Known WOW Scams to avoid

[Daemonetta]

Any chance of a Sticky for this?

As i promised the other day, a quick list of known WOW in-game scams to watch out for.

Feel free to add any others you come across.

And to save Splishy having to add it later;
Any Guild Member abusing this information (i.e. trying to do it themselves) will be swiftly Guild kicked.

As i'm actually busy at work for once, i've ripped this from a blog but the original work is here:
http://relmstein.blogspot.com/2006/10/wow-...s-to-avoid.html

The Quick Switch Scam
The scammer will offer to sell you an item for a very good price. He will come to you and open the trade window and actually put the item into it. Then as you are gathering the agreed upon low price he will switch the item out with another junk item that has the same icon. The scammer is hoping in your hurry to get the item for the low price that you will quickly hit trade and not notice the switch.

My experience:
I've only ever had this happen once to me back when I was a new to the game and I recognized the switch. The seller claimed he was just fooling around and had changed his mind on selling the item. I think this scam is widely recognized now and only those new to the game are being targeted. On most servers this scam is out of practice but may still be used by the occasional asshat trying to get an extra buck.

How to Avoid:
-Don't doing any trading when your tired. Scammers depend on either greed or lack of attention to make money
-Avoid responding to private tells trying to sell you an item. Most scammers are recognized in trade channel so they tend not to advertise there.
-Be careful of buying items from low level alts.

The Runaway Crafter Scam
Someone offers to make an item for you if you can provide the materials. After you give them the materials they either sell them or send them to their main character using the mailbox. In either case they probably put you on their ignore list as soon as the trade was done and plan on quickly logging off. This is the base scam in World of Warcraft and is comparably to grabbing the money from a cash register and running. But just like in the real world such obvious thievery has strict consequences. Usually people who engage in a crafter scam will gain a reputation so bad that whenever they log on people will make a comment in the general chat channel.

My Experience:
This one actually got me once when I was a playing a young hunter and wanted a pair of barbaric bracers made. The person faked a disconnect and when I caught back up to him claimed he would send it in the mail when he could be bothered to make it. Usually crafter scammers rely on a strategy like faking a disconnect so that their reputation decays more slowly. At least once every two weeks I hear about someone getting ripped off by people in this manner.

How to Avoid:
-Only have level 60 characters in real guilds make items for you. They have too much work in their character to risk being kicked out of a guild because of running scams.

The Auction House Price Hike Scam
These scammers have patience and rely on their victims making a simple mistake when purchasing items from the auction house. The scam usually involves putting a commonly used up item in the AH for a decent bid price but with a outrageous gold buyout price. The scammer usually makes sure the auction appears either at the top of the item list or in the middle of a group of properly priced items. Then they sit back and hope that someone buying a large amount of the commonly used items won't be paying attention and accidentally buy their outrageously priced item.

My Experience:
This scam is always in existence. Just look up the commonly used potions, cloth, and crafting materials in the auction house.

How to Avoid:
-Don't buy things from the Auction House late at night when you're tired.

The C.O.D Scam
The scammer will mail an item to a player and make sure its wrapped up so it can't be identified and request that the player pay for it. There are some variations of the scam which can be more tempting then others.

One method is when they pretend that they mistakenly sent an item to you instead of a fellow guildmember. Usually in the email they claimed the wrapped package is a crafted epic item and they are just requesting the COD as a tip. If the COD price is low enough like 5gp you be suprised how many people would take the item.

Another method I've heard of is including a small amount of gold in the mail message so one might accidentally accept the COD amount in the rush to get the gold.

My Experience:
Never actually had it happened to me but I've seen both screenshots and know of several friends who have received unexpected packages in the mail with COD attached to them.

How to Avoid:
-Don't accept items unless you know the person who sent them.
-If its too good to be true then it probably is. Don't be stupid

The WTB Scam
This scam is more involved then others but seems to trick a lot of people especially when the scammer is making disposable alt characters to do the advertising. Basically the scammer puts a rare but cheap to make item that might be used in a quest up in the auction for a high buyout. Then they log onto an alt and start advertising they want to buy the item for double the price listed in the auction house. The idea is that someone will get greedy and buy their item from the auction house and attempt to sell it to the disposable alt character. Of course the scammer has no attention of buying the item and will refuse to accept any real offers.

My Experience:
Seen it being done a couple of times. The last time was a blacksmith who had listed a moonsteel broadsword for 25gp in the auction house. He then had a series of alts advertise to buy a moonsteel broadsword for 50gp. Eventually one idiot bought the sword then spent the rest of the day trying to track the person down who wanted to buy it.

