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READ ME [PSA] Steam Group/Chat Spam Invites

Discussion in 'SteamRep General Discussion' started by Eoj Nawoh, Feb 19, 2014.

  1. Eoj Nawoh

    Eoj Nawoh Retired Staff Partner Community

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    SteamRep Admin:
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    Hello All,

    Many of you are probably getting spammed with invites to group chats from a select few individuals.

    We've had a few questions about this and wanted to start with a recommendation and address three potential concerns.

    Recommended: Do not accept these random chat invites. It exposes you to unnecessary phishing risk.
    • Concern #1-- Does the spam invite message itself contains a phishing virus/program?
      • NO, these invites are delivered as usual through the Steam client software, and there's no vector to directly spread a virus through the invite messages themselves.
    • Concern #2-- Will accepting the invite install a trojan/malware/evil program that crashes the Steam/Steam Overlay?
      • NO, similar to what I said in the first point, this isn't possible without impossibly deep integration with Steam. Those who are experiencing Steam/Steam Overlay freezes, that's because the sheer amount of individuals & text spam going on in those chats.
    • Concern #3-- Is the guy inviting people a hacker who is breaking through the Blocking system on Steam profiles?
      • NO, the phishers are utilizing the ability to invite Steam Groups into chats, and a number of the large groups are being targeted, from the TF2 Official Group to the Summer Sale Groups, there's a large amount of people and he's taking advantage of this to bypass 'Blocks'.
    Again we strongly recommend AGAINST accepting the invites. Accepting doesn't directly cause problems, but phishing links shared in the chat rooms might cause problems, and it is foolish to expose yourself.


    Thanks for your time, I hope this clears up a few things. Don't forget to report and block the spam invite profiles!
    Mattie! and Sari like this.
  2. ForteSP

    ForteSP New User

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    Just saying that AFAIK, blocking users doesn't stop them from inviting you. I remember this from a while ago I had an issue with this.

    Today also confirmed that. I received 15 invites from the same user who I had blocked.
  3. Xenophobia

    Xenophobia Retired Staff

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    Blocking them definitely does not help.
  4. T3RM1N4T0R :D

    T3RM1N4T0R :D New User

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  5. Eoj Nawoh

    Eoj Nawoh Retired Staff Partner Community

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    SteamRep Admin:
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    Either way, it can't hurt to block him.