Scamming Methods Exposed

Redfrog said:

I had a twist on an old scam a few weeks ago:
An ava in full Gremlin asked if they could borrow a gun as they had a Hof they needed to extract but didn't have any money left for a gun!! And then they would split the Hof with me.

Well, the name wasn't in the HoF list, and full Grem but no Gun??? Yeah, right!
So I offered to shoot the Molisks (this was NE of Troy btw) while he mined out the claim and he ran off. I followed, thinking that he was heading to the claim, but he kept dropping bombs and mining out small claims. Strange way to behave for someone with a Hof to collect dontcha think?
And they could afford all these bombs but no gun????

I also heard that he scammed another player out of an Abrer laser, by claiming that his skills were low and asking to borrow the laser. Which was never returned.

I suppose he must have sold the Grem and bought full Rascal and a gun, since he was shooting Atrax SW of Orthos last week.

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Well, I ran into anaviat swampcamp once who said sorta the same thing. He had a very large global he wanted to extract, but he was fairly new and had no ammo.
I followed him out to the claim marker and and shot up the mobs while he extracted the oil. He even wore out his TT driller. I loaned him mine, and he finished the job, and offered me some of the find, which I turned down because I hit two small globals while protecting him.

So, this is not necessarily a scam.

LarsMac said:

Well, I ran into anaviat swampcamp once who said sorta the same thing. He had a very large global he wanted to extract, but he was fairly new and had no ammo.
I followed him out to the claim marker and and shot up the mobs while he extracted the oil. He even wore out his TT driller. I loaned him mine, and he finished the job, and offered me some of the find, which I turned down because I hit two small globals while protecting him.

So, this is not necessarily a scam.

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The Difference is

1) Asked to GET A GUN - didnt even had a claim to extract
2) Asked for help/Bodyguard

I would always help in situation 2!

(Because when I was new same happend to me, got a claim surrounded by Atrox and was very happy when someone was coming along to shoot them!)

Great topic!!

I hope that people read this, especially noobs. Furthermore I hope people don't get 'inspiration' from this and invent their one scams :S
It ruins the gameplay experience.

Keep it up!

Madhoax said:

Great topic!!

I hope that people read this, especially noobs. Furthermore I hope people don't get 'inspiration' from this and invent their one scams :S
It ruins the gameplay experience.

Keep it up!

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I just hope you are not PvP Trader Madhoax

HvSW said:

I just hope you are not PvP Trader Madhoax

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Lol, no, I'm not that kind of person

My nickname is usually Maddox, but if that one is taken I take madhoax, sounds almost the same. And lately I've been using Madhoax a lot, so that will be my new nick I think, nothing to do with hoaxes (.....or does it? muhahaha lol )

edit: typo

I believe so, it was just a joke

why the -rep?

Hi all, for the 83th post on this thread, i only said my comment about a scam, and i got a -rep from Mega, i would like him to provide me with a tangible reason! Or at least someone should explain to me what did i do wrong

I'm really pissed off right now, and hate free -reps, without even giving any reason but a "" smiley

Cheers,

DEF

aymthebest said:

Hi all, for the 83th post on this thread, i only said my comment about a scam, and i got a -rep from Mega, i would like him to provide me with a tangible reason! Or at least someone should explain to me what did i do wrong

I'm really pissed off right now, and hate free -reps, without even giving any reason but a "" smiley

Cheers,

DEF

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This may be better to discuss with the person in question via PM, since it's a personal issue between you two?



I don't want to be a nag here - but I humbly ask you to keep this thread as clear and clean from off topic as possible - simply since it's meant to be a info thread where scams can be posted as soon as they pop up. It's for everyone's benefit, and in everyone's interest (but the scammers) - so I hope you can see the reason why it's essential to keep it easy to read. Please respect that.


Keep sending in scams, and let's kick those
buggers off the game!

Sorry

Sorry pepper for screwing your wonderful thread, i was just acting under the influence of anger, and yes i PMed him ...

Sorry again!

best of luck ! and way to go for your thread

DEF

LeeLoo Faith said:

The Difference is

1) Asked to GET A GUN - didnt even had a claim to extract
2) Asked for help/Bodyguard

I would always help in situation 2!

(Because when I was new same happend to me, got a claim surrounded by Atrox and was very happy when someone was coming along to shoot them!)

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Yup. There is a BIG difference here.
Anytime someone wants to borrow from you, it should set off scam alarm,unless you know the person, personally.
Even then,...