How to Avoid:
-Never pay more then something is worth in hopes you can sell it at a higher price.
-If its too good to be true then it probably is. Don't be stupid

These scams are sort of old and I believe the majority of them only happen rarely now. However, new ones are developed daily as a lot of people get off on the anonymous nature of the internet. Remember the main advice to avoid being scammed is to be cautious and avoid being tricked by greed. Most won't be sympathetic if you fall for a scam and there are very few punishments for scammers besides reputation loss. As far as I know most GMs will do nothing to retrieve lost property from scams which depend on human error. In fact the only time I've heard of them banning a scammer was when someone was mass mailing people with the COD scam. Apparently it was mainly because they use a bot to do it with and not that they were actually sending out the packages.
posted by Relmstein @ 12:25 PM    

8 Comments:
At 6:49 PM, Saylah said…

I got hit once the AH price scam. I was buying up leather late at night one stack was priced at 99g instead of 99s. I was pissed at myself and the person.

I noted their name then proceeded to warn ppl in general chat, my guild and post on the guild forums so others would be more careful. Since then - months ago now, this scam has increased greatly on our server. I see it often. The scam seems glaring to me now. Sucks that I got caught that one time, when now it seems so obvious.

As you said, just watch what you're doing. Read the fine print, aka buy-out price and dont rush when you're tire.

 
 
At 8:01 AM, Relmstein said…


I've been caught by the crafter scam once when I was just starting out and didn't know that guildless level 30 characters weren't the best guys to trust.

 
At 4:26 AM, Andrea said…

I got hit by the Runaway Crafter Scam, in a pretty bad way. I shelved over the mats for the +9 int enchant, 12 Greater Eternal Essences and 2 Large Brilliant Shards. The guy ran off, claiming he forgot his enchanting rod, handily passed by a mailbox, then logged off and actually deleted the character (a level 60 warrior). I should have been more careful when I saw him, naked but for his guild tabard, but I thought he was just messing around.

In any case, I wrote a ticket to the GMs, and by the next morning, they had restored all my mats to me. Now I am only ever doing business with guild crafters or those from reknowned guilds.

 
At 6:28 AM, Anonymous said…

Method to avoid buyouts of 99g.

Buy volume goods with an alt that only carries 30 of 40 gold. I keep some gold in the mailbox if i need to top up. Works as you cant pay the BO price so mistake prevented.

Another another scam.
20 Runecloth Evilseller 1.80
20 Runecloth Evilseller 1.80
2  Runecloth Evilseller 1.80
20 Runecloth Evilseller 1.80
20 Runecloth Evilseller 1.80

Did you spot it

 
At 10:21 PM, Anonymous said…

I actively fight against the 99g scams by bidding on them. Bid slightly above legit auctions, preferably above 1g, and others are less likely to be sucked in. Almost invariably the scammers cancel their auctions rather than letting you win, and they lose more money that way (deposit plus and 5% cut of final bid).

One way to avoid being tricked is to install Auctioneer, which allows sort by total buyout/buyout per item as well as the standard sort by total bid. You need to scan the auction house first, but that's time well spent if you're buying in bulk anyway.

 
At 12:15 AM, Anonymous said…

I am a scammer...there said it out in open.So now u ask y? Well Imade to date 13,210g just off scams.And now Im retiring, well in reality Imtired of wow. Anyway to help all you potential victims here is a scam that got me most of my gold ...... I make two alt lv 1 characters. take them both to a cit y,ex in this case SW. Make them have almost identical names by just a letter off.Then I make one alt end the other and letter for a made up code say like this CtrG6hTYand send it to the other alt. Then the alt that receives this letter makes a copy and starts hawing on the chat screen that I am seeling a code for a turtle mount that you can buy in BootBay for anywhere from 100-150 gold. Sooner or later a lv 70 noob takes the bait and trades with me. I smooth talk him and tell him that when he trades the money for the code ( worhtless gibberish in reality) I will give him my mains name. ( However the night before I research a lv 70 and give that name to him provided that real lv 70 is not online at the momnet) They usually trade with me after I say this . As soon as they do I go to a mail box send the letter to my first alt and then log off and delete the alt I was just using. Then i take the gold now in the hands of the first alt and send it to my main. I then delete that alt. I go to my main and waste about 4-7g on anything and then logoff.I come back online about 10-13 hours later and i continue to play on. Blizzard can trace me and my balance of gold does not macth my alts gold amouth that they sent me. This scam takes time to work out but it invovles the scammer to plead with the victim to trust and to belive in his/her tale of being scammed themselves.

Anyway that was one of the many classic scams out there. Now enjoy wow I dont care if you hate me but hey at least I am gving you a warning. Enjoy wow !_!

 
At 2:23 AM, Anonymous said…

best way to avoid a scam is to know it urself here is a forum that tells ppl how to scam

www.mmowned.com/forums/wow-scams/

use the info here to avoid scams and not do them.

[Splishy]

Moved and stickied - cheers Daemonetta

[Elendor]

another wise piece of advice. If anything sounds too good to be true. It probably is, keep that in mind.
also another way to get by the runaway crafter scam, check the roster to see if a guildee can make the item, if noone can and there is a recipe for it sold by an npc, buy the recipe and give it to a guildee that can use it then ask if they wouldn't mind making you the item provided you have the materials.

