[PSA] Steam Safe trading - how to avoid api scams

How the scam works

1. You trade skins to a trusted member from sythe
   
   
2. The real person from sythe sends you a trade offer for your skin OR you send them a trade offer for your skin
   
   
3. The scammers can automatically detect this trade offer and will decline it on your account, because they are logged into it or they have your Steam API key
   
   
4. The scammer bot will change its username to the same username as the real sythe user and even the avatar image
   
   
5. The scam bot will now send you a trade offer for the same skins that you were sending to the real sythe user and you won't notice a difference when you confirm it on your phone.

How to avoid API scams when selling items

1. go to https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey and if it looks like this: Imgur, you must click on "Revoke My Steam Web API key". Scammers might have gotten your API key and they can use this to track your trade offers. If you do not have an API key you don't need to worry about this.
2. Always note the buyers steam creation date when sending a trade, it should be the same when confirming on mobile.
3. When confirming on mobile, don't immediately confirm. Click on the users profile & make sure their custom link & items in their inventory are the same
4. If you have an API Key you do not recognize (unless you really know what your doing, you shouldnt have any) deauthorize all devices under http://store.steampowered.com/twofactor/manage

How to avoid API scams when buying items

1. Link the seller this thread & ensure they follow the steps
2. tell the customer your steam date of creation & get them to double check it when confirming via mobile