1. Introduction
First thing you have to realize while starting to trade is, there will always be people who will harm others in order to make some profit. People like those exist in masses, because the internet gives them enough emotional distance to their victim. If you feel uncomfortable while doing a trade, dont do it, there´s no need to. It´s your item, so is it your decision. If someone seems fishy in any way, do not trust him. Neither steam level nor steamrep proofs anything. Bouth can be bought.


2. Middleman scam
A classic scam, that almost everyone knows nowadays. The scammer and his victim both agree on a trade, usually including steam wallet codes or something similar. To make sure everyone gets what he was promised, the scammer suggests taking a middleman, or asks his victim to choose a trusted friend as a middleman. The following scenarios could accur:
The scammer chooses a friend as a middleman. He has a legit looking profile but is teaming up with the scammer
The scammer suggests a popular, well known and legit middleman. His friend or 2nd account will try impersonating this middleman
After the victim chose a middleman, the friend or 2nd account of the scammer will impersonate the profile of the chosen middleman.


3. Fake gambling site
This scam is a fairly new one. The scammer randomly adds his victim (usually through steam groups) and tells him he is the owner, moderator or co-owner of a new gambling site. Since he is apparently not allowed to play on there himself, he´ll promise his victim to let him win on the site in exchange for a profit participation. Since this site can mostly be manipulated by the scammer himself he´ll choose a winner for the next draw/round and tell his victim the name to proof that he can actually make anyone win. Once the victim deposits his skins on the site, they are either gone, or new skins cant be withdrawn.



4. Quit CS:GO scam
This method can usually be found on Csgo Lounge[♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.com]. The scammer pretends to quit csgo (usually for dota2) and tells his victim that he´ll trade his item if he could buy / trade him a dota item or a rare background. These items / backgrounds can rarely be found on the market because there is neither a supply nor a demand for them. Anyway, the item / background is either on the market for a good amount less than the scammers knife is worth, or can be obtained from another trader, which the scammer will inform the victim about. In either way it´s not worth the expected amount, and the victim would loose a bunch of money.


5. Phising links
A very common method to spread a virus is via missleading links. In most cases they look like links from popular websites (e.g. imgur, steam, youtube etc.) but differ in only 1 letter. The victim would end up getting a virus and loosing his inventory or even his personal data.

Do not click any links from someone who you do not know in person



6. Paypal / Steam wallet code
A very common method amongst scammers. The scammer will try to convince his victim that he will overpay for his item, in steam wallet codes or via paypal. The following scenarios could accur:
The victim doesn´t receive a working steam wallet code
The victim goes first and never receives the money via PayPal
The scammer goes first via PayPal but can charge the money back after he received the item

Needlessly to say its a very unsafe method to cash out, never trade for codes of any kind, or paypal money. Use Op Skins[opskins.com] or BitSkins[bitskins.com] to cash out.


7. Wrong condition scam
One of the most used scams on Csgo Lounge[♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.com]. The scammer pretends to trade his rare factory new skin (usually around 100$) for another skin thats worth a huge amount less. Lounge shows he got a factory new one, but in reality he only own the same skin in a worse condition, making the victim loose a bunch of money.


8. Quickswitching
One of the oldest scamming methods is called "Quickswitching". Back in the days where the mobile authenticator wasn´t a thing and many people disabled the email confirmation step, the scammer invited his victim to a trade and put in the desired item. A few seconds before the victim agrees to the trade, he exchanges the desired skin for a similar looking, but worse one. If done quickly, the victim only had a very slight time window to react. Luckily this trade doesnt work any longer, since everyone has some sort of confirmation step enabled.


9. Impersonaters
A very common scam amongst the csgo community. The majority of players are watching some kind of csgo content on the internet, wether it is twitch streams or youtube videos. The scammer pretends to be a famous youtuber who apparently needs a specific skin for a video. Needlessly to say, he wont return it. No famous youtuber will ever ask you for any of your skins. Keep that in mind.


10. Missleading tradelinks
One of the least used scam methods. The actual scammer and one of his friends group up and set up a trade on (e.g.) Csgo Lounge, pretending to trade a rare item, usually Black Pearls, Emeralds, Blue Gems etc. but the trade link on the scammer´s profile is directed to his friends inventory who´s only trading a casual doppler/case hardened knife.

Make sure to check the items ingame AND check their inventory icons.


11. Verifying items
This method is an extended version of the impersonator scam. Victim and scammer agree on a trade, which seems fairly profitable for the victim. As a security measurement, the scammer wants the victim to trade his item to a close friend, which he trusts, to make sure the item isn´t "glitched". In the meantime he prepares his 2nd account to impersonate the victim´s friend.



