$2 million in CSGO skins got hacked, Valve actually responds

By Kenneth Williams

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Jun 23, 2022

Reading time: 2 min

$2 million worth of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skins have been stolen in what might be the biggest hack in the game’s history.

Just days after mysteriously switching to public, one of the largest skin collections in CSGO was gutted. The skins in the collection included multiple Souvenir Dragon Lores and the famous Starless Karambit. The collection is valued at around $2 million. The hacker immediately sold many of the valuable items, but sources familiar with the matter claim that Valve has restored most of them.

The account belongs to HFB, a massive CSGO fan that is rumored to be in the United Arab Emirates. The collection included hundreds of extremely valuable gun skins as well as an exclusive knife collection. The profile usually remains private so that only Steam friends can view it, but it was recently switched to public. The username and profile picture also completely changed.

Shortly afterward, collectors examining the account noticed that several notable skins had disappeared from it. After tracking them down, skin experts noticed that several of HFB’s skins were being traded to other accounts. It’s not clear how HFB’s statements were released, but multiple individuals claim that his account was stolen and liquidated.

The skins were primarily sold through third-party trading websites, though many of them were also seemingly moved to the hacker’s account. While this is a relatively common scenario, Valve made the shocking move of actually doing something about it.

Valve restores $2 million in CSGO skins after massive hack

According to CSGO skin collectors familiar with the matter, most of the skins stolen in the $2 million hack have been restored.

It appears that Valve has reversed the trades that cause the skins to transfer accounts. HFB’s profile is set back to private, so they may have been moved to a new owner. As for the skins’ purchasers, they may be out a massive amount of money. Valve used to regularly reverse fraudulent trades in CSGO, but the company stopped bothering with scams despite persistent phishing hacks on the platform.

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Reversing trades is almost unheard of in 2022, but Valve appears to be willing to step in for $2 million CSGO skin hacks. Valve has not publicly commented on this event, but it shows that Valve is the ultimate controller of CSGO skins, not the Steam users who own them.