Scammer Alert - Look Fors

[Sam_Arah]

FYI - SCAMMER ALERT IN GAME

Just be aware that there are many scammers out there that will have no problems taking advantage of you when you are conducting trades that do not involve the in-game auction house. Below is an example of a scam that I recently experienced, unfortunately for me I have been burned before by scammers and accordingly pay attention to all the details of any trade before accepting. I'm posting this in hopes that you will not be burned.


Background: Agreed to trade Relic Axe for 2.5 million gold

Deal looks good as negotiated, pressed confirm button on my side of the deal, awaiting other party to confirm.


While awaiting for other party to confirm, scammer will mention something along the lines of "Inventory full, take this item as well". So he/she adds item to trade window and quickly removes a zero from the agreed upon amount of gold. So 2,500,000 becomes 250,000. If your not watching carefully you will get burned by the addition of the item (could be a really good or crap item to distract you) and quick change in price ... and confirm the deal


Sadly if you are burned, the scammer usually has no sympathy to redo deal ... will vanish (poof!), remove you from friends list, and put you on their ignore list. Hence any form of tracing them will be gone.


What can you do to avoid being burned/scammed?
Any trade outside of the auction house is at your discretion, and hence you have to press the confirm offer button and the confirm the deal box to go through with any deal. Hopefully these tips can aid in your ability to avoid scams.

• Be vigilante during any trade not involving the auction house, take your time.
• Dont be pressured or bullied to trade away item or to be quicker in a deal, especially if your not comfortable with person your dealing with.
• Take screen shots of deal, so that if your scammed, you have proof to post to forums or to contact sts directly.
• Post in this thread of your experience so other members and staff from sts can be aware of the technique that was used to scam you and potentially the toon that scammed you.

[Kraoracha]

Wow, I am so surprised there are actually people that enjoy cheating like that!

[Castdown]

Another way they will try to rope you into a deal is by offering alot more for your item then what the current auction hall price is. Example they will post in chat offering 1 million for a dark manic mask. On average dark manics go for 800-850k. Thats how they get you to the trade window to pull the switch on you. Which goes with what I always tell guild members "if the offer sounds too good to be true than it probably is."

[Kraoracha]

good thing all you loose is an item in a game, but still it sucks if it happens.

[phokingcrazy]

Way to guys we really needed some thing like this , to warn players that take this game to heart,and having it broken.
Really good job on the post, letting everyone no how they can get you.

Nicely done!!!!

[Sam_Arah]

Thanks, hoping people will be scammed less. Way to many stories i hear in-game of this happening.

[Kraoracha]

Guess those scammers make it a game to just steal from people.
I guess these transactions are not logged, so you can get prove of this to sts so they can just reverse the transaction and kick the character that scams.

[Lady_Pebbles]

Good guide & hope you don't mind, I reported with a message asking then to put this in the guide section. However now that I think of it, it should be stickied here or in the newbies forum. :-)

[Sam_Arah]

Thanks Thren, decided to post after it happened to me and after hearing others being scammed for their hard earned loot. No one deserves to have that feeling of being burned by a scam ... its terrible.

I'm hoping other will share their experience so that we know what else to look for.

[Abaqubac]

Happened to me when I was a lower level & unknowing of the scammers.. wish now I would've been more careful & saw helpful tips on avoiding it or asked everyone questions & looked closer.. :/

[Totallymad]

Well i guess its all about attention, ive been scammed one time when i buy lot of weapons from one guy he just didnt gave me one but it was a deal of 3k less so i dont care bout it))) When u making a large deals just recheck everything mil times and count zeros not to be fooled... btw did support ban scammers accounts if they get many reports?

[baaratag]

here's some known scammers: firstlovee - scammed a relic hammer. suicidalsaint - scammed a gamer pants

[Sam_Arah]

I know of firstlovee and can confirm that. Havent seen him in game lately, so he/she probably is under another toon name now or renamed.

Other name not sure, havent dealt with. He is active in PVP though.

[doomdoomdoom]

The person that tried this scam on me was Ervinke, she was a level 3 character. Her being such a low level character with that much money was a red flag for me, so I was being extra careful during the trade. She originally offered 1111111 for my dark manic and dropped a 1. Luckily I noticed, but its really hard to see the difference between seven 1s and six 1s on a little phone. I think adding commas in the trade window would really help avoid this scam. I posted a request for commas in the gold amounts in the trade window under the feedback/suggestions section a few days ago.

[Dayslayer]

HAHA!!.. Really Guys? If you fall for any of this "scamming" crap... you had it coming. You wanna prevent being scammed??..DONT PLAY WHILE YOUR STONED!!

[Oskitopee]

why is this in dl forum it should be in general or something.

[Sam_Arah]

The person that tried this scam on me was Ervinke, she was a level 3 character. Her being such a low level character with that much money was a red flag for me, so I was being extra careful during the trade. She originally offered 1111111 for my dark manic and dropped a 1. Luckily I noticed, but its really hard to see the difference between seven 1s and six 1s on a little phone. I think adding commas in the trade window would really help avoid this scam. I posted a request for commas in the gold amounts in the trade window under the feedback/suggestions section a few days ago.

Yeah commas would help significantly to deal with this.

[Sirreed]

Just got word in game that Suicidalsaint is pulling the scam of changing the amount when he is buying stuff off of peeps. Just happened to Alejhandra. This isnt the first time i have seen this happen in game with Suicidalsaint

[Anazeua]

My guilds banned list was removed from the STS forum and I was warned. Basically told me if I can't say anything nice don't say it at all. So I figured fair enough. I still think guilds need to share their banned lists. Especially gamers who use high vulgarity and disrespectful behavior, sexual harassment, and scamming. If any GM wants what I have, shoot me a message and I'll be glad to send you a post. Same for you guys. If your guild has a banned list, I'd like to see it. There needs to be an open source of sharing data between GM's without worry of censorship from STS.

[Castdown]

Here at A.O.T.A we have 3 lists. One is for players we have banned from our guild. Another is for any scammers anyone in DL has come across and can verify. The last one is those bored players who join to come in and be an annoyance real quick and leave multiple times. These lists can be viewed at http://aotadl.guildlaunch.com you must register to view these lists but thats a standard with joining any guild site.