Websites tracking reputation are nothing new in the TF2 trading scene. There have been many different ones over the years, both global and community-focused but people are still getting scammed. I have been thinking about why this happens for a while now.

I have recently started running my own rep website, tracking scammers and bot accounts that me and my friends have come across. Its been up for a little while and has accumulated almost 400 entries passively. Yet, occasionally I still notice people I talk to falling for scams and getting tricked. The issue is more than two-fold here and it takes some insight into both how the scams themselves work and the human psychology behind the would-be scam victims to understand.

What makes a good rep website in the first place? Large community adoption, integration options, and active moderation. However that alone is not enough. For a long time, SteamRep was one of those websites. It had an API that trading sites and bots could hook into to access marked scammers, it was fairly well known in the community and the staff have been actively moderating reports, but people have still been getting scammed. Its clear that something was missing but what?

If I could think of how a modern-day new age rep website would work I would be tempted to suggest some form of automation. Scammers churn an incredible amount of alt accounts daily and pretty much all of them exhibit the same telltale red flags. It wouldn't be trivial to catch these scammer accounts automatically but it wouldn't be very difficult either. One could argue however that automation raises the average number of false positives but that is what brings me to my next point.

What does getting marked on one of those websites entail? Well, a more hands-on trader might check your profile and decline your trade offer in fear of being marked for trading with you. You may also see some of your bot trades not going through for the same reason. But that's it. You are still not limited in trading in any other way. You can trade freely with anyone who doesn't know about your rep or doesn't care. And that's the issue here. Big traders and bots do not care about your reputation whatsoever anymore.

It used to be that getting caught fencing was a bad thing. You'd get a perma-ban from a rep website and other trading websites would follow suit, but time and time again I have been seeing holders of top 20 backpacks catching fencing temp-bans, getting unbanned and doing it again. In an honor based system (which is what a rep website relies on the most) it takes everyone to follow the system for it to work. Otherwise there is little point to tracking who did what and warning people. Big traders and bots WILL buy the items you had stolen from you and won't bat an eye as there are no real repercussions whatsoever.

As such, the only thing a rep website can do is give you a warning about a stale account having attempted some sort of scam before. Scammers usually have no issues rotating these accounts so chances are they won't even bother using the same account again, especially if they know it has been marked. And the same exact thing goes for fencing accounts. Even if traders were hesitant to buy from known scammers (and they are not) all it takes is just a simple account hop.

All this goes to say is that in the current day and age rep websites are a remnant of the past. They are fighting a war they can't win, trying to help people who don't listen. Big traders and bots are no more your friend than an average scammer. The best way to protect yourself is to not trade at all, as even whatever little protection the owners of your digital goods (Valve) could offer you, they don't as they haven't processed scamming refunds in a very very long time (if ever). Stay vigilant out there, follow guides, and avoid trading in general.

Deuces.