I was almost phished.

[Cok0nuts]

Just wanted to let everyone beware of this particular one.
It was from someone that had the exact name and steam picture from my friends list.
When they messeged me it had that pop up if I wanted to talk to the person. I thought it was weird since that person was on my friend's list, so it shouldn't have had that pop up. I accepted anyway. She asked me if I wanted to see a cs slideshow she made and I agreed. It was a link to a dl. I got suspicious again but dled it onto my desktop. I did a virus scan, was about to open when I saw they change their name and avatar real quick then back. So I went over to my friend's list and checked their alias and lo and behold she never changed it >.<. I checked the person's steam page and it was some guy from Ecuador. Grr !!
It was my fault though, for not realizing it sooner when that msg popped up in the beginning. If I was almost tricked, I think someone would definately fall for it :\

[L4rk3m0n]

Youre fortunate your commen sense prevailed.

Alot of people are quite naive about clicking links from people they really dont know and tbh they deserve there account being stolen for not completely thinkin things through( am i being harsh? :/ ).

But thnx for letting us know.

[cpnichol]

Steam, in their infinite wisdom decide that anyone can see who is on your friends list. Which allows people to try this scam, all they need to do is look at your Steam page, copy a name and a avatar picture then they can impersonate one of your actual friends once you accept their invitation.

You should never trust anyone, even if they are on your friends list, they could have fallen for a phisher, so it might not be who you think it is.

Never open anything that people send you without doing a virus scan on it, and even then it's still not a great idea.

It's about time Steam did something about this, the changes they made to Steam friends makes it easier for phishers and makes it harder to identify the actual scammers.

If someone tries to scam you or you are suspicious of something then please post about it, you could help others avoid having their accounts stolen.

[Syph3r]

There are only a couple ways that someone can actually 'steal' your account. As long as you follow some simple guidlines that really apply not only to steam but any sites you visit or files you download you will be safe.

Always remember!
Do Not enter your steam password or any password for that matter anywhere that involves a website or chat window of any kind!

DO NOT download and run random files! (.exe, Batch Files, ... etc )

They are really two simple rules to follow but countless people forget and end up losing accounts, credit cards or anything else a scammer may want.

But then again even with knowing this a lot of people will still get fooled and you are simply better off not to follow any links from steam chat.

[DoctorOrpheus]

It's gotten really out of hand as of late. I never was too fond of Steam to begin with, but it has just gotten worse and worse with people hacking accounts and phishing. Plus Steamfriends goes down every day at least 3 times a day.

[Homey]

If you get taken to a website of some sort that asks for any password, IE. your steam password, put in a fake one, and see if it accepts. If it doesn't, you're probably pretty safe entering your real one, but try a second fake one just incase. If it acceps, then you're pretty much gauranteed that you're safe because you entered a fake one and you have nothing to worry about.

Bottom line:

Website asking for steam password : enter fake password to see if it accepts. if it does, its a phishing scam.

[Syph3r]

^ Although that may be a great way to see if it is a scam. I would still caution everyone and say Never! enter your steam password in a website period! Regardless if it 'accepts' it or not