Valve suspends 20,000 Steam accounts

Valve has suspended indefinitely 20,000 Steam accounts it has linked to fraudulent attempts "to access Half-Life 2 without purchasing it." As you've probably seen from various gaming forums, this has prompted a widespread backlash from "innocent consumers" who feel they have been snared wrongly in the trap - funnily most of whom appear to be illiterate kids refusing to provide any proof of purchase...

However the Half-Life 2 developer is in no doubt it got its men. Or army of men. "The method used was extremely easy for Valve to trace and confirm, and so there is no question that the accounts disabled were used to try and illegally obtain Half-Life 2," the dev said. However, "Valve did not put out any kind of fake key or fake warez or hack instructions to trap people. The hack came from the 'community' as do they all," it added, dispelling rumours that a fake pirate-trapping version was doing the rounds.

"Accounts also may be closed due to fraudulent activity in an attempt to obtain additional products for your Steam Account. This includes Credit Card fraud, theft of accounts you do not own and using cracked versions of Valve games," the developer concluded. In other words, don't mess about unless you want to get yourself banned. And if you somehow have been wrongly accused, we suggest getting in touch with Valve directly through the Steam website and forums so they can try and put things straight.

Just make sure you do what this chap did and STAY CLAM.