Valve Bans Sale of Dota 2 Skins After Bug Causes $30 Million in Damage

A system flaw allowed fraudsters to profit by producing rare items.

Valve recently rolled out the 7.39e update for Dota 2. The developers have introduced a ban on selling certain skins.

Items that are trade-locked until a specific date can no longer be listed for sale on the marketplace.

Previously, scammers exploited a vulnerability in the system to create duplicate items for resale. They operated networks of accounts and bots that carried out trades and market transactions among themselves.

Copying rare skins disrupted the Dota 2 market: as supply surged, prices dropped — items once worth $10,000–$25,000 were being sold for about $4,000.

It appears this scheme ran from the start of the year, producing tens of thousands of duplicated items over several months; estimated losses reach $30 million.

Source: iXBT.games