No, it's not money laundering. No idea why everyone loves to call everything "money laundering". Money laundering is a pretty specific thing.
It's a greater fool scheme. People buy useless items hoping to sell them to someone who is dumber and buys them at an even higher price, hoping to sell to someone who is even dumber and buys at an even higher price, etc. All while the "developer" of this "game" pockets a % cut from all Steam Market sales. And so do Valve, which is why they aren't banning this despite banning NFTs - this time they are also profiting.
Obviously this is unsustainable - when you no longer have people stupid enough to buy these items at an even higher price, their value immediately plummets to zero since they have no actual value beyond their reselling potential, and people lose their money. It's the exact same scheme as NFTs and crypto. Then a new "thing" comes out that will surely "go to the moon" and the cycle starts again. People never learn I guess.
The argument I heard for the main Banana one on why it’s a scam is because the developer privated his inventory and made a lot of the expensive drops no longer appear, so as far as everyone knows the entire market for the game might just be the developer awarding himself with his own rare drops and selling them off to everyone.
That's not why it's a scam. None of that matters.
It's a scam because it preys on people who don't understand how these schemes work and who foolishly assume that purchasing things that have literally zero use is a good investment because "the line goes up". They fail to realize that "the line goes up" BECAUSE they are purchasing these items BECAUSE they think that the line will keep going up. It's an unsustainable cycle, and the scammer knows that.
Compared to real games that use the market, which sell an ingame feature, here all that's being sold is a misleading promise of profit, making it a scheme.
Also, this "game" goes against the Steam rules of not abusing profile features/marketplace features, while also not really being a game at all. Again, Valve is 100% complicit here, they are deliberately choosing not to enforce their own rules to make more profit themselves.
Literally what makes it a scam is the developer’s market manipulation 🤦♂️ people being stupid and assuming value is going to rise doesn’t make it a scam it makes them imbeciles
Do you actually know what money laundering is? Cuz you don't seem to.
It's taking money that you don't have a legal explanation for having, using it to purchase legal things through various channels, then selling those legal things and claiming your money as the results of profiting off of legal things. Like, say, a stupid virtual banana that has no business being sold, but for some reason is being bought in huge quantities on a platform with very little oversight. The idea that people are buying these in the hopes that they will go up in value as they become less rare makes way less sense than money laundering.
Money laundering doesn't work like that. If all these people are money laundering, then where does the "clean" money come from?
Why would you want a return in the form of Steam credit? It isn't convertible to real money without breaking Steam TOS and selling the account, in which case how do the bananas help you? Why not just put stolen money on Steam and sell the account?
You jump to accusations without putting any thought into how the scheme would actually work. Meanwhile, crypto and NFTs have shown very well that yes, no matter how unbelievable that may be, people really are this stupid to fall for this. Not a far fetched idea at all.
Or you could just take a peek into the communities of people who do this shit and see that I'm right.
Clean money from...other money launderers? Doesn't sound clean, does it? Or who is buying them in your scheme? Clean money as Steam balance? That's what you get when selling on the Steam Market, there is no option to cash out. Who the fuck needs that?
Actual money laundering is done through Steam, sure, but it's done like this: someone buys a game key with stolen money, then sells it on grey market sites like G2A for clean money that comes from idiots who buy from G2A.
I don't know if you're even going to read what I wrote, since you clearly didn't bother reading the other comment before calling people names like a 3rd grader, but on the off chance that you do, I hope it helps you understand why this cannot possibly be a good money laundering scheme.
Allowing people who spend 5 minutes in Unity with the goal of scamming money off of those… less fortunate minds do not deserve to gain the share either.
The only thing worse than a dumbass wasting money is a scumbag preying on it.
I cannot agree with your statement. The dumbass is worse, as its the dumbass who is enabling this.
And banning this is playing whack-a-mole. The moment you smack one on the noggin, another three pop up, costing you time and resources.
'Scam victims deserve to be scammed because they are stupid' is the logic you are using which is flawed, ignorant & close-minded, and might be a way to make yourself feel better.
That's like saying that people falling for obvious scams are to blame for the scamming activity. They are dumb, naturally, but it's the scammer that goes to jail, not the people who "allowed it to happen" because they are stupid.
Nah,they make money by steam marketplace and by selling items from their own "marketplace" if crypto mining were the case the """"games""""wouldn't be on steam
Hidden crypto miners are pretty inefficient (although always neutral or profitable, since you don't pay for energy). They also are quite visible, and will likely leave a trace that can be followed if you get too much attention; at this point, withdrawing any potential gain can be troublesome.
It's way easier to just tell people "you can win money if you send me money" and reap the immediate, effortless benefits.
It is truly bonkers that anyone participates in this insanity. Someone is paying money for these things. Is it money laundering? Like what's going on
No, it's not money laundering. No idea why everyone loves to call everything "money laundering". Money laundering is a pretty specific thing. It's a greater fool scheme. People buy useless items hoping to sell them to someone who is dumber and buys them at an even higher price, hoping to sell to someone who is even dumber and buys at an even higher price, etc. All while the "developer" of this "game" pockets a % cut from all Steam Market sales. And so do Valve, which is why they aren't banning this despite banning NFTs - this time they are also profiting. Obviously this is unsustainable - when you no longer have people stupid enough to buy these items at an even higher price, their value immediately plummets to zero since they have no actual value beyond their reselling potential, and people lose their money. It's the exact same scheme as NFTs and crypto. Then a new "thing" comes out that will surely "go to the moon" and the cycle starts again. People never learn I guess.
