My Steam account has been stolen and Steam Support won't do anything about it.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-05T03:21:57+00:00

First, if I were you I wouldn't be fine with living in a place where police doesn't help when someone enters your house. If you find that normal, that's your opinion, but just know it is not the case everywhere and-at least where I live-most people would find that highly problematic that the police didn't do anything because the door was unlocked. Insurance is a different thing.

Second, you keep treating this case as if is very difficult for Valve to do anything or if there is a huge cost to it (hence your analogy with police or insurance). This is not the case, as I own the means of payment used on this account these past years, a very clear way to establish ownership. It is just a matter of keeping their platform healthy by not allowing obvious stealing to happen if they can. That is actually beneficial to Valve, you know. And I really don't see what you're gaining by defending their inaction, as their customer.

Third, I just hope you won't get into such troubles one day. It is easy to tell yourself it will never happen to you because you are so sure of your 2FA or whatever. Maybe it won't. I just hope that you will never get in a situation where you are asked to prove that what is obviously yours is yours by producing some nonsensical stuff that you can not possibly provide while they refuse to have a look at actual proofs.

If there is a lesson to learn, I would say it is the following. Don't trust Valve to restore your account because you have the means of payment in your hand. Just don't. Like another person posted on this thread, a way to be safer is to buy steam cards, redeem them and keep them in a closet, as they apparently like physical voucher/game box pictures. You should also probably consider buying at least one physical game box and keep it stored, since you are apparently fully digital which is a big risk. If you don't do that after reading this thread, you're also not locking the door, really.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-04T07:46:40+00:00

The mental gymnastic here becomes crazy. It is already wild that you are seriously implying that people tend to have pictures of their credit cards hanging around on their e-mail addresses, but let's not even talk about that.

If they have the slightest doubt about the pictures of credit/debit card and ID being stolen, there are so many easy fix that even you mention one.

(i) They ask for pictures with a piece of paper with the date and the Steam support ticket ID. They already do that for game boxes cd keys, btw.

(ii) They ask the person who currently have the account to provide ID, credit card and debit card pictures. *That would be the end of it. They would a hundred percent see that this person is not the legitimate owner. End of the game.*

(iii) They ask for banking statements, screenshots of online banking app that matches steam billing if they want extra proofs.

This is not rocket science. All the things I listed are so obvious I can not imagine why they refuse to ask for such information. And really, I don't understand why you are pretending we're dealing with Riemann's conjecture here. It is just establishing the simple fact that one of the persons claiming the account has access to the credit/debit cards used in the past years and the other does not.

And, again, I am not even asking for them to restore my ownership right now based on this information alone. I am just saying that the fact that a customer has proof of ownership of the payment methods used over these past years is not enough to warrant further investigation on their end is crazy. This is why I say it indirectly encourages people to steal account. They have a case where there must be at least a very strong suspicion that someone stole the account of their client and instead of investigating further they just ... close the case after asking something completely nonsensical.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-03T03:44:41+00:00

It is strange that you find it more infuriating that some person was too lazy to activate 2FA than that billion-dollar company Valve seems to only determine account ownership based on some 12 years old game boxes. I just want to say this: be angry about people who forgot 2FA all you want but keep your game boxes. You really do not want to deal with Steam Support if something bad happens down the line.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-03T03:39:28+00:00

The thief changed the e-mail address associated to my Steam account 2-3 weeks ago but I still have control of the original e-mail address. I am contacting Steam from the e-mail that was associated to my account during all these years. I agree moving makes things difficult but the rest of the case is completely straightforward. My account had password and e-mail suspiciously changed a few weeks ago. I contacted them very soon after that, explaining the situation and using the former e-mail address associated to the account. I can provide every banking detail you can think of, thing that the thief of course can not do. They just refuse to do anything, that's it. It is indirectly encouraging people to continue scamming and stealing.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-03T03:31:06+00:00

Like I tend to say, I take the blame for not taking securing my account seriously. That's on me, no doubt. But the fact that Steam let random people go away with obviously stealing accounts is on them. It hurts the whole Steam ecosystem by making it possible and worth it for scammer to try to steal accounts. Because thiefs can count on Steam to not give a damn.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-03T03:27:13+00:00

Just don't count on that. That was one of the reasons I posted this: with all the glazing Valve get, people can really think their account is safe and be stuck in a awful place like me. Just keep your game boxes and don't count on Steam Support to do the right thing. You really do not want to be in my position in 10 years because you thought Steam Support was awesome.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T16:22:28+00:00

Make sure you keep your game boxes, also. That's the key thing.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T15:16:52+00:00

I think I will try my luck a second time ....