12. Scam bots
Scam bots pretend to be some kind of jackpot / gambling / giveaway bot, telling the victim he just won a giveaway / jackpot. In order to receive his winning he only has to log in via a link. Self explanatory this link is surely not safe and shouldnt be clicked on. External websites connected to csgo, aswell as big streamers and youtubers pointed out multiple times that they do no run any bots. Do not fall for this scam.


13. Email comfirmation link
A scam that used to be around a long time ago, when the trading scene just started to grow. The scammer asks his victim to copy paste him the E-mail confirmation / decline link. Although this scam method is - luckily - not around anymore, keep in mind not to give any unnecessary information to strangers. These informations will either stay useless, or may even harm you or others.


14. Chrome addon scam
Scamming via Google Chrome addon, probably the scam method with the highest rate of popularity increase. OP Skins seems legit, doesnt it? Well, it is, but third party programms can influence a website´s overlay.

The scammer will add his victim, pretending to be interested in his knife - buy method, Op skins. Although it seems legit till this point, why should someone buy especially YOUR knife (He doesnt even know if you are even selling it and even pay a lot over the actual Op Skins price? He could literally get the same, or even a better float version for cheaper)? The scammer will tell his victim to download a Google Chrome addon called something similar to "steam inventory helper", which even has a very positive star rating and seems fairly serious at the first glance. However the addon will change Op Skin´s overlay. As soon as the victim tries to sell his knife, the addon VISUALLY (not actually) adds the requested amount of money to the victim´s balance. A "bot" (scammer´s 2nd account) will send out the offer to scam the item. Keep in mind that the funds added to the balance are just a visual appearance.


15. Borrowing items
Fairly simple and well-known. No matter who asks you, if it´s (seemingly) a youtuber/streamer or even if it is a close friend - DO NOT GIVE AWAY YOUR SKINS. This person could be an impersonator and even if you made sure that it is the actual person, this very person could always be greedy, or maybe just need the money. Anyway, it´s never a good idea to give away your skins for free, and if you actually want to borrow an item to a friend, make sure its someone to trust. I´ve heard of multiple people who got scammed by their "friends" over some pixels.


16. Teamspeak scam
An extended phishing link method. The scammer adds his victim, telling he and his team will take part of a tournament but they need one more player / backoff. As soon as the victim agrees to help out, the scammer sends him the teamspeak IP, to start "training" a little. As soon as the victim tries to enter the teamspeak server, a SERVER notification pops up, asking to upgrade to the latest ts3 version. These pop-ups are server notifications with phishing links, do not click on them. If a new teamspeak version has been released, your teamspeak client will tell you as soon as it starts, not as soon as you join a server.


17. Depositing Skins
The scammer will add you on steam, and ask for your help to withdraw skins from this "betting site". He/she will then transfer you coins in the site. After that they will ask you to withdraw the skin that they want, and then you can have rest of the coins. But after you withdraw, the site will say "You must deposit 100.000 coins ($100) to withdraw an item from this site". Do not deposit any skins.


18. What to do in case you got scammed
There are two different ways of loosing skins through the influence of another person / party.
Getting scammed (Trough the previous mentioned methods, or a similar one)
Getting hacked (Another person gets unverified access to your account)
If you got scammed, there´s nothing left than reporting the scammer and be a little more carefull next time. Yes it sucks, but always be careful on the internet. It´s the scammer´s fault because he tricked you into this, but it´s also your fault because you let yourself getting tricked.
If you got hacked however, there´s something you can do. Although Valve provides several security options there could always be someone getting unauthoritized access to your account. If you had all security options enabled at the time your account got hacked you can try to contact the Steam Support since in this case, the mistake was on their end. No promises here, but it´s always worth a try.


19. Final words
First of all, thanks for reading this far. I hope this guide helped you out, and maybe prevent someone from being scammed. If this is - even only once - the case, all the effort I put into this guide was worth it.

Every kind of feedback, critisism, addition or support is highly appreciated.

Make sure to check out my trading guide to learn a little more about trading. Since I had plenty of friend requests after publishing my last guide: If you plan on adding me for whatever reason, please state that very reason in the comments of my profile, thanks.

Special thanks goes to tosac for greadly supporting the steam guide community. In case you are planning on publishing your own guide, make sure to join Guide Showcase for some great feedbacks and maybe even a shoutout [depending on the quality and popularity of your guide].

Stay safe.