I love this thread so glad to finally see one up. Awesome job, and also love all the other advices in here!!


howie

Here's one I've been hearing a lot about lately.

No graduation unless you pay for it.

People are becoming mentors to a large number of newbs and when each one is able to graduate, the mentor says it will cost anything from 100 ped to as high as 2,500 ped.

Some times the scam involves the person saying it's the fee imposed by MA and other times the mentors are completely honest and say it's their fee for being your mentor. Of course none of this is ever discussed when they try to get you to be a disciple, otherwise no one would do it.

This happened to me a few months ago, but MA released me from my mentor after I submitted a support ticket.

NOTE: Some mentors never release their disciples, no matter what. So their disciples will never be able to get disciples or use chips.

KeynesAlley said:

Here's one I've been hearing a lot about lately.

No graduation unless you pay for it.

People are becoming mentors to a large number of newbs and when each one is able to graduate, the mentor says it will cost anything from 100 ped to as high as 2,500 ped.

Some times the scam involves the person saying it's the fee imposed by MA and other times the mentors are completely honest and say it's their fee for being your mentor. Of course none of this is ever discussed when they try to get you to be a disciple, otherwise no one would do it.

This happened to me a few months ago, but MA released me from my mentor after I submitted a support ticket.

NOTE: Some mentors never release their disciples, no matter what. So their disciples will never be able to get disciples or use chips.

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That sucks.
If your mentor does this to you, you should get the conversation in a screen print, and open a support ticket.

And unless something has changed, you can have disciples while you are still one.

Pepper said:

"The greatest achievement the devil ever did, was to convince people that he doesn't excist..."

I have to comment this Superhal.
What you're talking about are small time hustlers, and they are out there too - true. But there are undeniably very well organized scammers out there, and they are anything but stupid. The good scammer gains your trust, he plays on your own greed and vanity, he knows when to quit, and that a pawn sacrifice in fact leads to a bigger loot in the end. He makes you think you came up with the idea - he may even seem reluctant to the deal. The skilled scammer is very hard to spot at first glance - numerous people trough out history have found them self standing in total surprise with all their things gone, asking themselves: How did this happen? How could I be so stupid..?! The truth is that they weren't, it was just the scammer who was smarter.
A good scammer is like a fisherman - he throws out some bread to attract the fish, then he trows out the lure to see if any one nibbles the hook. Then he waits, because like any good fisherman he knows; it takes time to swallow the bait... And he never loose a fish because of impatience.

Please, don't kid yourself in thinking you will out smart any scammer you meet, because you won't.
And they are not worth pity. They will without hesitation rob you of everything you own. These guys are common thieves - nothing else.

If your not sure - don't make the deal.
If you suspect a scam, take screen shots and preferably one with the avatar scanned.
Always note avatar name, time and place if a scam occur. Press C and P on the keyboard and you get time and position visible in the chat.

Do what you can, and use your common sense - but don't let the devil convince you that he doesn't exist.

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Did u ever read "Faust" and the devil s role? ^^

Here's another very dangerous one, when someone trades you showing you a BP with 0.01 TT, and tells you to view auction graph to see a high markup sale value, which actually applyes to the high quality rating BPs sold, not the 0.01 ones, and tells you he can sell it to you cheaper and you can resell it at auction ...

This may attract you but beware from BPs !

LarsMac said:

That sucks.
If your mentor does this to you, you should get the conversation in a screen print, and open a support ticket.

And unless something has changed, you can have disciples while you are still one.

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MA released me right away {next working day}, which shocked me.

I've always been told that disciples can't have disciples. This seems to be false as 2 people have now corrected this.

Scamming Advise

Many Many thanx for those who created and posted on this thread...

I've never been scammed, but come close, it's the old double-check that saved me. Like ppl say, if it's to good to be true, or this guy's the best syndrome...

People have tried to scam me, they've said they can fix my gear to full tt using game glitches, the've said they could improve my armour, refire rate and even if I give them Ava username and pw they could up my HP's...
Once they even tried the ped to pec trade scam... I read this tread carefully and am a little wiser for it too...

One more thing... it's not just the scam, it's also the hurt, mistrust and paranoia that it gives to potentially good players.

Post on dudes...

I've just heard of another one. I can't say whether it's true or not but it goes like this:

One avatar starts shouting about how xxx has just scammed him out of a few low value items. One or two other players then feel sorry for the allegedly scammed player and donate a few items to them. Repeat as often as you can get away with it.

