How long does the process take? See, I'm sitting here with my Steam account currently occupied by somebody who changed my email address and/or password occupying my account. For some unknown reason I'm still logged into Steamgifts though. Figure I might as well shoot the shit and wait for this to blow over.

For anybody who's entered in one of my four giveaways at the moment, which will be ending soon, please note this will obviously cause a bit of difficulty in awarding your games. It certainly shouldn't take a week, but when I do regain control I fear that the gifts in question may have been stolen, so one way or another I'll get them to you as planned or by getting a replacement.

1 decade ago*

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All i heard is its a pain in the ass and takes a LONG time, especially around the holidays / sales

1 decade ago
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Fuuuuuuck. Long enough that I might as well have support shut down my giveaways for now?

1 decade ago
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I think mine was a few days, less than a week. Really can't remember though, I have a terrible memory.

1 decade ago
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I do, it took me 2-3 days to get it back.

1 decade ago
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yeah, same as me ! 2-3 days.

1 decade ago
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when i got hacked back in January it took approx. 2 weeks overall for me to get my account back, i sent a message to steam support, it took them about 5 days to get back to me with how to prove i own the account, then i had to wait another 5 days for a reply to that, once that was done everything was sorted. so if the giveaways you have are ending fairly soon it may be an idea to cancel them for now and relist them in the future. hope this helps :)

1 decade ago
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Thanks for the input. I'd hate to have to cancel my giveaways and have that stain on my record but it's probably for the best since based on the feedback so far the process is unpredictable at best.

1 decade ago
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at least those items are still in your inventory.

1 decade ago
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Oh shit I didn't think about that! Thank you very much, that inspires some confidence. :)

1 decade ago
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Mine didn't take that long and I didn't have to prove anything. I'm sure they can see plenty of stuff like IP logins, pw/email changes, and such. Guess it depends how clear the evidence is.

1 decade ago
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This seems to be a pretty cut and dried case of an account hacking, and I've been a user of Steam for over 7 years now so I'm hoping I've got that on my side.

1 decade ago
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They typically ask for a picture of a game case that has a CD Key you've activated on the account.

I don't really believe in "random hacking". You don't have a lot of games or anything special on the account for someone to target you. You either shared your password with someone or use the same username/password on forums and other sites.

1 decade ago
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I don't have such a game case but an accepted alternative is the credit card info for a purchase you've made on the account in the past.

As far as "random hacking", it truly must be that because not only have I never shared the password, it's also one I've never used anywhere else and is the most complex of all my passwords. I'm genuinely stumped.

1 decade ago
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maybe you have a keylogger or something, better get some virus scans done

1 decade ago
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If you can provide early information, like receipts or gamecodes for the first game on the account, up to 1-3 days. It took me 3 hours to get my account back. Fast-ass response from steam 3 years ago.

1 decade ago
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All I have is credit card info for a purchase at least a year ago, and isn't stored on the account. Hoping that will be enough. It's offered as an alternative to a game key.

1 decade ago
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36 hours into this. Starting to have withdrawals. No response from support yet. Who does this in the middle of a sale?

Oh, and the person loaded my inventory with TF2 items. I don't know anything about how the game works but I'm assuming he spent my Steam wallet on that. What does this behavior indicate? Am I being used as a mule or something or did he just cash out my wallet and is only using it long enough to move the items over?

(Edit) the person on my account has added two friends: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198032259579 and http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198079265796 unfortunately this doesn't give me clues or anything as far as I can tell.

1 decade ago
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he bought tf2 items , going to give them to his account, then sell them / keep them

1 decade ago
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Alright. I figured as much. I hadn't counted on keeping my money. Just want my account back.

Worth a shot to ask though; anybody know if Valve does rollbacks/reimbursement for this sort of thing? Again I don't have any expectation of it but it'd soften the blow.

1 decade ago
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even if you cant get your money back its worth thr try after you get your account back, also if the guy really spent the money on those items and sent those items to his accounts that he added, you maybe can get his account banned from steam.

