Attempted Steam account hijack

[LHookins 3,102]

Well, that was a little scary.  Someone tried to hijack my Steam account.

Next time you try to log in to Steam and it doesn't accept your name/password, do not do the automatic password reset.  Somehow, someone was able to change the email associated with my account.  Any password change attempt on my part would have sent the request to the spurious email addy.

Instead, first check your email.  I had gotten two notifications on an attempt to change my email, then a third saying it had been completed.  One of the notifications had instructions for retrieving my account, which I was able to successfully do, then I changed my email back to what it was supposed to be along with the account password.  The link was to an authentic Steam site.  I had gotten these email notifications because I had enabled Steam Guard email.  If you haven't done so, you should.  You can optionally have a text sent to your phone.

Even if you didn't get the email you might try going to Steam directly and recovering your account in the case of a bad password.

Good luck.

Hook

[Fielder 3,645]

Somebody half way around the world stole my Steam account once. I guess what they got from the theft was ability to play my games for free instead of buying them.

When I contacted Steam they asked me to mention anything I purchased from Steam in the past and how I paid for it. I told them paypal. They asked me to provide a Paypal transaction number which I did. That proved I owned the account and the thief was blocked and account returned to me.

The moral is to pay for things on Steam with paypal and keep a record of some of those the transaction numbers. The Paypal website can also show you those transactions numbers for all your purchases. Steam keeps a record of those transaction numbers too. But it isn't shown in Steam account details.

A fake user therefore has no way to know any of those transaction numbers unless he also knows how to break into your Paypal account to find them. Which is unlikely.

Steam uses knowledge of purchase transaction numbers to prove identity.

 

[G-RFRY 1,708]

Get the Steam App on your smart phone then steam will send you a code to authenticate your account. 

[Patco Lch 1,464]

Of all things to steal, video games. What a world. One person I worked with said people will steal the stink off feces if it's not nailed down. 

[threexgreen 3,135]

10 minutes ago, Patco Lch said:

Of all things to steal, video games. What a world. One person I worked with said people will steal the stink off feces if it's not nailed down. 

My airport had to close some bathrooms recently because people had stolen all the faucets and even toilet seats. Bag carts were also stolen a lot.

[Fielder 3,645]

Let nobody accuse Beatrice!

[LHookins 3,102]

I just had the same thing with an EA account from 2015 that I used for The Sims at the time.  I haven't had The Sims installed in many years.

This one asked me to click to verify setting up Login Verification.  I didn't, but I did the password change as recommended.  I decided NOT to set up Login Verification 🙂 

Hook

[stans 702]

I have a Steam account, but the only thing I have bought was FSX Steam Edition.  Guess hackers are not really interested in FSX. 😁

[LHookins 3,102]

Someone tried to hack my Facebook account.  Then I got a notification "welcome to mymail" which I can't find any way to cancel.

Last night I got 110 failed delivery notices, so someone is sending spam from my email address. I have changed my email password.

I doubt it will matter how many "games" you have on Steam, or what they are.  This isn't about Steam after all.  <sigh>  Sorry guys (and lady 😄 )

Hook

[LHookins 3,102]

Hm.  They hacked my Steam email again.  I have successfully reset it.

Hang in there.  Good luck.  Don't let this happen to you.

Hook

[LHookins 3,102]

They reset my Steam password, but left email address.  Fixed

Apparently they have hacked my email account, I cannot change my password.  I'll call customer support tomorrow when they're open.  I'm currently logged into my email account (it doesn't work in OE Classic) through the web site, so I'm still getting emails.  At least until I'm auto-logged out.

This is no fun.

Hook

[regis9 4,004]

Sorry to hear about this, if you haven't already be sure to enable two factor authentication on your email account, steam, and anything else that offers it.

[LHookins 3,102]

I'll have to check to make sure I have two factor authentication everywhere else.

And... I accidentally closed the browser and lost access to my email account.  Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about being auto-logged off and won't have to worry about keep hitting refresh all night.

Yuk.

Hook

[LHookins 3,102]

Got a notice that some of my Microsoft accounts require attention.  The only way they can contact me is through email.

I guess it figures that they'd be messing with pretty much everything.

Hook

[jdwgraf 52]

@Larry,

Had the very same experience with Steam (3 times in the space of a week - 7 in total). I was able (eventually) to have it all restored with proof of purchase. In the end it was my gmail account that had been "compromised" which also resulted in being locked out of my FaceBook page as well. Result, spending a while changing all passwords (where possible) and creating a new email account (just) for Steam.

As others have mentioned the "people" who hack a Steam account do not really get anything out of it, just create a lot of work for the real owner to get back what is rightfully theirs.

 

John