Originally posted by Mephistopheles:

Honestly, if this has been an exploit going on and off for a few years or so, then it's on Valve to try to fix it and do something about the people abusing it. It's hard to tell if anything is being done besides refunds since they haven't said anything, though to be fair I don't think they would want to bring more attention to this exploit at the same time.
If people are getting banned for the exploit not a lot of people are going to admit that's why they got banned, some will admit to it, but not all.
It wasn't your doing someone else brought in the post so it's not on you at least. :conwayshrug:

And if people are stalking you across groups... Then that's on them for being unhinged enough to do so.

yeah as you said most wont want to exactly say they were banned
kinda not a badge of honor, some avoid those with any type of profile ban or such

yeah i was thinking the same if they highlighted it thats not good publicity plus there might still be work going on in fully closing the loophole

sadly its worse then group stalking forum history allows them to find me across forums
some are worse then others when it comes to following me around
sometimes its just by chance same thread and they get into an uproar over my commenting

well hopefully more information is uncovered over this
as it seems valve is trying to hide it so far like some of the exploits and what comes after

thanks for appearing and showing some actual kindness and respect, been awhile i spoke in groups that didn't yell or something, few years since ive really been active in any groups
miss the old days

Originally posted by Mephistopheles:

Originally posted by shade00:

i see that some see this as a joke and followed over from the other group
since people do not want to take this seriously enough
im finished trying to research into it for now

Who cares about the trolls? Because this has been a really respectful group minus a troll here or there but it's still pretty minimum.
All's I can say is keep up the good work and don't let anyone drag you down, or push you to give up on what you're doing.

I read through that whole thread and it was definitely wonky.
Valve should do something more, but if there's exploits and the only thing they were doing is refunding then people are going to keep trying and abusing it.
People are going to keep doing stuff like this until Valve actually does something about it.

thank you
sadly i get stalked via the negative side so often these days well trying to do helpful things
i tried leaving ryuu a message about helping but deleted it as no response as they seem to be a part of the other group and the part of them that think im a joke good chance.

i was researching the exploits over time one took valve two years to fix
sadly some of them were trouble to fix guess but there has been various ones
this being one of the largest ones
alongside another of its type that was shutdown right before this became more known.

idk which but one was going on since 2023 both guess allowed delisted game buying
one exploit valve offered a bounty on pastwise which a hacker claimed finding out the solution seems?

im also in another group which ryuu referenced, collectors and there pretty toxic
they only care about collecting usually and are in here also for information on games that are about to be removed or banned or anything they might be able to swipe up.

i would imagine that valve is banning people over this, just because things happen slowly or silently does not mean they don't happen, most of us just don't hear about them
the larger abusers higher chance the others i would expect to see marks on there profiles

idk if the markup theory i thought of if i mentioned it yet
each infraction leading upto a ban, ive found this too be a common as people incur bans
too many forum bans leading to a community ban, found that out thanks to a couple including one who would always follow me to start fights and end up banned often.

but yeah i wanted to avoid posting anything of the other group
as its members majority speakers are toxic well some are not
plus i didn't wanna shine a light on there group for better or worse

ill keep researching it on the side maybe but not gonna put in as much time as i was planning too before , one person can only do so much
i just wish news websites would have covered it and given it more light like the other exploits
as one has to wonder how many exploits have come and gone and never been known
how many exploit threats has there been over the years?

thank you for your words
over the years pastwise i was highly active working with devs publishers
trying to catch scammers with friends, in mellow and tryytons groups trying to help out among a few other groups i either staffed in that are now sadly fallen or just regular helping out, one fgg was infamous filled with scammers which me and friends gave up on, too many scammers not really any mod work, we tried to warn people of the scams that appeared but also saw alot of greedy people

was busy times, trying to get back to them some
now mostly i just information share these days
if any wording is off i just woke up, this is one of the few groups out of the many that still hold a close spot in my heart
and let everyone else look into stuff

i see that some see this as a joke and followed over from the other group
since people do not want to take this seriously enough
im finished trying to research into it for now

using exploits is considered rule breaking
just because you don't hear about bans does not mean they don't happen
just because bans are not instant does not mean they wont add up to one
messing around with the console on the steam store page is risky
more so if you don't know what your doing and may lead to problems as it did for some
which in this one case it led to a huge scare as well as a long ban which was appealed

this is supposed to be a respectful group, though i know many from another group have jumped over here to gather information on games
so im not surprised to see the clowning joke going on
but i do see it as really childish when i take things more serious
well these users take things like there nothing
rather sad and misleading to see people discredited yet nothing really to back up there side.
people see stuff going on like the exploit and think its okay as a mass amount of people are doing it when it could lead to trouble and id rather those who know little on the subjects like this not to end up in trouble because they think something that breaks the rules is okay.

fyi to you who like too troll in hidding ive been around digital homicides and sentinels as well as guardians of greenlight? long before you and use to be an respectful helper
just because my voice has remained silent does not mean that im not still around gathering information over time

now im heading off i gained five hours of sleep as was asked to check on my veteran neighbor as people couldn't get ahold of him
to the sentinels keep up the good work
to the ones who only came to troll get a life please

operation ceased

spoke with the one who had a ban till 2038
they thankfully got it removed after an appeal
there not sure what triggered it as it came up as fraud activity
a total lockdown offline mode only
there was also mention of multiple payment method logins on this one
same method but repeatably to try and figure out how to do said exploit
the person i spoke with does not want to be named but they were willing to send screenshots of the events that happened to them i refer to the ban and such, which ill need to crop and may eventually share to give further insight with there name removed completely if they give me the okay.

still researching into everything the exploit, the chaos during, the end result if it resulted in mainly refunds and how many saw bans during and why among everything else
so i say please still use caution when stuff when stuff like this happens
if you think it could get you in-trouble or break some rules don't do it please.
this person i spoke with had enough of a scare for them and there friends.
plus id rather see none end up with any type of ban.