It will not only shown on inventory trade/gift hystory which accounts he sent to but also steam should be able to see if your account and those got logged on same IP address which for me is enough proof dunno for steam.

1 decade ago
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One of the accounts he added as a friend appears to frequently engage in trading has 400+ TF2 items. Is this uncommon? Most of them are keys like in my own inventory.

1 decade ago
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He could be adding friends simply to trade with, like just going to steamtrades and trading with your account as if its his. Perhaps he is trying to use your account to get something he needs. It could also be that he added a random decent looking person

People that do this deserve to run into me alone in a dark alley.

1 decade ago
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You should get yourself marked as a hijacked account on SteamRep and SteamTrades.

1 decade ago
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I don't think I'm on either of those sites.

EDIT: Oh I see what you mean. Confirmed I have no activity at Steam Trades but what is SteamRep?

1 decade ago
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somebody was playing TF2

1 decade ago
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Took me about three days to get mine back. I just sent in a picture of a few CD Keys I still have from the original Half Life and HL2.

1 decade ago
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I have no CD keys myself so I'm really hoping their alternative of offering CC info for an account purchase will do the trick. I feel like this is such a clear case of account theft that that wouldn't even be entirely necessary, though. In 8 years I've never logged into Steam outside of this location, and suddenly my email/password gets changed by somebody who is apparently from Russia? (Just a guess based on the friends they added)

If anything I think the things like CD keys/CC info are just to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt who you are and expedite the recovery process. There's no way that they can see a clear cut case of somebody getting hijacked and not be able to get it taken care of, right? It might take longer but there's no way they'd let it fall through the cracks like that.

(If you guys playing at home can't tell, I'm worrying myself to death here. Severe anxiety does that to you even when it seems obvious a situation will work itself out.)

1 decade ago
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I'm sure they'll figure it out for you. Relax bud :)

1 decade ago
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As someone who suffers with severe anxiety, just like you, I feel for you dude. But I do believe that you'll get your account back, just make sure to change your email password too, if you haven't already. Also, were you using SteamGuard? Because that helps avoid this type of situation. Also, I think all purchase details are permanently stored so giving your CC info on a year old purchase should be fine. Also, Valve are kinda stingy and I don't think they reimburse money stolen from your account even though they can easily revoke licenses to purchases. I may be wrong (and I hope for you that I am).

1 decade ago
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3 days here

1 decade ago
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that sucks big time and sorry to hear that happened to you, a few questions though,
Didn't you use steam guard or have it activated?
Did the hacker get into your e-mail to disable it?
I made sure that i have steam guard and also have my e-mail send my mobile phone a conformation in case someone tries to change my password.

1 decade ago
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Let's just say I've already heard my share of earfuls and provided this gets resolved I will swear by Steam Guard starting the moment I log back in.

I have no reason to suspect my email was compromised. It's locked down pretty well and I know from one experience that in the event of an attempted login from a strange place I would be notified.

I truly have no understanding of how this could have happened or what put me on somebody's radar for this sort of thing. I've never shared my password with anyone and the password I did have was not duplicated on any one of my other accounts. So granted my decision regarding Steam Guard was foolish, but I feel like these circumstances were less than expected.

One thing I want to say not quite in my defense, but at least to express some dissatisfaction- I can't believe you can just have your email changed like that. What I received was "Your changes have been confirmed", not "Please confirm your changes". Why didn't I receive an email asking for some confirmation in that process? I thought Steam Guard was extra levels of security, not all of it. I would have never disabled it if somebody said "Alright, well if somebody gets your password they can change it with no verification." I would've said "Holy shit why would I do that?"

Regardless, this was a lesson learned. Unfortunately it was a $50 lesson, but I accept that consequence. I've said it before that I just want my account back.

1 decade ago
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Your password could have been retrieved with a keylogger or some other type of malware that's installed on your computer. Perhaps you logged into steam from another computer that's not yours. That could have given someone your password.

