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Scamming Noobs, right section?

Xoshua

Xoshua

Hatchling
Joined
Mar 2, 2009
Posts
4
Hell all! Not sure if this was the right section but I'll try. Today at 10:08 am (Mountain Time), a person was caught red handed trying to scam new players. I started talking to the individual and took some screens of what was going on. They were trying to tell new players they could upgrade their armor from nothing, for a certain number of PED's. For example, shogun -> angel.
Just a heads up.
 
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the link to !!!!!!!!!!! wont work, i think you need to upload the photo onto this forum to link it in a post.
 
Yes, this scam has unfortunately returned.

One of my disciples was scammed of a very large amount from one of these scammers. I will release scammers names by pm so this thread isn't closed, just pm me if you want to know.

I tried myself to get as much evidence with screenies but fraps let me down :mad:

Usually it works even if I start it after launching entropia but this time it didn't for some reason. Anyways they will take as much as they can, they won't stop at just the nice bit of armour, they charge a commision fee aswell! This time they are much nastier than before and we can help to stop this. Once enough scammer names have been collected I will make a public online list of scammers on a separate website.

Obviously not any name goes on there you need to send evidence such as a screenshot to prove etc. also so that people don't put other people on there for a joke.

PM me!
 
By all means feel free to discuss how the scams work and how to avoid them, its better that the noobs know what to look out for.

But notice rule:
2.13 - Scamming Accusation
Accusations of "scamming" that name specific Entropia Universe avatars or EntropiaForum members are NOT permitted. Such threads or posts will be edited, deleted or locked without notice. For more info on the purpose of this rule, please see this thread: Rationale for the "no naming and shaming" forum rule.
Click to expand...

So I've edited the name out of the thread to keep the thread open.

Carry on.
 
I suggest that the screen shots are forwarded to MA.
If MA then Lock the account, or not, I can't say. However failing to do it will result in nothing happening, so there is no harm in doing it.

As an aside, if there is anyone out there who wishes to test them self to see if they are a potential "scam" victim, simply give me 500 EFD, and I will PM a questionnaire "how gullible are you?" Answer the questions contained, PM the results back to me and I will give you your "gullibility Quotient."
 
I never understand why you cant list the name.... its like scammer protection.... Guess it pays to scam since you cant let the patrons of EF know and I can just deny in game if I was a scammer.
 
Yes, there was an attempt to scam one of my soc mates recently as well. In this instance it was an offer to copy their armor(he has Ghost), and take the copy and "upgrade" it to Nemesis.
Luckily he asked in soc chat, and we told him to take screen shots and report the scammer.
I even recognized the name. This same person ran into me, and I guess they didn't think I was new enough to fall for the armor scam, so they just begged for PED. This was around a month or more ago though... so I don't understand why they are still floating around...

I think the best thing a new player can do is find a good soc, or at least one experienced player on their FL to ask about any too good to be true deals.
 
LeWolf86 said:
I never understand why you cant list the name.... its like scammer protection.... Guess it pays to scam since you cant let the patrons of EF know and I can just deny in game if I was a scammer.
Click to expand...

There were long and very detailed discussions about this.
Ultimately the reasons to forbid naming names are stronger.

Just as a brief example some of the reasons behind it:
Scammers would change their avatars so quickly that any list is bound to be incomplete.
Also a scammer could use the list to see if his identity was unveiled, so a list with names helps the scammer more than the victims.
Proof is so easily fakeable that if naming names is allowed it would be easy to slander a not guilty player, who would maybe not even be able to redeem the good name.
Moderators of EF are pushed in to the role of judges, which takes too much time and the overall moderation would suffer.

The best approach is to educate players about scamming methods independent of any actual/real cases, so they don't fall for a scam no matter who they deal with.
 
Well, educating about the scam methods does not always work.

I'm aware of some common methods used by scammers but then yesterday I became a scam victim :(

While trading in Twin Peaks trying to sell some ME, a guy appeared and took 5000 ME without paying any peds for them. :censored: There was strange lag during the first attempt for confirmation - we could chat, but the trade was not finalized for over 1 minute after clicking confirm and accept. Then we made the trade operation again - i clicked twice and it appeared that ME was sold, but the ped was taken away of the window before the confirmation. No PED for me, and no ME in my inventory :censored:

The guy said something like - it's lag, lets change the city and relog - then jumped into the TP. Couldn't find him anymore, of course.

I knew that such type of scam exist but that didn't help me at all.
I don't exactly know how the "lag" was created. I guess it's because he was trying to withdraw his peds from the window during the operation or something. But his second attempt was successful - he got both the goods and his ped back from the trade operation :rolleyes:

So what could i do after the scam? I was caught offguard, became a victim, now what? Made a support case, added couple of lousy screenshots. Remembered the full nick of the scammer. But how can i warn the other players about that trade scammer? I'll be more careful in the future (if i'm smart) but what about the other naive avatars? What about the scammer, walking aroung unpunished for his ugly deeds, with other people's money in his pockets?

What can be done about that?
 
Sorry to hear your lament.
A bit off main topic but thought I'd spend some time with some variables


Al please make a support case to MA with full avatar names

I hope you got a time when this happened or better still a series of screenies as MA will check records.

But then again who's to say you were just settling a debt, I guess its you against he or she.

Difficult it seems, I have had the lag issue on a trade and never lost a ped but it is possible with packet loss.

I once had a trade where I thought this happened and behold the item landed way down in my inventory window, had to eat my words on that one after scrolling down; fortunately it was someone I knew very well.

