Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

'50% of transactions were fraudulent' when Steam accepted Bitcoin for payments

pcgamer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 333 posts

Re: '50% of transactions were fraudulent' when Steam accepted Bitcoin for payments

#51

Post by tenuousemphasis »

erk__ wrote: post #5
janandonly wrote: post #2

Unfortunately no details were given about what makes 50% of all bitcoin transactions “fraudulent” ? What does that even mean? * did someone try to send something other then bitcoin to a ₿ address? * did a client claim he payed and did the payment seem to fail on his end? * did a client not realise that you as payee also pay for the network fee? Nowadays these kind of problems would be easily prevented by using bitcoi…

Likely using stolen credit card credentials to buy bitcoin and then use them to buy things on Steam. They already have a massive problem with that without introducing bitcoin into the equation

You can't really buy bitcoin with a credit card because the seller would likely lose a ton of money to chargebacks.

Re: '50% of transactions were fraudulent' when Steam accepted Bitcoin for payments

#52

Post by berkes »

dahfizz wrote: post #10
flotzam wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wut. This is like stealing faberge eggs so that you can throw them through the window of a Shake Shack that you want to break into

Have you ever heard the phrase "money laundering"?

How can you launder money on steam? Buying swords or funny hats? Buying hundreds of games and then never play any?

Re: '50% of transactions were fraudulent' when Steam accepted Bitcoin for payments

#53

Post by k__ »

dahfizz wrote: post #10
flotzam wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wut. This is like stealing faberge eggs so that you can throw them through the window of a Shake Shack that you want to break into

Have you ever heard the phrase "money laundering"?

Why would they go over Steam?

If they already have their assets in BTC they could simply put them in a mixer.

Re: '50% of transactions were fraudulent' when Steam accepted Bitcoin for payments

#54

Post by Duralias »

skybrian wrote: post #27
janandonly wrote: post #2

Unfortunately no details were given about what makes 50% of all bitcoin transactions “fraudulent” ? What does that even mean? * did someone try to send something other then bitcoin to a ₿ address? * did a client claim he payed and did the payment seem to fail on his end? * did a client not realise that you as payee also pay for the network fee? Nowadays these kind of problems would be easily prevented by using bitcoi…

Could people create fake game items and use Bitcoin to pay themselves as a way of converting it to cash? Is that a thing? So the game item and the transaction are fake, as in they’re not actually there to play games.

It isn't as widespread as it probably would be with crypto (start selling shit game, buy game with crypto, get fiat), but Steam already has problems with people doing this, it is usually just more creative as it is hard to buy stuff with stolen credit cards, but we know from a ton of news that it is very common on grey market selling sites.

Re: '50% of transactions were fraudulent' when Steam accepted Bitcoin for payments

#55

Post by weird-eye-issue »

berkes wrote: post #52
dahfizz wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever heard the phrase "money laundering"?

How can you launder money on steam? Buying swords or funny hats? Buying hundreds of games and then never play any?

Buy TF2 keys and trade them to another account? Or CSGO skins? It's incredibly liquid and there are third party marketplaces for cashing out

Re: '50% of transactions were fraudulent' when Steam accepted Bitcoin for payments

#56

Post by newaccount74 »

IgorPartola wrote: post #15

At this point is BTC a good idea? Does it actually provide any damn value at all at a macro level?

The only real use case that people keep mentioning is transferring large-ish amounts of money (>1000 USD) internationally.

Re: '50% of transactions were fraudulent' when Steam accepted Bitcoin for payments

#57

Post by ipaddr »

lucb1e wrote: post #6
janandonly wrote: post #2

Unfortunately no details were given about what makes 50% of all bitcoin transactions “fraudulent” ? What does that even mean? * did someone try to send something other then bitcoin to a ₿ address? * did a client claim he payed and did the payment seem to fail on his end? * did a client not realise that you as payee also pay for the network fee? Nowadays these kind of problems would be easily prevented by using bitcoi…

> * did someone try to send something other then bitcoin to a ₿ address? That would not even register right? Different coins are completely separate and it wouldn't even have registered anywhere and show up in the statistic. As far as I know the addresses are also distinct between coins (so it's not even physically possible) but there are so many now and I've been out of that world for a few years now so that might h…

Sending the wrong type of coins btc vs bch will result in you losing those coins. That's not fraud..

Re: '50% of transactions were fraudulent' when Steam accepted Bitcoin for payments

#58

Post by jlkuester7 »

This sounds eerily similar to various debates regarding adult content, that some companies (clearly not all becuause OnlyFans) have decided that customer segment is not worth pursuing. Not because there is no money in it, but just because it is not worth the trouble...

I am specifically thinking of the drama between payment processors and porn sites. I don't really think that Visa's position is "porn = bad" or that they would deliberately sever a profitable relationship with customers unless they were experiencing or anticipating something bad for business.

Valve seems to be thinking in the same vein here, where it is just not even worth trying to play the crypto game (pun intended...).

Re: '50% of transactions were fraudulent' when Steam accepted Bitcoin for payments

#59

Post by flotzam »

mr_cyborg wrote: post #40
flotzam wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But how does any of that apply to the supposed "Steam purchases with stolen credit cards by way of Bitcoin" scheme?

1. Stolen money is used to buy bitcoin 2. Bitcoin is obfuscated by purchasing things online with it 3. Those online assets can be sold for cash

The obfuscation in step 2 seems very superficial. Like, is the IRS not going to ask where you got your stacks of Steam codes from?

Re: '50% of transactions were fraudulent' when Steam accepted Bitcoin for payments

#60

Post by vmception »

duxup wrote: post #4

> There's a difference between what it should be and what it really is currently in the real world. I feel like that when I speak with bitcoin enthusiasts. Lots of ideology that I don’t necessarily disagree with… but the ecosystem is something else…

The enthusiasts are excited and altering the network towards what it should be, even if that’s simply use and being an addition to the collective conscious

Many saw something that wasn’t done and go contribute

Others saw something as static

Others saw something as stagnant and went to contribute to another network that experiences the same path towards its ideals

Post reply on HN