Safe Steam Trading: How to Avoid Scams

Steam scammers are after your items, not just your password. Almost every scheme relies on haste and trust. A few rules close most of the risks.

Common schemes

• Fake Steam sign-in. The link leads to a copy of the Steam page that steals your password and codes. Real sign-in happens only on steamcommunity.com; check the address bar.
• Swapped trade offer. The scammer sends an offer that looks like the expected one but with other items or from another account. Check the items and the profile before confirming.
• Steam API key. A scammer with your API key sees your trades and swaps them. Check the Steam API key page: if there is a key you did not create, revoke it and change your password.
• «Item check» and «payment error». You are asked to send items «for verification» or «to unlock a payment» — it is always a scam.
• Fake support. Steam and site staff never message you first and never ask for your password or codes.

Safety rules

1. Enable the Steam Guard mobile authenticator — it protects sign-in and trade confirmations.
2. Never share your password, Steam Guard codes or authenticator files.
3. Before confirming a trade in the app, check the items and the sender's profile.
4. Do not pay strangers upfront without a middleman or reputation.
5. Sign in to sites only through the official Steam page and check the address.

How to check a site

• The address bar shows the real domain, with no extra letters or look-alike domains.
• Sign-in happens only on steamcommunity.com, not in a form on the site itself.
• The site sends its own trade offers from a bot and never asks you to send items «for verification».

If you have already been scammed

1. Change your Steam password and sign out of all devices in the Steam Guard settings.
2. Revoke your Steam API key if there is one you did not create.
3. Check your email for forwarding rules and unknown addresses.
4. Report the scammer on Steam through their profile and contact Steam Support.

Steam usually does not return items from completed TF2 trades, so the priority is to stop it from happening again.

USDT safety

Before a withdrawal check the wallet address by its first and last characters: malware swaps a copied address for its own. Never store your wallet recovery phrase in plain text and never share it.

How it works here

You sign in on the official Steam page; we never see or ask for your password. You never hand items to a seller directly: keys go to your own storage and trades happen on the exchange. Every trade offer comes from our bot and contains exactly what you chose on the site. Support answers only in the Support section.

Terms like «trade hold» and «trade URL» are explained in the trading glossary.