Now, TF2 is a game that heavily relies on it's own economy. That being said, it is basically impossible for everyone to trade fairly and to have both parties benefit. Scams happen A LOT in these times, and it is understandable that you, the victim, will be frustrated, angry, or upset. But even when someone tricks and takes advantage of you, it really does not help anyone by naming and shaming to the whole community. We don't need witch hunts in the community.

As everyone here is human (hopefully), there are always going to be people who lie, scam, and offend others, that is simply part of human nature.

Starting community witch hunts against a scammer never ends well.

Do NOT name and shame, quite frankly, most people in the community can not do ANYTHING about that scammer, nor will most of them care about your situation. Naming and shaming benefits no one.

Most likely (I mean it), you will do more damage to your OWN reputation, since people will flame you for being stupid enough to fall for a trade scam. Yes, you may expose the scammer, but naming and shaming does NOT get your items back, it really does not bring you any closer to actually doing something to fix your mistakes (falling to a scam).

Don't call it a scam if it is simply a bad offer, some people are not too aware of prices in the TF2 economy, make sure it is an actual scam, if someone intentionally decieved you into giving your items away for nothing (item verification scam, middlemen scam, etc...), then it was a scam. Or if someone never payed their part of the bargain even after you gave away your items, then that is also a scam.

However....

If someone is honest and sends an up-front offer where the values are uneven, then it is probably just an innocent mistake or a SHARK (lowballing or "ripping people off").

Example of a scam:

Somebody offers a Wallet Code for your items

Example of an offer/trade that is not a scam:

Somebody offers a key for your unusual

Report the Scammer through STEAM and STEAMREP. Make sure you have EVIDENCE (Screenshots Of The Chat Log, Etc).

Reporting them through Steam will eventually get them Trade Banned, this means that they are unable to trade with anyone anymore.

Reporting Through Steam:

1. Go to their profile
2. Click on "More"
3. Click on "Report Violation"
4. Fill out and send the report

Reporting them through Steamrep will mark them as a scammer on their website, this allows anyone in the community to see if they're a scammer, but it DOES NOT GET THEM TRADE BANNED.

Reporting Through SteamRep:

1. Go to your internet browser
2. Search up SteamRep
3. Click on "Report"
4. Fill out and send the report

That's all for reporting!

LEARN from your mistakes, we all start somewhere, whether it be online or in the real world, we have to make mistakes, but all mistakes do is simply help us grow and not make that mistake over again. Read articles and guides, watch videos, do anything you can as long as it helps you learn to become a better and more aware trader.

Guides and Articles about avoiding common scams
Good Article Explaining Trade Scams #1
Good Article Explaining Trade Scams #2
Good Video Explaining Trade Scams

There many more guides on steam, and videos on YouTube, that aim to help you avoid trade scams.

Move on, you may have lost items, but after following all the steps from before, you have done everything you really can do.

You reported the scam to the officials, which will eventually get the scammer a PERMANENT TRADE BAN.

Not only did you learn to avoid common scams, you also made more people aware of the scammer by reporting them on Steamrep, which a lot of people check first before trading with a certain user.


Methods To Move On:

•You can try and get the same items again

•You can try and get other items instead

•You can just go back to playing, and try and remind yourself of the true enjoyment from TF2, the game itself and the classes themselves

•If you really do not think you can move on, try other games instead

Get over it.

Most of us see these naming and shaming complaints way too often in the community. The TF2 community are suppossed to be fun, friendly, and helpful, it is not a trash can where you throw away your rage and sorrow, it is also not a place where we all start a bias against a single person. Lets all try and make this community the best it can be!