Millions in CS2 skins banned as Valve cracks down on boosters for service medals

Valve is taking action against Counter-Strike 2 players who have allegedly boosted to achieve ‘red’ service medals, with over $1 million in skins estimated to be banned at this point.

While CS2 has been criticized for having a cheater problem, but Valve is also bans for boosters, namely those who have one or more red service medals, achieved illegitimately.

Service medals are awarded to all players who reach account level 40 each year, and by reaching level 40 again, they can be leveled up, up to five times.

Most players will struggle to rank up their service medal more than once or twice, with the most dedicated players perhaps reaching blue or purple medals. But reaching red medals requires an outrageous amount of XP over the year, making them exceedingly rare.

Boosted red service medals banned

It’s not uncommon, therefore, for players to use boosting lobbies or simply buy accounts with red service medals – both of which break Valve’s rules.

However, until recently, these actions went generally unpunished. At the start of November 2023 though, multiple red service medal accounts have been issued game bans – which also prevents them trading items from the game.

Crucially, many of these accounts have expensive inventories. On November 2, an account with over $300,000 worth of skins, including sapphire and ruby knives and an AWP Dragon Lore was banned.

The banned player showcased their service medals alongside some very expensive knives and gloves.

Various other accounts with inventories ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands have also been caught up in the ban wave.

When an account is ‘game banned’ they are unable to trade or sell the items in their inventory, making them immediately worthless.

It’s unclear if these bans will ever be lifted, although at least one banned user believes they should be.

“My red 2022 service medal is from retakes, a lot of retakes. 1000+ extra hours of retakes. It took a long time but it was doable and hard to do but I did it 100% legit,” they said on their profile.

CS2 skin prices generally have suffered a crash following the game’s full release, as the player count dropped.