The World of Online Gaming

Andy · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:23 pm Post subject: Becareful of Scammers

This was orginally made for Fiesta, but is true for all MMOs

This is a collection of tips gathered from my own knowledge of scammers, and how to avoid being tricked into losing money, items, or even your account. Scammers will try every possible angle into tricking you into giving them items. In this guide I will post different types of scams and ways to prevent them. If you can think of any I have missed, please post them here.

Enhancement Offers- Players will offer to enhance your weapon to higher levels, often demanding that they are paid beforehand, so they cannot get scammed. They will also demand an amount of Elrue, Lix, and Xir, as well as your weapon. There are a string of faithful enhancers, but most are scammers. I do not mean to demean the good enhancers of the servers. Give the would be enhancers a weaker weapon with only 3 and see if they return it. If they have made a thread about it in the forums, it is probably safe, especially if someone can vouch for them.

Rare Items- Some players will approach you saying that they have a one of a kind item, and they are giving it away for only 50s, when actually it is found commonly in higher level maps and sells for 5s. Counter this scam by shouting out (/s) before buying.

Password Scamming- Some people will ask for your password, because they have supposedly found a "hack" that lets you get free SparkCash items. In fact, they will even encourage you to stay logged in, and that the items will magically appear in your inventory. This is not true. If you are logged in, and someone else logs in on your account, you will be kicked, and the invader will have enough time to completely drain your account. NEVER GIVE YOUR ACCOUNT PASSWORD AWAY.

Staff Impersonation- There may be people running around with names such as Server_Maintenance or Server_Update, who will come up to you and exclaim that they noticed you are lagging, and need your password to help speed you up. This is a lie, since not even the GMs can do this. NEVER GIVE YOUR PASSWORD AWAY.

Advertising-Many people will advertise messenger handles or websites. Many of these (especially when repeated quickly) are attempts to get you to download or accept a file transfer of a program that will record anything you type and send it to another user, so your passwords, your character name, any websites you visit, your school reports etc. Occasionally the file you receive is not a key logger but a virus, which is a bit different, but still not fun for the recipient.

Item Duplicating- Players claim that if you give them 10s, they can double it to make 20s and give it right back. This is not the case. They simply take your money and teleport, run away, or log out. You never see your money again.

Quick Trade- When you offer up an item of some high value, some players have been known to quickly switch around the money values, such as they offer up 50g, then quickly switch in 50s instead, hoping that your eyes havent seen that transaction. ALWAYS CHECK THE PRICE BEFORE ACCEPTING.

Trust Tests- Some people are asked to be part of a "Guild", and are asked for some item to be given back within a small amount of time, to see if they trust the leader. Don't fall for this, because the chance of you getting the item back is minimal.

Tag Team Scam- One player sells scrolls for 20s each, while another buys a little ways before him for 40s. The gullible players goes and buys 5 scrolls for 100s, then goes and sells the scrolls back to the 40s player, who in fact made it so he buys for 40c instead. Be careful of these scams and always check the prices of the items you are buying/selling.

Alt+F4 Scam- People will tell you that if you drop and item then press Alt and F4 at the same time, your item will multiply. The truth is that the game will kick you, and they will pick your item up.

Free Item Scam- A player pops open his mini vendor with the sign "Free Beast Leather (LQ)!!!!" and everyone rushes up and starts right clicking as fast as possible. They don't see that with each click, 50c goes down the drain. Beware of these scammers, and always check the price before buying.

Vitality Scroll Scam- People who have the scroll production ability always jump at the rare Vitality production scroll, which allows them to make the actual scroll. some people will sell the vitality level 2, which is actually a skill used by fighters. The price difference is about 70s, and instead of getting a rare scroll you may find yourself with a useless skill scroll.

Fake Glitches-Sometimes people will say they found a glitch to make your weapon +9 or something like that. They will then proceed to party you and show you where the so called glitch is. Be wary of this as they will switch the party allocation. They will then tell you to drop so and so item until it does what they supposedly say, but in all truth they are trying to get you to drop it until it disappears into their inventory.

Shop Scam-You see a shop saying selling for 100c for a scroll you badly want/need, but beware some shops misprice their items on purpose to fool you into buying them. Always check the price before buying anything to make sure what they say they are selling for is really true. Same goes with buying. Always check don't just assume.

Under-priced Buying - Sometimes people open purchase stores to buy items, and set their buying price for under what the NPCs pay (common examples are people who try to buy Tough Meat and such for 1c each in Rumen, or the ones who set 50c across the board for dim dusts in Elderine). To avoid falling for one of these cons, simply hover the mouse pointer over the item in your inventory; this will show item information, including the value if sold to an NPC.

Over-priced "Greens" - Some sale stores are opened by people who'd love to make as much as possible off of a green item with horrible stats. Pay attention to the stats on an item before you even consider spending your money on it. After all, do you really want to spend 20s on an item if the stats aren't going to do you any good? (i.e., str for a mage's staff). Just because it's "green" does not mean that it's worth a lot.

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