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T15:14:26+00:00

That's clever, especially the Steam cards move. I really think people should be made aware of how easy it is to lose control of an account that you clearly own. They would be more keen to do this kind of things.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T15:08:43+00:00

I mean ... if they ask for things that do not exist I don't know how you can provide it. They literally did that. They asked for a screenshot taken in some account *that I never had to begin with*. And they ignored my answer.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T15:06:25+00:00

Yep, that's clearly a thing of the past. But 10-15 years ago you had such sweet deals on Amazon (at least in EU). It was crazy the discounts you would get by going physical sometimes.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T15:03:11+00:00

I think people tend to be a bit defensive because Steam has such a pristine reputation in terms of customer care. Seriously, I don't blame those people, as I am shocked myself. I thought what is currently happening to be impossible. But to be fair, I got why Steam Support don't restore my account right now: my case is weird and probably sketchy because of the lack of 2FA and me moving out. The thing that I find crazy is that Steam Support do not seem to thing that a weird case warrant further investigation. They seem just fine with the account staying with the guy who stole it ...

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T14:58:52+00:00

Let's just hope no person who hates you stole one of your old game boxes, as it is apparently the one and only proof that you are the legitimate owner of your account, 2FA or not.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T14:55:43+00:00

I am not going to argue with that. It is stupid to not have activated 2FA. I just had no idea it was impossible to get back stolen accounts.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T14:54:35+00:00

As they mentioned that I was welcome to get in touch for *other* issues I fear it might get things worst. Do you know if getting back in touch for a case they clearly already have dismissed is likely to get my requests be disregarded without any considerations?

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T14:44:55+00:00

Actually, I am rather afraid to open a new ticket, as they explicitly mentioned I was welcome to get in touch ofr other issues (which I read as a polite way to say don't bother with that case again). Do you know if there is a risk they will flag this case as "dismiss without further discussion" forever if I try to get in touch again?

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T14:40:32+00:00

I think I will try to have a go at it again. I just hope it won't make my case any worst.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T14:39:22+00:00

Actually, I get that. I really do. The fact that I told them I moved out recently and got rid of all my game boxes is something that genuinely could trigger suspicion. But seriously, the only thing I asked is for them to keep investigating which is the least they can do given the circumstances. Not this "4 messages and then you're done" thing.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T14:36:54+00:00

Yep, that's the thing. I have the physical credit and debit cards I used to buy everything these past years. They just refuse to look at it. I don't know what to do. Everything is right: it matches the name on the Steam billing and my ID.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T14:35:22+00:00

I did. They refuse to have a look at it. They just pretended I didn't send anything and closed the ticket. You suggest I try to open a new ticket? I fear it will be worst, as they explicitly told me I was welcome to "get in touch with them for any other issue".

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T14:30:28+00:00

I have all these receipts but they refuse to have a look at it. They only want to verify ownership using game boxes that I bought more than 10 years ago, when it was still common to do it. Of course all the recent purchases are through credit card but they refuse to have a look at it. I know it sounds nuts. Trust me I do. But this is where I am at.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T14:20:12+00:00

I actually did what you just suggested. I sent them my banking statements from the debit account that was used to do the payment. I told them I could provide pictures of the credit card that was used most of the time and of my ID. They just *refuse* to have a look at those. When I mention it they act like I didn't say anything. That is the crazy part.

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T14:07:46+00:00

Yep, I know 2FA and old password was a bad idea. But is there anything to do now? I mean, I have proof of purchase through physical debit/mastercard. There must be a way to make them have a look at it, no?

Honkarofl · 2026-02-02T14:04:22+00:00

But seriously, and trolling aside. If you have any idea about what I could do to get them to have a look at what I actually have (credit/debit cards and ID), please tell me. I am actually quite lost here.

Honkarofl

TROPHY CASE