, you can move to step 3, otherwise keep following. Any external websites need to be thoroughly researched. I recommending the tool SSLTrust[www.ssltrust.com] for checking website domains. All you do is enter the website URL into the Domain textbox and hit Submit. It will complete a security check on the website against a large series of other website security tools. A website can either be dangerous or simply vulnerable to attacks and its advised that you avoid an trades completed on those sites. You can recommend to the person your trading with to handle all your trades through another trusted website. Regardless of the circumstance, move to step 3.

Step 3: Validate the Account

• You can never be certain they actually own the account and unfortunately this part is hard to prove. One of the only methods is to ask for a recording or livestream of them on the account and accessing parts of the account for extra validation. This is the safest way to do it, but a legitimate trader may find it uncomfortable to broadcast certain parts of the account for personal reasons. You may need to find details that are ok to share but not accessible to the public for further validation they have actual access. If they can't provide enough evidence on the account, you may want to find another trader. If you have the right evidence, move to step 4.

Step 4: Check the Payment method

• Step 4 may be a hard step to complete fully, but this is the riskiest. In most cases you can't verify that a simple trade of account details and money will go through where one party gets both and the other gets none. While the best way to exchange for cash is Paypal, it is unreliable even if they give you the money first. Paypal has a system where the seller can request a refund by reporting the exchange of money and Paypal, without hearing your side, can process that refund and you get nothing. This step is unfortunately purely trust if you are completing this trade online.

I hope these steps can help but regardless if you choose to follow my steps in account trading, you need to understand one important thing.......account trading is incredibly shady and not reliable. There is no 100% safe way to trade accounts so you need to understand the risks, rules and steps to understand the process should you choose to accept the risks. You will always be vulnerable when trading anything online so understand what your getting yourself into.

Its safe to say that you are not alone. I, myself, have lost over $100 in one scam (I was tired when I did the trade and wasn't thinking straight). The best alternatives is study the user and their activity. There are websites that can assist in telling you who they really are. The following options can be assistive:

• Steamrep.com - This community run website assists in finding scammers and leaving a sign next to their account saying if they have been reported scamming people.
  
• Web Browser Plugins - Certain browsers have plugins that can make it easier to find those who are scammers. The web browser plugin, Steam Inventory Helper[chrome.google.com], makes it so that when visiting profiles through web browsers, it displays additional information on the user from mixed sites including Steamrep.com.
  
  Here is an example below of what a safe profile would look like:
  
  Any scammers will have a profile like this scammer does below:
  
  My own personal tip is that before I do any trade, I always use my web browser to check the trader's profile before beginning the trade.
  
  Thank you to Bodomi for reminding me to add a link to the web browser plugin.

There are multiple ways of revealing a scammer from their dirty work that they do. Its always worth a try to leave a report with Valve by clicking "Report Violation" under the "More" button on the scammers steam profile (Valve isn't the best with catching up on reported profiles). However, it is important to let people know who the scammer is by by doing the following:

• Leave a full report on Steamrep.com - It is important that before you leave a report on the steamrep forums that you read the rules. The admins will usually ask you to fix a thing here and there on your report to meet their guidelines. Reporting on Steamrep is your best chance on sharing the word on the scammer.
  
• Tell others about the scammer - Without actually spamming profile after profile, perhaps let other traders know that the profile is out and scamming people. Being a TF2 trader, let others know on a server or in a group about the person and tell them to avoid trading with them.

If anyone has any outstanding issues, I'll do my best to help. I apologise if the guide is too "basic" for some people, like stated earlier, it is just for anyone new to the trading world. If anyone would like to leave a recommendation in the comments, feel free to write it below and i'll consider adding it in with a "Thank you to _" next to it.

- Romulex