HardWrath
Marauder
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2005
- Posts
- 6,038
- Location
- Wisconsin, USA
- Society
- Freelancer
- Avatar Name
- Max HardWrath Mayhem
There are a few known and proven trust scammers running around EU right now. Some of these people are not what you would expect in a stereotypical scammer. Some of them are noobs, some have a good forum rep, and others are pretty skilled and well equipped. Because they are loose in EU again I figured that I should make this thread.
My advice to anyone is that they should not loan their items to anyone... ever. Trust scammers often position themselves as fun likable people who are good at making fast friends with people that they meet. Almost always the trust scammer will play on the human desire to help another person and simultaneously play on the human desire to earn easy money. The trust scammer (whether noob or uber) will present a situation where you can help them while at the same time earning you easy PED. The transactions will start off relatively small; they will often give references of people who they have borrowed from, etc. They will even sometimes give you their real-life contact information as "proof" that they won’t scam you. As time goes they will earn your trust, always repay debts, make interest payments on time or early but then when the opportunity to take a very valuable item presents itself they will seize on it.
The only way to protect yourself 100% is to not let your items leave your avatar for any reason. Many of you are thinking that you are a good judge of character and that you have known your EU friends for years however this doesn’t prevent them from allowing others to access their avatar, furthermore you are only pixels to them and they still could scam you. Some of the most epic scams in EU have happened between people who have known each other for years.
If you get scammed the worst thing that you can do about it is stay silent. You have to come forward.... don’t count on MindArk to return your items because they won’t. While there is a good chance you can easily get that person's account locked, you still won’t be able to get your items back. Aside from going to the scammers house and kicking his ass (which I don’t recommend) you can hire a lawyer and sue the person. The courts will recognize your ownership of that item and they will recognize the value. There is a history of people going to court over scams in EU and winning.
Even if the amount of PED is too small to justify real-world legal action, the worst thing that you can do is stay silent about it. Staying silent will only enable the scammer to steal from someone else in the future.
If you should ever find yourself in the situation where you are trusting someone enough to loan them something please remember to do the following
1. Take screen shots of the chat history and the transaction itself. Make sure that the chat clearly outlines all the terms of the deal
2. Enable chat logging (press O for options while in EU, you will see what boxes to check)
3. GET A GOLD CARD FROM MINDARK!!
If you have been scammed or believe that someone is a scammer, please feel free to contact me via PM here on the EF. I am more than happy to give you advice. Please note, I am not some kind of “EU Police” I am just another player in EU but I am more than happy to review the information you have and at least point you in the right direction.
My advice to anyone is that they should not loan their items to anyone... ever. Trust scammers often position themselves as fun likable people who are good at making fast friends with people that they meet. Almost always the trust scammer will play on the human desire to help another person and simultaneously play on the human desire to earn easy money. The trust scammer (whether noob or uber) will present a situation where you can help them while at the same time earning you easy PED. The transactions will start off relatively small; they will often give references of people who they have borrowed from, etc. They will even sometimes give you their real-life contact information as "proof" that they won’t scam you. As time goes they will earn your trust, always repay debts, make interest payments on time or early but then when the opportunity to take a very valuable item presents itself they will seize on it.
The only way to protect yourself 100% is to not let your items leave your avatar for any reason. Many of you are thinking that you are a good judge of character and that you have known your EU friends for years however this doesn’t prevent them from allowing others to access their avatar, furthermore you are only pixels to them and they still could scam you. Some of the most epic scams in EU have happened between people who have known each other for years.
If you get scammed the worst thing that you can do about it is stay silent. You have to come forward.... don’t count on MindArk to return your items because they won’t. While there is a good chance you can easily get that person's account locked, you still won’t be able to get your items back. Aside from going to the scammers house and kicking his ass (which I don’t recommend) you can hire a lawyer and sue the person. The courts will recognize your ownership of that item and they will recognize the value. There is a history of people going to court over scams in EU and winning.
Even if the amount of PED is too small to justify real-world legal action, the worst thing that you can do is stay silent about it. Staying silent will only enable the scammer to steal from someone else in the future.
If you should ever find yourself in the situation where you are trusting someone enough to loan them something please remember to do the following
1. Take screen shots of the chat history and the transaction itself. Make sure that the chat clearly outlines all the terms of the deal
2. Enable chat logging (press O for options while in EU, you will see what boxes to check)
3. GET A GOLD CARD FROM MINDARK!!
If you have been scammed or believe that someone is a scammer, please feel free to contact me via PM here on the EF. I am more than happy to give you advice. Please note, I am not some kind of “EU Police” I am just another player in EU but I am more than happy to review the information you have and at least point you in the right direction.
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