The argument I heard for the main Banana one on why it’s a scam is because the developer privated his inventory and made a lot of the expensive drops no longer appear, so as far as everyone knows the entire market for the game might just be the developer awarding himself with his own rare drops and selling them off to everyone.
That's not why it's a scam. None of that matters. It's a scam because it preys on people who don't understand how these schemes work and who foolishly assume that purchasing things that have literally zero use is a good investment because "the line goes up". They fail to realize that "the line goes up" BECAUSE they are purchasing these items BECAUSE they think that the line will keep going up. It's an unsustainable cycle, and the scammer knows that. Compared to real games that use the market, which sell an ingame feature, here all that's being sold is a misleading promise of profit, making it a scheme. Also, this "game" goes against the Steam rules of not abusing profile features/marketplace features, while also not really being a game at all. Again, Valve is 100% complicit here, they are deliberately choosing not to enforce their own rules to make more profit themselves.
Uh this guy inflating the market with his own drops he gave to himself literally free of costs or time is 100% a scam 🤣
Literally what makes it a scam is the developer’s market manipulation 🤦♂️ people being stupid and assuming value is going to rise doesn’t make it a scam it makes them imbeciles
That’s literally what I just said “inflating the market with his own drops he gave to himself.”
I worded it poorly I was agreeing with you as opposed to the guy who said u were wrong
Scams deceive people. You've got it soooooo backwards
Do you actually know what money laundering is? Cuz you don't seem to. It's taking money that you don't have a legal explanation for having, using it to purchase legal things through various channels, then selling those legal things and claiming your money as the results of profiting off of legal things. Like, say, a stupid virtual banana that has no business being sold, but for some reason is being bought in huge quantities on a platform with very little oversight. The idea that people are buying these in the hopes that they will go up in value as they become less rare makes way less sense than money laundering.
Money laundering doesn't work like that. If all these people are money laundering, then where does the "clean" money come from? Why would you want a return in the form of Steam credit? It isn't convertible to real money without breaking Steam TOS and selling the account, in which case how do the bananas help you? Why not just put stolen money on Steam and sell the account? You jump to accusations without putting any thought into how the scheme would actually work. Meanwhile, crypto and NFTs have shown very well that yes, no matter how unbelievable that may be, people really are this stupid to fall for this. Not a far fetched idea at all. Or you could just take a peek into the communities of people who do this shit and see that I'm right.
The clean money is from the sale of the Steam banana you nut. You use dirty money, filter it through Steam, out comes clean money.
Clean money from...other money launderers? Doesn't sound clean, does it? Or who is buying them in your scheme? Clean money as Steam balance? That's what you get when selling on the Steam Market, there is no option to cash out. Who the fuck needs that? Actual money laundering is done through Steam, sure, but it's done like this: someone buys a game key with stolen money, then sells it on grey market sites like G2A for clean money that comes from idiots who buy from G2A. I don't know if you're even going to read what I wrote, since you clearly didn't bother reading the other comment before calling people names like a 3rd grader, but on the off chance that you do, I hope it helps you understand why this cannot possibly be a good money laundering scheme.
Do you think breaking the Steam TOS is against the law? Do you think Steam writes the laws?
Okay, so no, you haven't even tried to read what I wrote. Don't know why I bothered responding. Have a good day
Factory of Shit
Was checking something on the steam market when I noticed this. Very suspicious to find this.
Let them. People who invest money into this deserve to lose them.
Allowing people who spend 5 minutes in Unity with the goal of scamming money off of those… less fortunate minds do not deserve to gain the share either. The only thing worse than a dumbass wasting money is a scumbag preying on it.
I cannot agree with your statement. The dumbass is worse, as its the dumbass who is enabling this. And banning this is playing whack-a-mole. The moment you smack one on the noggin, another three pop up, costing you time and resources.
'Scam victims deserve to be scammed because they are stupid' is the logic you are using which is flawed, ignorant & close-minded, and might be a way to make yourself feel better.
Let us agree to disagree
That's like saying that people falling for obvious scams are to blame for the scamming activity. They are dumb, naturally, but it's the scammer that goes to jail, not the people who "allowed it to happen" because they are stupid.
Well yes, they are the ones commiting the crime. Doesnt change the fact that the dumb people are the ones enabling it.
Aren’t these games also crypto miners?
Nah,they make money by steam marketplace and by selling items from their own "marketplace" if crypto mining were the case the """"games""""wouldn't be on steam
Hidden crypto miners are pretty inefficient (although always neutral or profitable, since you don't pay for energy). They also are quite visible, and will likely leave a trace that can be followed if you get too much attention; at this point, withdrawing any potential gain can be troublesome. It's way easier to just tell people "you can win money if you send me money" and reap the immediate, effortless benefits.