Originally posted by Jillas 🐰:

Bans for exploit abuse isn't something unheard of, sometimes it can be even a temporary ban just to stop person from doing more harm, just till they decide what to do with the exploiters. We just don't know if Valve actually did any of that, because there wasn't any official announcement regarding this incident, and if it was a mass thing we would have more people claiming that they were banned, so it's safe to assume that if there was any bans related to this exploit, they were very scarce and probably related to something else, maybe that person also tried to spoof his location to purchase the game that wasn't available in his region in his local currency prior to be removed from sale and thus he might have been banned for using exploit on top of breaking a ToS agreement.

thank you for the insight and wisdom
this goes also towards everyone willing to share further insight and wisdom
we are a collective a community, we all can help information big or small

https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/steam-games-refund-policy-valve/
https://steamhost.cn/steam_refunds
found this 2024 updated the refund policy over another exploit on refunds

so far only new exploit to hit the news

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=961168214
Account Bans
If a user has violated any terms of the Steam Subscriber Agreement, which the user has accepted during the free registration process on Steam, their account may be blocked or restricted. Such restrictions may be applied only by Valve employees.

the agreement i would assume covers exploits

still nothing fresh really on anything exploit wise in news then again i dont think the tmnt one hit the news either its return glitch and refunds
nor do we ever see articles usually about bans unless there in mass droves like the major vac ban wave, or major steam banning games

Originally posted by Ryuu:

Yeah, i simply wanted to warn to take this with a bunch of salt. Things that happened to users in that thread and they've written about that themselves — that i think can be believed until there are reasons to doubt. But the statement about bans at best is controversial currently and needs digging deeper, for example maybe such users did something else highly dubious, i don't think Valve would ban anyone over just this exploit — which is Valve's fault.

well you claim valves fault, but its each persons choice to use the exploit or not
its like stepping through the doorway, do you choose to step through or not.
an example would be do you choose to commit a crime or do you not?
this not being a crime but still falls under breaking the rules

as for taking it with salt i would agree but mellows known me for years and knows i would not speak up about something like bans without good reason
and to make it simpler a friend i have has a friend who has been keeping track of the bans
they don't display on profiles as they seem to be purchase bans
which means they actually know these people who have been hit by the bans
otherwise they cant verify that those bans actually happened
nor where the bans came from
i spoke a bit with my source during the time the exploits were going on

ill also mention that refunding each person takes a bit of work
closing each sub id for each of those games takes a bit of work
some payment methods have taxes they have to pay per refunds, i know this because a friend lost a paypal account over too many refund requests, this person ive known for years
i highly doubt valve was happy with any of this
anyone who abused it was breaking valve rules and is open to a ban or mark up
i refer to mark up after years of watching users get bans in forums
some leading upto community bans after they gain so many
as well as a friend getting a purchase ban for gifting too often
these are just things i can think of at the top of my head atm but ive seen alot

one user i was informed purchased near 200 games during the period
as his account grew near 200 games then saw them all removed

ive been around a very long time watching everything unfold
from digital homicides, from mellows groups, to various forums
i use to collect information a bit but slowed down the past years

edit: please do not take anything ive said the wrong way im still waking up
thats not an excuse either ive re read what you said and further digging is a good idea
the problem is many wont speak about there bans and i dunno how far these bans go if there purchase only or further
plus with how some are they may avoid steam if there hit via a purchase ban or avoid community's or some simply don't speak in community's
i looked into things via search engine but noone was speaking up really about the exploit no news articles on latest nor anyone mentioning being banned to be expected

Originally posted by Ryuu:

Yeah, you've been in that thread but you don't post it because you haven't presented any proofs there, how shady.

i didn't share it as i didn't want to cross reference the group
not sure if your trying to be rude or not but i wrote this up at mellows request

not every source wants to be known
many sources for many things like news articles among other things prefer to remain unknown due to the fact that speaking up may have consequences
many times if the sources info conflicts with them being involved then they would rather the information not be completely divulged
which in that case both my source and there source rathered to remain unknown
so i asked for no further info nor did i share any info i was given as i had no right to start sharing anyone who was banned putting them in the spotlight without there permission
the one who told them the information is friends most likely with the ones who gained bans.

Originally posted by Ryuu:

More info in that thread: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/RemGC/discussions/9/4364628142229101420/?tscn=1715511505#c4354495356178461883
The games were refunded.

yes all games were refunded over time as the exploit was closed
surprised to see that thread pop up, but thank you for sharing it

there were two major exploits that flew under the radar till recently
one was shutdown recently
the other was shutdown game by game over time past week if recall
this exploit allowed one to purchase any delisted game they wanted
but if anyone recalls the tmnt return and it leaving due to a glitch or whatever it may have been its the same style yet these did not appear in the store
these required the use of the web console
to add games to carts per sub ids

as of this time the exploit has been closed
but during its time it would seem many used it
some to the degree it earned them instant bans upon the exploit being fixed
one past 10 years ive been informed who was using it since 2023

now im sure we all have heard of exploits over the years
some lasting a few years due too steam being unable to fix them
leaving them putting up a bounty to discover and fix them, common with companies

this is just an informational page . feel free to add any information that you may have