Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is popular among fans of tactical shooters, but it also offers a large marketplace with valuable skins and items from in-game loot boxes. A trader recently had the shock of his life – his Steam account was suddenly banned.
Update, April 12: GeRy has recovered his account (via twitter.com).
Original report: With the announcement of Counter-Strike 2, the old tactical shooter CS:GO is back in the conversation. CS2 is set to arrive this summer as an upgrade to Global Offensive and revamp the technology.
The unexpected news also stimulated the market for CS:GO skins. Steam was the first gaming platform to allow users to trade digital goods among themselves, and the market is thriving (via earlygame.com). The prospect of many new players or buyers with CS2 is driving prices up.
Recently, the German streamer MontanaBlack examined CS:GO and its loot boxes in detail. However, in 2023 he is quite late with his investments.
Others have been trading since 2015 or earlier, including the Steam user “GeRy”. His portfolio of CS:GO skins is worth an astonishing 443,318.47 euros (via csgobackpack.net / as of April 11, 6:00 PM). But currently, he has no access to it. Steam has banned his account.
If you want to know more about the new Counter-Strike 2, start our video:
“Posted or upvoted suspicious content on Steam”
GeRy refers to himself on Twitter as an “entrepreneur & trader”. He even developed a browser add-on to facilitate the trading of CS:GO skins.
But when he surfed with his Steam account yesterday, his heart must have dropped to his pants, to the ground, and out onto the street. Because his account with CS:GO skins worth 440,000 euros was banned.
He sent out a call for help on Twitter:
Why was the account banned? According to his own statement, the ban hit him shortly after a comment on the Steam profile of a skin seller. GeRy just wanted to ask about his M9 skin that he had purchased. A link was broken, and he did not receive his skin.
As the reason for the ban, Steam told him that he had “posted or upvoted suspicious content on Steam”.
Even upvoting the “wrong” content on Steam can lead to a ban. Even a poorly placed comment can temporarily turn off the lights on the account.
Currently, it is suspected that the ban was issued because his comment was about trading. GeRy mentioned the marketplace “Gamerpay”, which may be a “suspicious” word.
Will he get his account back? Yes, most likely. The ban was very likely an automatic function of Steam. Such bans have reportedly increased in recent months, judging by the comments under tweets on the subject.
Under GeRy’s tweet, many users give him hope that the ban will be lifted quickly. He should contact support, clarify the situation, and then there should be no problems.
The title image comes from GeRy’s Instagram account and we have obtained his permission for its use.
Even though GeRy is very likely to regain access to his account, this story also shows the power of Steam over a marketplace that operates almost unseen in the background and manages millions in value.
Have you also dealt with the Steam marketplace, maybe traded skins? Tell us about your experiences or leave a comment on the topic.
