Dear Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) Team and Steam Support Team,
Greetings!
I am a loyal user of the Steam platform and Counter-Strike 2 (CS2 for short). My account details are as follows: Steam Account ID (17-digit): [Fill in the specific 17-digit ID], Account Nickname: [Fill in the account nickname], Registration Email: [Fill in the registration email], Registration Year: [Fill in the registration year]. On [Fill in the specific date] 2025, I discovered that my account had been banned by the VAC system, with the ban notification stating “Cheating Detected”. Upon learning this news, I was deeply shocked and anxious, as I have never used any cheating software or third-party violating tools in CS2. This ban was actually caused by malicious operations of a hacker after my account was compromised. I sincerely request your team to re-investigate this matter.
As a long-time player who has been playing since the CS:GO era, I have always strictly abided by the Steam Subscriber Agreement and CS2 community rules, and cherished the accumulated game hours, in-game items, and reputation records in my account. My account not only contains [Briefly describe precious items, e.g., “rare skins like the AWP | Dragon Lore”], but also carries years of gaming memories with my friends. To me, its value far exceeds the material value of the account itself. This ban not only prevents me from playing my favorite game, but also tarnishes the reputation I have maintained for years, causing great trouble to my life.
After careful verification, the key timeline and abnormal situations of the account being hacked and banned are as follows: On [Fill in the date 1-2 days before the hack] 2025, I received an official Steam email titled “Account Password Reset Request”, but I did not initiate this operation. At that time, I mistakenly regarded it as spam and did not pay attention to it. Only later did I realize that this was a sign that the hacker was attempting to tamper with my account information. On [Fill in the specific date, approximately 1 day before the ban] 2025, I suddenly couldn’t log in to my account on my usual device, with the prompt “Incorrect Password”. It was at this moment that I realized my account had been hacked. Immediately, I initiated the account recovery process via my original registration email, and successfully reset the password and regained control of the account on [Fill in the specific date] 2025. However, upon logging in, I found that the account had already been banned by VAC.
After regaining access to the account, I immediately checked for abnormal records and found multiple pieces of evidence clearly indicating the hacking incident: First, the “Recent Login History” of my Steam account shows that between [Fill in the time period of the hack] 2025, the account was logged in on an unknown device in [Fill in the location or city of the foreign IP address]. This IP address is completely inconsistent with my commonly used IP address in [Fill in your usual city], and the model of the login device is not the [Fill in your usual device model] that I own. Second, the account inventory records show that there were abnormal operations such as [Fill in the changes to in-game items, e.g., “transfer of some skins”] during the hacking period, and such operations were definitely not performed by me. Third, the CS2 game records show that the hacker used the account to play 3 competitive matches on [Fill in the specific date]. The login location and gaming style of these 3 matches are completely different from my usual habits, and the opposing players even mentioned in the chat records that “this account is suspected of using cheats”. All these records can be queried in the game backend.
Upon discovering the account abnormality, I immediately took comprehensive remedial and security enhancement measures: I completed the password reset via my original registration email and upgraded the password to a complex mixed-password; I enabled the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator and bound a new mobile phone number [Fill in the newly bound mobile phone number]; I performed a full-system antivirus scan on my usual computer to confirm that there were no residual viruses or malicious programs; at the same time, I checked and strengthened the security settings of my registration email and enabled login protection. All the above operations have corresponding records, which are sufficient to prove my attention to account security and my active response to this hacking incident.
To prove my innocence and the fact that my account was hacked, I have prepared a complete chain of evidence and can provide it to the review team at any time: 1. Screenshots of the official Steam email “Password Reset Request” and the notification “Unfamiliar Login Alert” (if available); 2. Complete screenshots of the account’s “Recent Login History”, clearly marking the foreign IP address, time, and device information of the unfamiliar login; 3. Screenshots of the system notification email for successful account recovery; 4. The original registration email of the registration mailbox and annual consumption vouchers (such as CS2 purchase records, skin recharge bills, etc.) to prove my legal ownership of the account; 5. The Match IDs of the abnormal game matches during the hacking period, which can be used to verify that the gaming behavior was not performed by me through demo playback; 6. The system logs of my usual devices, proving that no cheating-related programs were installed on my devices before and after the ban. In accordance with the appeal requirements of the Valve team, these pieces of evidence can directly point to the fact that the account was hacked and form a complete logical closed loop.
I am well aware of the importance of the VAC system in maintaining a fair gaming environment for CS2, and I also understand that ban measures are a necessary means to combat cheating. However, in this incident, I am indeed an innocent victim, and all violating operations were carried out by the hacker. According to the appeal guidelines released in 2025, for bans of the “Account Hacked” type, the appeal success rate is relatively high if a complete chain of evidence can be provided. I hereby solemnly promise that if the account is unbanned, I will further strengthen account security protection, change the password regularly, never share the account, and continue to abide by the game rules to actively maintain a fair community environment.
I sincerely request the VAC team and Steam Support Team to re-examine the ban on my account in accordance with the principle of fairness and justice, and verify the fact of the account being hacked and my innocence. I am willing to fully cooperate with any supplementary investigation work and provide more required information. I look forward to your reply and thank you for reviewing my appeal in your busy schedule.
Contact Phone Number: [Fill in the contact phone number]
Alternative Email: [Fill in the alternative email]
Appellant: [Fill in your full name]
Date: [Fill in the submission date] 2025
If you file an appeal based on this account hacking scenario, your chances of success are quite high. You should provide relevant IP address evidence, which can be obtained from your Steam login history. Simply take screenshots of this evidence and upload them along with your appeal—this significantly boosts your odds. There have been many successful appeal cases in 2025 for this specific situation. I hope this information is helpful to all those facing similar VAC ban issues.