Archived Appeal: 76561198030026090 - (meitou めいとう / BANNED BY SR)

Appeal for BANNED BY SR

Steam profile: 76561198030026090 (meitou めいとう)

Appeal Plea: I am innocent of all listed offenses
Appeal Reason: [Evidence] Missing - Evidence is missing or not enough

Victim Repayment: No, I committed no fraud or had no direct victims
Previous Appeals: Yes, I appealed here before and it was denied.​

Alternate or Related Accounts:

I do not have any alt accounts.​

Appeal description:

FIRST APPEAL: https://forums.steamrep.com/threads/appeal-76561198030026090-nikriontra-banned-by-sr.102850/

This Request for a Second Appeal is being filed in accordance with Rule #11 of the SteamRep Appeals Policy.

I hold strong conviction that my 1st Appeal was unfairly denied. The admin who reviewed it at the time not only severely mishandled the facts, they were unfair in their reasoning and failed to explain or justify the outcome, leaving my account unfairly and indefinitely banned for a crime for which no evidence exists and which left no victims. I was (and am again) appealing to have the ban struck from my account.

I am a victim who was manipulated by a notorious and well-known scammer [http://steamrep.com/profiles/76561198050873798] into joining a Steam group, under the guise of receiving free skins and hats for Team Fortress 2. The scammer did NOT disclose to me his intentions behind the group. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was very intimidated by the scammer and his incredibly well stocked inventories. I was very impressionable at the time as I was relatively new to TF2. In fact, I was scammed of a clean Fast Learner by him. That was how we became acquainted. In retrospect, I believe that my inquisitiveness and naivety fed his ego which is why he continued to interact with me.

In the period of time that my Steam profile was a member of his group, I was not involved in any operations or actions the scammer may have undertook. In fact, my only interactions with that group was joining, and [later] leaving it. I understand that he may have used the group to imitate the official SR Middleman Group and conduct fake Middleman deals (A fact I was unaware of until years later when I began my appeal on SR) but I do not know if he ever did anything. A search through his SteamRep reporting history shows that no report was filed against him in connection with this particular fake Middleman group.

My argument rests on the three following points:
1. There is no evidence to point that I was ever involved in the operations or acted as an active, willing participant of the fake "SR Middleman Group." No accusations or scam reports were ever filed against me. I also note that simply "being a member of a fake SR Middleman Group" is not listed as an official ban-worthy crime under your FAQ. There were also no victims connected with any activity undertaken by me. I also cannot locate the original report that led to my account being banned in the first place (don't believe such a report ever existed.)

2. Another individual who was manipulated into joining the same scam group by the same scammer was given a chance to explain his position further in his appeal, while I was not [https://forums.steamrep.com/threads/76561198052511640-syn-♪toomuchkebabs♪-sr-scammer.13947/]

3. The admin who reviewed my appeal accused me of Change of Heart and Lying during the appeal but presented no supporting evidence or explanation as to how they came up with their judgement. A review of the Appeals archive shows that other users are given justification by the admins behind their decision. This same level of courtesy was not extended to me. I appreciate the workload of the SteamRep Appeals Team but I will point out that I also had to wait FOUR YEARS for my appeal outcome.

I also challenge the validity of the reviewer's points below.

Change of Heart: I did NOT "have a change of heart" because I was NOT a willing participant who actively, purposefully and knowingly defrauded others. There is also no supporting evidence that I was involved in the group's operation.

Lying or other fraud during the appeal: The admin did not provide any reasoning to support their claim that I was lying in my appeal, nor shared their suspicions as to why they thought I was lying. I have given an honest and truthful account of events to the best of my ability, and whilst I have not been able to provide any evidence of my innocence, no evidence of my guiltiness has been presented either.

In conclusion, I petition the SteamRep Appeals Team to fairly review my situation and grant me a second appeal. I respect the work that SteamRep undertakes in trying to prevent scams and theft (a pain I have felt.) If the Appeals Team does not see my argument in lifting the ban, I ask that it at the very least be downgraded to a caution. I strongly express once again that I am NOT a scammer and am not deserving of a ban which is reserved for the worst offenders. This ban is a source of great frustration and emotional distress and is a blemish in an otherwise very clean record (including zero interaction with any SteamRep/community banned individual in the last eleven years.) In preparation for this appeal I have also made my Steam inventory public in the interest of full transparency.

Thank you.

meitou めいとう (formerly Nikriontra)​