Have you many lag issues? or do you have some issues with the puter that may impede performance leading to instability in game ...I found this helpful in containing some of the inconsitencies of my system whilst playing EU....eg lots of yellow messages and patches of what seemed to be lag >>> see link.
http://www.windvis.com/using-a-partition-for-your-swap-file

Best of luck:)
 
Nah, it was not ordinary lag. My comp is ok and my connection too. Neither it was lost items or ped in the inventory windows. That was the first thing I checked several times. No way i have debts to a person i'm meeting for the first time too. It was 100% scam. You know one when you see it. Total loss - 5000 ME. :(

Support case is already made of course, shortly after the scam with full explanation and 1-2 screenshots - one with the full name of the scammer and one with the date and time. It's MA's turn now.

It's not something that i can't live through, but that crap is utterly unpleasant. :sigh:
 
LeWolf86 said:
I never understand why you cant list the name.... its like scammer protection.... Guess it pays to scam since you cant let the patrons of EF know and I can just deny in game if I was a scammer.
Click to expand...

Garrett MrEarth Clark SCAMMED ME!!! He is a scammer! Don't ever trust him EVER! False of course

Just trying to make a point, just delete rather than close pls.

LeWolf86 = Garrett MrEarth Clark
 
As a side note, i wonder.

If EU was less dynamic, in the sence that profit was easier gained, would the scamming attempts be less, because now everyone can find legit ways to profit, or would the scamming attempts reach an all time high due to more people with more peds being less cautious about their precious peds?

// Exo
 
if you fall for that (upgrade armour) scam it is perhaps better that you were being scammed..
How ignorant can you be?

@AL Killmore - Seems you really got victim to someone who is exploiting failures in the game mechanics.
I know that MA is not very active against scammers, even if you have the proof. So gl m8!
 
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When I was brand new to the game (within a month), I was scammed out of 1000 ped. I did not know anyone except 2-3 people on my FL, and was approached by someone after I made over $100 USD deposit. This guy appeared out of nowhere (I had not told anyone I had deposited anything) and tells me that he is quitting the game, and will give me all his skill for free, I just need to supply the chip (15 or 18 ped ESI) and like 30 Neopsion Implants ( I forget exact amount but it totaled to pretty much every penny I had just deposited. . I asked the one person on my FL who was online if this is good idea and he promptly disconnected without answering. Now I had to decide on my own. This guy approached me out of the blue, minutes after i just depo'ed over 1000 peds.

Being so new, and the fact that there was no guide to the game, I decided to go forward with it, but was "smart" enough to screenshot the transaction and chat session showing him telling me i will get the skills in exchange. I thought I was covered, I say to myself: "If this is scam, I will easily be able to prove it with the screenshots".

It turned out to be a scam. I sent to MA a support case, they say "all trade are final". I was pissed at them, still am really. Any idiot with a few working brain cells can read what he said in the transcript and clearly see he was scamming and taking advantage of my lack of knowledge about the EU.

Now I often wonder how that guy knew to approach me at the exact time I had made a deposit, and had not told anyone I had PED, not even those few on my FL. I often wonder if maybe it was someone who is/was working for the company who did this to me. Maybe it is just paranoia, but this guy sure seemed to know I had peds to be scammed out of...

In any case, it was a very unpleasant incident and i nearly quit the game at that time, after it became clear that MA was not going to do anything about it. I was angry with them because I knew that all they had to do was view the chat log, and the trade log to see that this was a clear scam and they could simply freeze his assets and return my peds or items. It does take them several days/weeks to cash someone out, after all.. And the only item he had that he could have sold was the ESI, the other stuff ( Neopsion Implants) which made up the bulk of the $$ was tt food. So at worst I would have lost like 15$ if they could not recover the ESI.

I was very embarrassed at my own ignorance, but was more pissed at MA's lack of support.
 
Scam.

I have encounterd one of those scamming noobs... I reported it to Simon the guide.

I guess that the old manual for how to perform this scam is still out on the web. Maybe the scammers should update their links.. :/
 
I met a new player a couple days ago, he asked some questions about what residue is etc.

then all of a sudden he asked me what to do to color his armour. :eek:
well i gave him some free tipps after that

armour cant be colored
armour cant be upgraded
dont give anyone your items without collateral
be careful, some ppl might try to trick you to get your stuff

if you want to help new players go spread some free tips :wise:
 
Good examples of scams here.. But the oldest one in the book and even some experienced players fall for it at times.

'Do you want to be my mentor'? or 'Will someone be my mentor?'

First of all, i had no goddamn idea what a mentor is when i joined the game.. Not for a week.. By the time i learnt about it, i had enough skills not to be able to become anyone's mentor

After chatting with some of these scammers, i have known that they are mostly from China, Russia, Central Asian Republics, Lithuania, Croatia, Yugoslavia and Romania. They mostly target you in New Oxford, Port Atlantis and TI.

The way they operate is, that they will make an avatar, ask you to be thier mentor, and request you for a gun and ammo.. Hell they might even fire a few shots just to win their confidence... Then they will TT all they got from you and deposit it with their leader scammer.. I think one person can easily pull 10+ such scams each day.. if a mentor gives them an average of 20 peds worth of guns and ammo, it's easily 200+ PEDs/ day or 6k per month which translates into USD 600 which is more than most of them make in 2-3 months irl.

Just my two cents.
 
Skam said:
By all means feel free to discuss how the scams work and how to avoid them, its better that the noobs know what to look out for.
Click to expand...

Yes what Skam said:

scams.jpg
 
Cool a section for scamming noobs:yay:

I'm a scamming Nub, i can offur Armur culoring, uprade wepon and armur wiht machine , and can give you free skilz if yu buy me skill implant. :silly2:

Warning- All these are real scams - noobs beware
 
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