Archived Report: 76561197960788095 - ([TF2] Team Fortress 2 Items)

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| steamname: Patrick Bateman
| steamID32: STEAM_0:0:68136875
| steamID64: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198096539478
| customURL: http://steamcommunity.com/id/woodridge182
| steamrep: http://steamrep.com/profiles/76561198096539478

This user is now banned for running away after a duel. The chat shows the scammer going as far as to explain why he/she is scamming the victim.

The report below was rejected for having no evidence of a scam.
http://forums.steamrep.com/threads/report-76561198096539478-xenos-tf2-team-fortress-2-items.56917/

My Verdict
I find user @CreamyGoodness TF2-T[A] to be guilty of: Risking reputation to trade with a potential scammer However, I do not find this offense to be worthy of a reputation tarnishing mark. I'll explain why, and why this isn't a get out of jail free card for anyone in the future.

This case is an interesting one. Us not having any actual ground rules or regulations for a case like this makes it hard to judge fairly. We discourage, caution and ban users for trading with scammers and obvious scammer alts, but where is the line drawn? That is where the line was previously drawn before the pending reports feature and before this report was ever created. Now we must decide whether or not trading with users with reports against them violates the "trading with a scammer" clause or not. In my opinion, me being the report handler, I have judged that it does, but not to the full extent. Trading with a scammer is discouraged for a variety of reasons, one of those reasons primarily being that we do not want scammers/fraudulent users to profit (whether it be from ill deeds or not). When users trade with scammers or obvious scammer alts unknowingly and for the first time, we or our partners warn them of the dangers of what they did and encourage them to practice safe trading. This depends entirely on the type of trade and who was involved. Trade admins are expected to be well versed in secure and safe trading, and thus are held to higher standards than others. Often times when a trade admin trades a scammer, it was because they were being negligent to checking someone's reputation. This can most certainly be applied here, but like I said this will not go the full extent of the "don't trade with scammers" rule.

The scammer didn't have a ton of red flags per say, but it had enough to warrant suspicion and avoid-ability (yes, I made that word up). This user had 2 reports against them publicly displayed on their SteamRep profile. It took me 10 minutes to look through each and roughly figure out what happened. In one report, the scammer was being rather jackass-y (accused of "hustling"), but no scam took place. In another, the scammer ran after a duel and even said in the chat they'd rather be trade banned then pay up. Anyone who says that is obviously not worth the risk, especially for a huge trade like this one. Yellow flag: Scammer is banned on Outpost for pending reports. Not HUGE, but very much note-worthy.

Since there is no real official policy on this is going to slide more than it probably should. But don't let anyone think they can do this and get away with it, it will counts towards a ban/caution. This goes the same for Creamy. I know you've been around for a while and have always traded safely, but this time I feel that you've slipped a bit. Everyone makes mistakes, but not every mistake is admissible. Please be careful in the future when trading anyone with pending reports, even if they're an admin. Always do your research on big trades like this. If you've read this Creamy, like this post or PM me please.

Let this be a lesson for anybody. SteamRep isn't here to punish, but to educate. Yes, we have a strict policy going on here, but it isn't in vein. We ESPECIALLY want admins to be a good example to the community and to those who look up to them. Creamy is definitely idol worthy and we want to make sure him and everyone knows what they can do to prevent trading with scammers.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day. If anyone has any questions add me / PM me.