LarsMac said:

Well, I ran into an avi at swamp camp once who said sorta the same thing. He had a very large global he wanted to extract, but he was fairly new and had no ammo.
I followed him out to the claim marker and and shot up the mobs while he extracted the oil. He even wore out his TT driller. I loaned him mine, and he finished the job, and offered me some of the find, which I turned down because I hit two small globals while protecting him.

So, this is not necessarily a scam.

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No, not necessarily, I agree.

But:
offering to split a Hof in exchange for the loan of a gun;
no Hof in Hof list;
being more interested in mining when there's an alleged Hof to dig up;
wanting to borrow a gun but not wanting protection;

were what made me suspicious and then convinced me that it was an attempted scam. As I was wearing my Pixie at the time I assume that (s)he thought I was more of a n00b than I am

OK some more.

1. The crafting armor scam:
Some scammers offer to craft armors (like ghost) if you give them some items, like Mindforce Implant Aa from TT. Ghost doesn´t need any items to be crafted! Take care!

2. beacon run scam
That is an evil one.
Scammer offers invitation to a beacon run.
Hunter chats the scammer and want to see the beacon.
OK scammer shows beacon in a trade window, so the hunter can check the location and beacon value.
As it seems alright, hunter joins the team (Looter takes all).
The scammer explains that he loots the Mobs on the way to the beacon and that should cover the cost of the beacon, but the loot out of the beacon will be divided through the number of team members.
Sounds not that bad so far and some hunters join in, beacon for nearly free, why not?
Now the scammer says he hasn´t the TP close to the beacon actually and the team will have to run from a more distant TP as the scammer got no TP chip.
Some will think damn waste of time, but the 32 PED beacon may it be worth!
OK team runs from the distance TP and kills some Mobs on the way using big guns and wearing big armors. The scammer wearing a shogun fires some few shots with opallo but loots all the dead mobs.
When the team approach the position of the beacon, the scammer tells the team he is so sorry but there is an IRL issue and he has to go AFK for some minutes.
Then he logs off and never been seen with all the loot he collectet on the way.
No beacon just waste of time and money and no loot at all!

Pepper said:

Trade scam

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.

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How am I supposed to give free pixies to beginners then? :/


There are some scammers moving around PA TP novadays, I heard ppl speaking about being scammed by this guy and then I encoutered him myself. It was that pull money off in trade trick which is done very fast using some script maybe(?). Luckily i knew the scammers name and didnt fall for it.

Always double check before accepting the trade!

I was told about what surely seems to be an obvious scam a few days ago by another player. But what I really can't figure out is how this scam possible would work...Perhaps you can enlighten me.

M.O:
A noob comes up to me and asks if I got 10 PED to spare...(not very uncommon so far). I naturally ask 'For what?'
He then explained that it wasn't for him, but that I was suppose to give the 10 PED to a second avatar, and she will then give the noob 5 PED's.

But all this falls on one simple fact: I would have to be an drawling idiot to give a 10 PED to a second avatar just so as the first would get half that sum.
The only thing I can think of would be that the first avatar, the noob, is in fact hoping for a smaller amount in the first moment, out of pity for being obviously scammed.

The last one is a pretty ridiculous scam...



Wonder who made that one up, and worse: who will fall for it...

Madhoax said:

The last one is a pretty ridiculous scam...



Wonder who made that one up, and worse: who will fall for it...

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It's really a copy of a generic RL pyramide scheme. Example: There is a club, and to join it you have to pay 1000 USD. When you've joined the club, you can now let three members join under you, and from them you get 50% of the entry fee, and a nominal 50% you pay as "tax" to your recruiter. This means that you pay 1000, you get 1500 back (500 in profit!), and now when your'e done doing your work and got paid for it, even more money will come in worry-free if any of the new members recruits new people. It's a win-win situation ... hmm, waitda minute ... doesn't this mean that for each person winning there will need to be two people who pay? And doesn't this mean that people needed to keep this club prospering need to be 2^(levels of people)? Well yes porbably, but that's only numbers, this club isn't for the pessimists, it's a business opportunity who'll let everyone with some ambition win (uh?).

In RL many people fall for it because of the advertising and social engineering, but in PE a scheme like the above would be a parody noone with their mind awake should do nothing but laugh at. I once for fun at a place suggested a scheme like the mentioned as a joke. ("If you pay me 10 ped you can now start asking other people for PEDs" basically).

