Here's a question: when was the last time you went out to the store and got yourself a physical gift card for online games retailer Steam? Here's another question: when was the last time you saw an online scammer requesting a Steam gift card as an advance fee before releasing their millions to their victim?
Someone at Valve must have done the math, because by the end of the year, physical Steam gift cards will stop being produced. It makes some amount of sense, given that Steam is an online-only retailer that you need a decent Internet connection to take advantage of in the first place. The explanation given by Valve, however, focuses on only a single reason: making it harder for scammers to pull off their schemes.
Physical Steam gift cards are as good as gold among scammers, as they can be flipped for face value nearly anywhere in the world and are more or less untraceable. No longer, apparently:
Scammers use gift cards from brands like Steam to take advantage of people worldwide. We tried retailer partnerships, law enforcement coordination, scam warnings, and redemption limits. Scammers adapted to all of it. So we've made the difficult decision to end the Steam Gift Card program at retail stores.
While their stated intentions are good, it's hard to imagine this will have anything more than a negligible effect. Scammers aren't picky, after all, and will gladly take Apple cards, Google cards, or straight-up Bitcoin instead. Still, it's the thought that counts?
Previously:
