With the influx of scammers/phishers and the number of people getting scammed, I believe it would be better for the community as a whole to stand up together against those that would like to steal. This guide does not function as a shield against scammers,but rather exposes the possible methods that they use in an attempt to scam us of virtual items. Read through and you may be more knowledgeable and hopefully, prevent yourself from being scammed in the future.

*Made for my friends, if you do not know me and you found this, i have no clue how you got here
** incomplete,will complete when i'm less lazy

Note : As I am not a scammer myself, I'm not extremely knowledgeable in the ways of scamming, but those are a few that I have come across so far.

1. Bots

- They will add you, and upon accepting their request, they will ask you to "add their friend" with a link. If you click the link, you will be led to a pretty legit looking site, but if you pay attention to the URL address,you can see slight misspellings. If you attempt to "add" that user, it will prompt you to login. If you log in, they will be able to get your SteamID , Pass and possibly disable your SteamGuard if you upload your SSFN* file there.

How2Avoid : Pay attention to the URL Address, or just block any private profiles(they are
commonly used by the bots) that add you.

2. Ask a friend to hold your knife/item

- A person will add you, and offers you some good overpay for your item. But wait, theres a catch! Before you can trade, the scammer will request that you trade your item to a real life friend so that he knows that it is "legitimate" . Sounds legit! After passing the item to your friend, the scammer will get an alt account and continue by impersonating YOUR account. The scammer will then proceed to add your friend with the alt account. Then, using the alt account, he will request for the knife/item "back" from your friend. If your friend is stupid enough to trade to the scammer's alt account, then your knife is gone!

How2Avoid : Anybody that requests you to pass your item to a friend is not legit, just remove em
and go on with life

3. Screenshot scams

- This may be a little complicated. One day while you're trading, someone offers you a item and asks you to see his screenshot. In that screenshot, the item has some super rare pattern!
In this scenario, lets assume : A normal item of that type with no patterns is worth 100$
Your items are worth 150$
The item with special patterns he is "offering" is worth 200$
Now, you hastily trade with him, and then you realize you have traded for a normal item,and have lost 50$ in the deal.

How2Avoid : To avoid this, inspect the item in the trade window before you trade! The
screenshots mean nothing.

4. Quickswitch

- You are in a trade window with somebody. He offers a rare Factory New item which is worth 100$ for your item(worth 50$) . Good deal! But then, as you are not paying attention to the trade, you find out that he has swapped out his Factory New item for a Minimal Wear version of it!(worth 5$) . You have lost out in the deal.

How2Avoid : In the trade window, press the Ready button, but do not accept. After that, inspect
the item that you are being offered. But why press the Ready button you ask?
Because if he swaps that item out, your "ready" status will turn into "not ready",
so that will inform you that something is wrong.

5. Middleman
- This can happen two different ways, and I will explain both

- You agree to a trade, and the scammer requests to use a "middleman" because he thinks that
you can "scam" him from the normal trade window. Turns out, the middleman is his friend!
After trading the items to the middleman, say goodbye to your items.
- You agree to a money trade, and the scammer requests to use a middleman,which is pretty
normal. But then, the "middleman" is his friend! After sending/trading the money or items to the
middleman, say goodbye to your money/item.

The middleman can either be :
1. An impersonated real middleman
- They impersonate the profile of a real middleman(reddit,SteamRep, etc etc) by having the same name and profile picture, tricking you into believing that you're dealing with a genuine
middleman.
2. They impersonate a friend of yours
- They will ask if you trust anybody in your friends list, and if you reply, they will impersonate
the person that you have stated in your reply.

How2Avoid : Thoroughly check the profile before you trade to the "middleman". Go to their
respective middleman pages ; example : steamrep.com and compare both
profiles.
Things to check : Steam level, number of games, inventory value, achievements,
friends, steamURL(IMPORTANT!!!)

6. Steamwallet scam
- The scammer will offer to give you Steamwallet cash. They will claim that after the trade, the cash
will be transferred to your account, and this is usually done with a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ "Steamguard" message.
Example :
The other trader "Scammer" has placed 400$ in the trade. Once the trade is completed, the user "YourNameHere" will receive 400$.

Those are signs of a scam, and BE AWARE, YOU CANNOT TRADE MONEY THROUGH THE
CONVENTIONAL STEAM TRADE WINDOW

How2Avoid : Do not attempt to trade for money in the steam window, unless you're sure of
what you're doing.