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Beware of scam Steam Deck and Steam Account stores (updated)

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It came to my attention recently that there's a website out there selling different models of the Steam Deck, at a discount, along with Steam Accounts. Don't fall for the trap like accessory maker JSAUX did.

This SteamDeck.info (it's not a link on purpose) website popped up on my feeds recently, and it was raising some clear red flags. Made even worse today, because accessory maker JSAUX partnered up with this "company" to authorise them to sell JSAUX products. JSAUX clearly not doing any basic background checks here before announcing anything.

Quite a number of issues appear even on a very basic 2 minute check of this Steam Deck and Steam game store. For starters, it's only existed since October. They sell Steam Accounts with games and Steam Gifts (where you need to add them as a friend on Steam) — both of which are expressly forbidden by Valve and can get you completely banned on Steam. It comes across as an official company store using the Steam Deck name (trademarked by Valve) but there's no company number, their registered address is incomplete pointing to a luxury apartment complex, they have a discount on the Steam Deck that Valve don't even have, they listed out of stock "Limited Edition" models (no such thing exists) and so on. How do they do it? If you read carefully, they claim they buy it all with their own Steam account — I don't think I need to explain how bad this is.

More in the video below:

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You might think this is obvious and no PSA (public service announcement) is needed, but other consoles can be easily purchased officially online from a great many places. It's easy to see why some might fall for this, especially with even a very small discount to entice people in. There's nothing wrong with reselling if it's clear, but everything else is incredibly shady.

Update 31/12/2022: the steamdeck . info store sent a defamation complaint to YouTube, so my video on it is currently blocked in the UK (mirrored on TILVids). I am currently fighting to get it restored. They've also begun wiping any trace of some of the more dubious things they were selling on the store like Steam Accounts as they're trying to hide it.

Update 02/01/2023: YouTube denied the request to have it put back, so my video is staying blocked in the UK. The story on this store only gets weirder too and more suspect. In an email to me, the store claimed they purchased Steam Decks with local Gift Cards but on their own Reddit account they linked to screenshots (#1, #2) of their Steam purchase history showing they actually buy a bunch of USD gifts. According to Valve's own details, accounts are supposed to be locked to the local currency. 

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Steam Deck, Misc
24 Likes
About the author -
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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12 comments
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Klaas Dec 30, 2022
I'm sure that there cannot be enough warnings around when people want to believe that they can buy a genuine 1 TB Elite Extreme Plus for 14 €. Studies have shown that discounts can trigger the same brain regions as drugs.

Has there been any kind of explanation from JSAUX regarding the lost/leaked email addresses?
Liam Dawe Dec 30, 2022
Quoting: KlaasHas there been any kind of explanation from JSAUX regarding the lost/leaked email addresses?
Nope. After pointing out all my concerns, they stopped replying to me. They only replied to me on this today because of the very publicly clear scam and they simply removed their retweet and haven't publicly said anything on it since - not a good look just hiding away from it, not even a simple "thanks for telling us we partnered with a scam site".


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 30 December 2022 at 8:34 pm UTC
Grogan Dec 30, 2022
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Well... this is a very popular site for promoting Steam Deck and accessories from the likes of JSAUX, so they'll care more than they let on. They probably have nothing mitigating to say, so PR dictates keeping quiet :-)
Purple Library Guy Dec 31, 2022
Guess I'm not going to get a pair of J-Socks for my Steam Deck any time soon.
Liam Dawe Dec 31, 2022
Update 31/12/2022: the steamdeck . info store sent a defamation complaint to YouTube, so my video on it is currently blocked in the UK. I am currently fighting to get it restored.
Jpxe Dec 31, 2022
I certainly hope all content creators stop promoting JSAUX after this.
Klaas Dec 31, 2022
To be fair, although JSAUX clearly has to do some explaining – at this point I feel even inventing a data leak would be better than silence – they are not responsible for the escalation.
Liam Dawe Dec 31, 2022
The website in question agreed to remove the hit on the video in the UK. So waiting on YouTube restoring it now.
DebianUser Dec 31, 2022
At this time, the website direct to a shopify instance.
When the page is fully loaded, the web browser is redirected (again) to a 404 (on another domain).
Seems you have frightened them, good job.


Last edited by DebianUser on 31 December 2022 at 7:11 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Jan 2, 2023
Update 02/01/2023: YouTube denied the request to have it put back, so my video is staying blocked in the UK. The story on this store only gets weirder too and more suspect. In an email to me, the store claimed they purchased Steam Decks with local Gift Cards but on their own Reddit account they linked to screenshots (#1, #2 of their Steam purchase history showing they actually buy a bunch of USD gifts. According to Valve's own details, accounts are supposed to be locked to the local currency.
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