Scamming Methods Exposed

[KP708]

Originally Posted by KeynesAlley

I got a PM and the guy asked it I wanted to buy some pants. I told him NO, that I already had some. Then he asked if I wanted to trade my 7 ped pants for his 100 ped blue pants.

I was curious on what the scam was, so I said YES.

Anyway, so he brings up the trade window and tells me to put my pants in the trade window, so I do. Then he puts in OJ pants. When I questioned him about it, he claimed that it was a glitch in the game's trade window, but they were really worth 100 ped and would be blue once I got them in my inventory.

Of course when I refused the trade I got called several not so nice names.

This is at least inventive.

Hey I'll trade you my adj fap for, oh say, 35k ped. I know it looks like just a bottle of sweat, but that's just a bug in the trade window. When you get it, it will be an adj fap. It's not a scam, not a too good to be true offer. Really, trust me, errr

Never never never click confirm on a trade unless you are absolutely sure you are getting what you expect. If something looks wrong, it probably is....cancel the trade.

[Rowdoc]

Originally Posted by Pepper

This is actually not a scam, especially since you're getting a head-up by MA to check the rules of distribution for a Team when you join. It may be an exploitation of peoples trust, or simple laziness, but there's a limit to pampering too.

lol, I agree. The more damage you do the more ped it costs you, so you should get more of the loot. It's far from perfect but ther is nothing wrong with it ( still a big gamble as to what you might get or not !)

[Pepper]

Trade scam

A scam which been seen frequently in use over the past weeks ( it's actually one of the oldest ingame scams) is the TT item markup scam.

Items from the Trade Terminals are sold as "rare items" with a markup to noobs who doesn't know better.

This scam is easily avoided by:

• Checking the markup value (click on the item in trade and click the markup value button in the down right corner of the pop up window)

• Ask in main chat what items you should buy as noob. There are usually several helpful people who will answer.

Heads-up: Don't go private chat with someone who claims to want to provide you with either information or items, just read what people are telling you in main. Scammers will always want to keep your conversation secluded from others, keep that in mind.

[jonboy]

List of known scams

Link above might be of some help.

[Rowdoc]

Originally Posted by Pepper;935260[B

Heads-up[/b]: Don't go private chat with someone who claims to want to provide you with either information or items, just read what people are telling you in main. Scammers will always want to keep your conversation secluded from others, keep that in mind.

Well, public chat is ok as long as you're not in PA (Port Atlantis) :lol:

[Midori Fairlona]

Originally Posted by KeynesAlley

MA doesn't care about scams unless they break the EULA or some other official rule.

There are plenty of posts floating around here with responses from MA support on this issue saying "next time be more careful" and "all PvP transactions are final".

And on the other side of the coin, there are several posts floating around here with responses from MA support saying that the scammer has been reported by other people as well and thanking them for the information. In a few of those cases some of the lost property was returned.

If you get scammed, raise a support case. MA won't take action unless they are given sufficient evidence that a scam has taken place, so the more reports they receive, the greater the chance they will take action. A report of a scammer from one person could be the result of an offline trade deal gone bad or from someone that misunderstood what was being traded through no fault of the other party. A report of a scammer from several different people will make MA sit up and take notice.

[KeynesAlley]

Originally Posted by Midori Fairlona

And on the other side of the coin, there are several posts floating around here with responses from MA support saying that the scammer has been reported by other people as well and thanking them for the information. In a few of those cases some of the lost property was returned.

If you get scammed, raise a support case. MA won't take action unless they are given sufficient evidence that a scam has taken place, so the more reports they receive, the greater the chance they will take action. A report of a scammer from one person could be the result of an offline trade deal gone bad or from someone that misunderstood what was being traded through no fault of the other party. A report of a scammer from several different people will make MA sit up and take notice.

I've read those posts/threads too.

What I've seen is that those were about the scammer breaking the EULA or some other official rule as part of the scam.

[minsten]

well i made a support case about my trade scam i said earlier where she had stated very clear in chat what she would pay me. And there wasnt anywhere in that chat mentioned that she wasnt to pay. Still they looked at the trade and saw that she got the item but i got nothing back, but didnt say anything about that it didnt go over with chat. So i dont think they even look at chat logg. I also only got the be more carefull next time.

But on the other hand i understand if they dont keep chat logs that there isnt much they can do as i dont have any proff. Also it could all be a set up or like some said a misunderstanding or even friends that started an arguement and one of them now regret. But i hope there come a day where its gonna be easier to bring scammer down and where MA can do something more about it......

[Midori Fairlona]

Originally Posted by KeynesAlley

I've read those posts/threads too.

What I've seen is that those were about the scammer breaking the EULA or some other official rule as part of the scam.

Perhaps, but not every case is an obvious breach of the EULA. It is far better to suggest that everyone writes a support case if they are scammed in case they can get their items back instead of telling them that they will never have a chance of getting something back.

It is rare for someone to receive things back from MA as certain requirements must be met first, but it is misleading to suggest it is impossible.

[Pepper]

Originally Posted by KeynesAlley

I've read those posts/threads too.

What I've seen is that those were about the scammer breaking the EULA or some other official rule as part of the scam.

Originally Posted by Midori Fairlona

Perhaps, but not every case is an obvious breach of the EULA. It is far better to suggest that everyone writes a support case if they are scammed in case they can get their items back instead of telling them that they will never have a chance of getting something back.

It is rare for someone to receive things back from MA as certain requirements must be met first, but it is misleading to suggest it is impossible.

Indeed it is.

MA do care - but they are still obeyed to follow Swedish law. When there are scammers operating, they do break the EULA just by the fact that they're breaking:
16:c (EULA). You cannot interfere with any other Participant's ability to enjoy the Entropia Universe according to its rules.

What MA in fact does, is to earmark participants who cannot behave. If enough valid support cases comes in, they can and will act upon that according to the EULA - it happened before. But MA can't ban people just because one or two claims of scamming comes in. But they do investigate if the scamming is continuous and documented.
Again: take screenies, note time place and avatar name.

But I can see the need to get some perspective on MA's role in this matter:

If you loose, say your Pixie and your Opalo to a upgrade scammer you've lost lets say 20 ped. What we're talking about then is 2 $.
Try this: Run into the nearest police office, screaming bloody murder, and demand that the person who stole your 2 bucks will be punished and in prisoned. Do you seriously believe you will get help based on that?
It's a petty theft, and there are far worse issues to deal with. You have to protect yourself by using your common sense. Furthermore the money you used are most likely sweat money - which you got for free (from depositing players). So, in fact you've lost nothing. The time you've spent sweating is not a job, it's what you choose to do in game to try it out.
This may sound really tough to some of you - but I think it's important to get the fact straight here. Of course it's bad to get scammed - but please consider what role you have, and what role MA's got - before you scream bloody murder.

But do report scammers to MA. This is a typical answer you might get when reporting a scammer:

Thanks for reporting this to us. You did exactly the right thing and it will help us to ear mark participants that engage in scamming activities.

Unfortunately these unscrupulous characters do exist within the Entropia Universe and we must remind you to always remain vigilant for these types of participants. Always double check before closing a deal.

MindArk are committed to making the Entropia Universe an enjoyable experience for all and we thank you for helping us to reach that goal.

Regards,
Entropia Support


I can assure you that MA's got no intention in getting the reputation to run a game which is an easy target for scammers. That would be a dead end for any business company.