*Updated: Steam and unauthorized charges

[Raduque]

My mom's credit card is showing 5 fraudulent charges from steam. I don't know how it happened, because she's never bought a game on Steam. She does have an account, but hasn't logged in in over 2 years, and doesn't even have the client installed.

She's got two games, both of which I bought and gifted to her (HL2 and PvZ). If she calls the bank and has them cancel/reverse the charges, is Steam going to screw me over and lock out my account? She doesn't care if they lock out hers, but I've got tons of games I still haven't played.

Update1: She called the bank this morning. The charges originated in Tokyo. The bank canceled the card and reserved them.

Update2: Steam replied to the ticket and is going to refund. The bank didn't actually reverse the charges yet, they were going to start the process, but if Steam applies the refund there'll be no need to finish the reversal. Something like that anyway.

 

[SithSolo1]

Uhhh, I dunno if this has anything to do with it but I'm pretty sure Steam got hacked last week.

I don't think they would lock your account if all you did was gift her items, especially if it was in the past and the fraudulent charges are more recent.

 

[Raduque]

Yeah, I know the steam forum got exploited, but she never used her card on steam. I bought her two games with my card and gifted them to her.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

no other purchases should be affected by the 5 bogus ones. it doesn't even have anything to do with either one of your steam accounts. report the theft to the bank asap.

 

[Nintendesert]

If she's never used her card on STEAM then I doubt it is a problem with STEAM and you need to look at the possibility someone else stole her card and are simply using it to purchase games for themselves on STEAM.

You could check her account to see if she has those games going to her account or whether she simply paid money and the games went somewhere else.

Get the bank involved though and look at options like cancelling the card and getting a new one.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Did she notice any new games in her Steam account after seeing the fraudulent charges? If not, then her credit card info was stolen, not her Steam info.

 

[Ross Ridge]

I think most of you guys are missing the point here. The original poster didn't suggest that his mom's Steam account was hacked or that Valve was somehow to blame here. He never described it as being anything other a case of fradulent credit card use.

The question simply is if his Mom reports the fradulent use will Raduque's lose access to his Steam account. Valve is notorious for punishing customers who resolve credit card disputes with them through their banks. They simply suspend the customer's account, denying him access to all the games he ligitimately paid for. In this case it shouldn't be a problem, since if his mom's credit card has never been used with Steam, then they should have no way of tying it to either his mom's account or his own.

 

[Raduque]

I think most of you guys are missing the point here. The original poster didn't suggest that his mom's Steam account was hacked or that Valve was somehow to blame here. He never described it as being anything other a case of fradulent credit card use.

The question simply is if his Mom reports the fradulent use will Raduque's lose access to his Steam account. Valve is notorious for punishing customers who resolve credit card disputes with them through their banks. They simply suspend the customer's account, denying him access to all the games he ligitimately paid for. In this case it shouldn't be a problem, since if his mom's credit card has never been used with Steam, then they should have no way of tying it to either his mom's account or his own.

YES, thank you. And the only reason I'd even be concerned about it, is because I gifted her the only two games on her Steam account, so our accounts are linked that way.

Edit: I should mention that she still has the card - I'm thinking that she used it at a compromised card reader somewhere in the past week.

 

[Ross Ridge]

By the way, you should mention this to anyone you know who might have had access to your mom's credit card. Let them know what will happen to the account if the charges are disputed. That'll give them a chance to fess up.

 

[Subyman]

By the way, you should mention this to anyone you know who might have had access to your mom's credit card. Let them know what will happen to the account if the charges are disputed. That'll give them a chance to fess up.

Screw that. I would want as much damage to the thief as possible.

 

[sandorski]

If she's never used her card on STEAM then I doubt it is a problem with STEAM and you need to look at the possibility someone else stole her card and are simply using it to purchase games for themselves on STEAM.

You could check her account to see if she has those games going to her account or whether she simply paid money and the games went somewhere else.

Get the bank involved though and look at options like cancelling the card and getting a new one.

This. Likely somebody at a place she has shopped decided to borrow her CC info.

 

[shingletingle]

By the way, you should mention this to anyone you know who might have had access to your mom's credit card. Let them know what will happen to the account if the charges are disputed. That'll give them a chance to fess up.

Why would you want to warn them? That's like telling a thief that stole something from you that you're about to contact the police and they better go hide. Makes no sense.

 

[Ross Ridge]

Why would you want to warn them? That's like telling a thief that stole something from you that you're about to contact the police and they better go hide. Makes no sense.

Because if it was someone who had access to his mom's credit card then its likely to be friend or family. Better to have them admit to what they did, pay the money back and keep their Steam account. Otherwise they'll never admit to it and it'll just lead to a lot resentment by both sides. The police aren't likely to do anything here, nor would they with your hypothetical thief.

There's also the possibility that his mom actually gave permission for someone else to use her credit card but either forgot or thought it was for something else.

 

[Raduque]

She called the bank this morning. The charges originated in Tokyo. The bank canceled the card and reserved them.