[Jaxc]

one doesnt work anymore the:

put a common sold thing at ah at very high price, since it sorts after BO now not bid

[TomTheWizard]

another wise piece of advice. If anything sounds too good to be true. It probably is

Real hustle eh?

[Elendor]

Real hustle eh?

the quote goes for alot of things in life. if you believe every good thing you hear then you'll end up being taken advantage of. Example. you buy a labeled brand item of clothing from a stall/carboot sale, you take it home to wash and it shrinks in the wash because the product is a counterfeit.
Or someone offers to sell you a really cheap HD TV set/PS3 console, what they don't tell you is they or someone they know stole it from a family home leaving the occupants emotionally scarred for life and now very paranoid about leaving anything in view of the public and so on.

None of this has happened to me personally because i'm cautious when it comes to money, but it has happened to alot of people in many different ways, someone you know may have had something simular happen to them i.e. bought a brand new video game from a stall/carboot to find that when it gets home to try it out it doesn't work, upon further examination of the blurry text box and the fake licenced logos it becomes clear that what has been bought was a fake although at the stall they showed the real box. Scams like this happen alot in rl and often they travel from place to place scamming a new area every time then every so often return a couple of months down the line sometimes with a different person on the stall.

I actually spotted one of these Video games cons once. i'm good at spotting a fake Video game easily, the tell tales are: Wrong box art, American address on the back of the box and the thing on the front of the box which in our games has a number + instead has "T" instead which for some games, GB, PS2. GC and afew others will not work on a pal machine unless you have a cartridge or cd that allows you to play imports. but this product is no import but a counterfiet, if you ask the seller if the game is UK (Pal) standard, they of course will reply "Yes" i did this once when i spotted one so i then asked the stall person "then if this game is english Pal, then why does it have the american rating, Canada adress on the box and blurry text on the box" to which point the person shooed me away from his stall, i had a good mind to report him to the trading authorities. but i'm not one for meddling.

[Matias]

thanks guys, i've fallen for a couple of these (when i was a mere noob  ). I just hope anyone old or new to the game learns about these before they start being fooled.

ta,  
 
   Mati

[TomTheWizard]

WOTLK BETA

does not exsist, anything to do with a WOTLK beta will be 99.9% fake atm. If you get an email about it or goto a website... chances are its fake!

[Jaxc]

dunno if its already in here but the

hyperwarrior:<GM> we will need your account name and pasword because we suspect that..... you get the point

[Distour]

Dunno if it's been stated on this forum before but one notorious scammer that left the server once but has returned is Beyon, I heard a few nights ago that he's got some other char as well so you might not only b eable to go for the name but be careful. He has stolen materials etc from too many people in his career and sold it in the AH etc for his own profit.

If you want a crafter then I'd first do as stated above, to check within the guild if anybody can make it, if not then if you want to be safe then check within other guilds with good reputations, it doesn't have to be the top guild of the server but usually more "serious" guilds keep a good check of who they let in and who they don't.
If you still can't find any and start checking the /Trade channel then at least check the armory first to see if the one who replies at least has the right professions needed to help you.

That's all from me the doorf blabbermouth

[Jaxc]

beyon a scammer  i known that dude along time but i never kew that lol

[Elendor]

i've heard of Beyon, his reputation as an ass is probably know by many of the early players. everytime he's in the AH you see people spitting on him so much that the Chat log is full of [Playername] Spits on Beyon. the first time i saw this i was wondering what the heck was going on until several people informed me of his antics. Needless to say he isn't winning and friendship awards.

[Splishy]

I noticed that Beyon had returned last night. In all honesty if people can't find someone in either SoG or CdC who can craft what you need then ask in guild chat. A few of us know some very reputable people who have high end crafting patterns and I'm sure we'll be happy to point you in the right direction.

[TomTheWizard]

Just got many enchants including crusader, +100hp on chest, 7 agil on gloves and it goes on... didnt get scammed and all of the people who did them for me were very friendly.

[Elendor]

i got Greatdruid to craft some LW things for me way back when, i was a little hesitant at first not knowing him. but he's a very nice guy and not a scammer.

[Jaxc]

i know greatdruid too

<<375 enchanter

[TomTheWizard]

Im sure ive come accross Greatdruid somewhere xD
Such a small world... of warcraft!

[Splishy]

Just got many enchants including crusader, +100hp on chest, 7 agil on gloves and it goes on... didnt get scammed and all of the people who did them for me were very friendly.

You do know that

a ) I can do Crusader and
b ) Crusader doesn't really scale past 60

don't you?

[Elendor]

from what i can tell Mongoose is really popular these days.

[TomTheWizard]

Yes splish, you were away that day, and it wasnt for a char of mine past 60.