Scam: I Have Been Reported and Will Be Banned

Any claim that you've been accidentally or falsely reported for fraud or any other infraction is a scam. Do not follow any instructions provided by anyone claiming to have accidentally reported your account.

If someone did report your account falsely and you're concerned about being banned, you can rest assured that Steam disregards false reports.

Valve employees will never communicate with you about your account using any chat system including Steam Chat and Discord. The only way you can speak with a Steam Support agent about your account is through the Steam Support Help Site. There's no situation in which you'd need to reach out to a Valve or Steam employee directly to resolve an issue.

Information about other scams that may target Steam accounts can be found in the Scam FAQ.

Identifying the Scam

This scam can be quickly identified if any of the following are present:

A friend or unknown person contacts you through Steam, Discord or any other chat client and tells you that your account has been falsely or accidentally reported
You are directed to speak with someone through online chat to resolve an investigation or pending ban
Someone you're speaking to requests your account credentials, or directs you to perform specific security related operations
Someone you're speaking with requests an authentication code sent by Steam over email, SMS or through the mobile app
Someone you're chatting with indicates they represent Steam Support or Valve
Anyone is demanding that you complete a purchase or send them a Steam Gift card code to verify your ownership of the account

Preventing the Scam

Protecting your account

If you notice any of the indicators listed above, do not follow any instructions provided by the scammer and block any online chat, voice, or email accounts they've used to communicate with you.

Reporting any Steam accounts involved in the scam

Report any Steam accounts involved in the scam. If a friend's account is involved their account is likely stolen. Your report will help Steam identify and lock down the stolen account until its owner recovers it.

Reporting any external chat, voice, or email accounts involved in the scam

If the scammer spoke to you using any non-Steam accounts, you can use that application's own reporting tools to help them identify the scammer accounts and prevent their misuse.

Recovering your account

If you've fallen for this scam, you can recover your Steam account at any time using the Steam Support Help Site. Click Help, I can't sign in to start the recovery process.

Some scammers may state that you can't recover your account because they already changed all of its information. This is part of the scam, and is false. You should ignore any statements or advice the scammer offers.

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