1 decade ago
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You can change your email without confirmation, because the most popular reason for people to change their contact email is that they no longer have access to it.

1 decade ago
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Well that's pretty weak.

1 decade ago
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Mine was very fast, as long as you have some sort of proof it's your account.

Any receipts from email or used up physical codes from retail games on that steam will work.

1 decade ago
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I was wondering if you can just tell them the first cd key activated on your account or take a pic of the receipt of the first purchase on your steam account?

1 decade ago
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This comment was deleted 1 year ago.

1 decade ago
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Screenshots of purchases? Think receipts sent to my email would work?

1 decade ago
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sure thing. if you kept them ^^

1 decade ago
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Lol, that's what happens when people don't care about security.

1 decade ago
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Mine took around 3 days :)
It shouldnt take too long, the support was really nice but remember to put as much info as possible, screenshots of keys, cards you used etc.

1 decade ago
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Why people don't secure their email accounts? On Gmail you can turn on mobile text code, which you must enter every time you log in from different computer.

1 decade ago
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My gmail was secured. My Steam wasn't. Had I known it would be possible to change my email without confirmation from me, believe me I'd have kept it locked down too. Even you have slip ups, Dexter Morgan.

1 decade ago
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SteamGuard

1 decade ago
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I watched you game profile and you have the sims 3,
the sims 3 have cd key for activated on origin.. or EA DRM. Call or chat with EA support and ask cd key the sims 3.. or screenshot you're origin.

1 decade ago
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I never interacted with Origin in any way in the process of buying/activating The Sims 3. I activated it on Steam.

1 decade ago
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Contact Steam support ASAP and explain your situation. They will ask you for proof it's your account, just show them your receipts or scan a retail cd key and take a photo of the game so they can verify it's all legit.
Normally, they take more time during sales, but in a few days you'll get it back. I remember that my acc was hacked on Monday, I opened a ticket and got a reply by Tuesday, second reply by Wednesday and last message by Friday with my acc reactivated and a new password.

1 decade ago
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Just got my first response from Steam support. Didn't inspire much more confidence than I already have, as it was just the typical "You can verify your ownership by these methods" spiel, but hopefully this gets the ball rolling.

1 decade ago
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Hang in there Rev, you will get your account back soon enough. In the meantime enjoy the new year and don't dwell too much on it

1 decade ago
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I GOT MY ACCOUNT BACK! :)

Steam Guard was already re-enabled for me. They know what's up. Lesson learned big time on that. Although it was a stressful ordeal going through, I am overall incredibly satisfied with the time and ease with which I got my account back. Big ups to Steam support for their great work.

1 decade ago
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Good to hear. Looks like your games are still in inventory too. Dunno what the TF2 item situation was like before/after.

1 decade ago
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Good to hear you got your account back.

How much did you end up losing? And any idea if anything will happen to the guy who jacked your account?

1 decade ago
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I lost $45 in steam wallet funds. Currently in the process of finding out what happens to him next, or at least what support is willing to disclose. What he did goes a bit deeper than jacking my wallet funds, and I don't want to put too much of it out there but I'm just hoping that by tipping them off immediately to the activity the last few days I'll avoid getting tied up in any further problems because he did some pretty serious stuff.

Luckily, the dividing line between when I was in control and when he took over is pathetically obvious by the transaction history alone. This guy was a moron who didn't pace himself at all and I think that'll help things work out a lot smoother.

1 decade ago
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Great to hear that everything has worked out for you now. I'm so curious as to exactly what happened. Any idea how he got access to your account yet?

1 decade ago
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Ouch at losing $45.

1 decade ago
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i had a problem with steam guard a week ago and it took me four days just send sent steam an email on the support thingy

1 decade ago
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It takes a maximum of a week. Mine got resolved in about 2-3 days. Just send a ticket to Steam Support with proof that you own the account and they'll reset the email and password for you. Hope this helps. Also, have a happy new year!

1 decade ago
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Closed 1 decade ago by revco32.