I'll add a typical PE scam scheme also, it's very silly but worth to be mentioned because some people do attempt it from time to time:
In middle of nowhere you meet someone wearing orange. He immediately invites to his hunting team and he asks you if you should hunt together. Catch is that team rules is "looter/leader takes all", and if asked he'll tell "he forgot his gun in storage". Very dumb scheme, but I've met two people trying it, probly hopig that you woun't check team rules before starting to hunt. It's usually done by same people who asks you for junk you've looted and wanting to pay less than TT for it/having it for free.

Lol when I first started I got scammed by someone saying he would make me a suit for 18 ped. Just the material cost. Being me and stupid and a n00b I agreed handed it over. Then shortly afterwards he said oh no it was a near miss and if i could give him the same amount again in materials it woulod work so I did again. He said it failed so I had one last shot and guess what another fail. He then said all he could make was these basic clothes and said you can have them as compensation or I could go one last time for suit and me being greedy thought I gotta have another last throw of dice. I was promised all the way I would get it all back but just wasn't to be. I quit after this and came back to find he has left forever. I then in anger scammed a basic shirt by doing the clear before accept trick. Which I don't know who the person is as I ran away I do really regret it and now from time to time give free opalos out and free healings at NEAS I just hope my actions didn't make him quit the game for good.

It is really nice to see all these posts helping people out. Please DO NOT scam as you will end up regretting it later on and drive away all your fellow entropians.

Good Luck and keep the posts flying in to stop these thiefs!!

KeynesAlley said:

Here's one I've been hearing a lot about lately.

No graduation unless you pay for it.


NOTE: Some mentors never release their disciples, no matter what. So their disciples will never be able to get disciples or use chips.

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You can in fact start mentoring as soon as you get to level 1 in any profession i was still a disciple myself when i got my first disciple
*sry this has already been posted by Lars

one thing i have noticed and is really startn to tick me off,is how some ppl seems to be selln certain items between 2 avas thru the auction @high markup so they can sell again to some1 else for the new to high price.The big prob is some ppl believe the market value graph and start payn or askn that price.
Most of the time its not so bad, but when i spend weeks/months lookn for a rare item only to find it has jumped to 5 times the price in the 3 days before some1 comes up and tries to sell me for an outragous price,i can't help but wonder if this guy saw my ad last week and screwed with the prices hoping i would get desperate and pay .

i dunno if this belongs here but i consider any1 doing this to be a scammer.

just wanted to post this here warning people about a site that is being advertised ingame...

someone is advertising a hof finder at this url..

http://XXXXXXX.bravehost.com/

be advised that this program is nothing more than a key logger

Superhal said:

The Psychology of Scamming

First of all, most scammers are not bad people. They are stupid people. They fell for a scam, and thus refuse to believe they are that stupid. Therefore, they try to catch somebody else with the same scam to make themselves feel less stupid.

If you have ever been the target of a scam attempt, often the scammer will screw up the trick and try for a do over. ("Oh wait wait wait!" or "Ha ha, you're too smart for that one eh?" being most common.)

There are actually very few true scammers. In reality, there are thousands of stupid people catching each other with the same tired tricks over and over again, thus, like a virus, expanding the number of scams being perpetuated. Imho, they are so stupid they can't even see the criminality of the act. There is only a little bit of vocabulary protecting them from being arrested for theft, which is the difference between an item and a virtual item. A virtual item can have value, and thus if it is stolen, you should be persecuted under the same laws that rule shoplifting or fraud. That the law only covers physical items is temporary and is bound to change, especially as virtual items start costing thousands of dollars.

So, the next time somebody tries to scam you, don't get mad. Feel sorry for the little bugger who wasn't sharp enough to figure out what happened to them first. I'm usually polite and say "Sorry you fell for that, but it won't work on me. Try somebody else." In general, this makes them feel 100X worse.

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First of all scammers are smart ppl who try to scam idiots, the idiots are the ones that let them be scammed, The scammers are smart to be able to do that, I'm no scammer and I think that if ppl are such foolish that can be scammed, by trading ect.. that's their own fault, Scammers got nothing better to do, ITs what they can what they only can. lol

jambon said:

just wanted to post this here warning people about a site that is being advertised ingame...

someone is advertising a hof finder at this url..

http://hoffinder.bravehost.com/

be advised that this program is nothing more than a key logger

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Good idea to post such a link (which isnt in use anyway)