A gaming friend says I embarrassed him by refusing an item-verification trade
Gaming"He's a trusted trader. Don't make this awkward," my friend wrote when I refused to send my game items to a verification account. The trader said he needed to check that the items weren't duplicated before completing a larger swap.
I'd paused because the explanation made no sense to me. Then I found [Steam's scam FAQ, which specifically lists item-verification accounts as a scam pattern](https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/70E6-991B-233B-A37B/). I sent that link to my friend and stopped the trade. I haven't sent items, passwords or login codes.
My friend had introduced us after making a different trade with this person. He's upset that I posted "this looks like a scam" in our small trading chat instead of telling him privately first. He says I made him look like he was helping steal from me.
I don't know whether he was fooled, whether he misunderstood the proposed trade, or whether something else is going on. How do I warn the other people in that chat about the exact request while leaving room to repair a friendship with someone who may have believed his recommendation was safe?