Ok it must be me but...

I love how people look at this and say this game is wrong for allowing this while in RL it happens all the time go to any bank and they wil offer you a interest as long as you drop your money in there account.

Yes i know we have rules against it but it still happens the scale is bigger and it happens to not stick out so much, why do you think most goverments around the world had to drop a shit load of money in the bank a few year ago ??

The same thing the banks where using your money and losing it all over the place  so when they ran out we ran into the problem that all the money was gone and the population would have revolted if they found that out so the goverment dropt money in there money they got by taxation so the banks lost your money and then got more of your money to not go bankrupt.

So we the tax payer got screwed twice and we dont even seem to care.

And dont let me get starten about the stock exchange where they trade futures !

Look it up and be amazed about the way they make money without ever having to play ( as long as they are fast enough).

Also the way the cost of goods are raised without ever doing anything with them by buying low and selling high.(on average the pice of common goods goes up 20% between production and getting to a factory)

While your looking also check the word "resale" buying stuff marking it up and selling it.

And this is all legit.

But finely remember this is only a game and it is nowhere near to RL where we do have rules agains it.  :)

Lmao...

It's the first thing you learn in EVE, only trust your Reallife friends and nobody els.

If you want isk;  Earn it by hard working ;) or get trashed by scammers..

Originally posted by Xondar123

In real life there are laws against stuff like this. The fact that no such laws exist in the EVE universe means that EVE is actually lawless.

I can't see this as being anything other than a black mark against EVE, at least where the non-hardcore player is concerned.

 

The game has its rules, thankfully none that completly cater to the gullible and reckless

I kinda dislike it when gov blocks natural selection and saves the stupid on every turn they make

Regardless of  who "may" have deserved what and when, hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet to make snide and insensitive remarks only reinforces the fact there is a problem with the modern gaming community. 

It doesn't matter if you are playing a game or staring someone down face to face in RL; you are still a responsible human being. Act like one. 

I was pretty amazed anyone pulled something like this off.  With all the constant scams of this nature that go on in Eve.

People got to learn in Eve you must play smart and careful.

LOL @ eve tracking all large transactions..... I giggle anytime one of these come up as I made over 12k off RMT playing it since beta and quit sold it all in bulk. Screw eve, its so restricted now and no fun for me. I perfer my mustang and new TV it bought me for all my time wasted.

Originally posted by Maelkor

Better for fools to learn this lesson with virtual money than with RL money.

 This was my thought too.

Games, after all, are not supposed to be just about wasting time.  They are also able to teach.  Sometimes they teach us skills, coordination, to plan, to think of alternate strategies.

In this case it taught people about scams.

So... maybe next time these folks get an email from a Nigerian 'Banker' asking them to invest $500 of real money for a $10,000 return they will stop and engage their brain.

I would say these guys taught a lot of people a very valuable lesson at a very cheap price.

didnt some guy open a bank in Eve & then steal all the money in the end a while back also ? I think he got away with quite a large chunk of cash.

Originally posted by ormstunga

...and those who are industrious and looking to set up economic systems etc and play it that way cant safely do so =) While sandbox is amazing for freedom and meta game, its also vulnerable to griefing etc. Just a thought =)

 

 Incidents like this scam would not prevent a determined industrialist or enterpreneur from being very successful in EVE. Despite how harsh it sounds, the reality is it was very foolish for anyone to "invest" with these cons. Do I condone what they did? Absolutely not. Do I think CCP condones it? Again, negative. They have just created a universe where "evil" like this can actually happen, not just some unoriginal, scripted "Evil Emperor takes over the galaxy" hoo-rah that so many other games toss at us. Ya know, EVE is Real and all that jazz.

However, that being said, I am avidly opposed to RMTs in all their forms, so if these guys use this illicit activity to obtain real world cash, I think there should be repercussions for THAT, not necessarily for them relieving fools of their ISK. I firmly believe RMTs are a bane to what game developers, publishers, and gamers all invest so much into.

This isn't even close to the biggest EvE scam ever, not in real dollars. It still doesn't beat Cally's 800 bill, at a time when 790 billion was worth $170,000 US dollars.

These guys final pull was just over a trillion, but only worth 1/3 of Dentara's haul.

GHSC did it first, and everyone's been out to top them since. GHSC publically applaudes people who do it, but only if they do it on their main ( a requirement to join their corporation in fact is that you pull a scam first on your main, then your main can join).

Ricdic may be the bank scam you're thinking of, as it was fairly recent, but his haul was 200 bill which he cashed out for $6500 AUS to pay his son's medical bills, which were real, unlike Cally/Dentara's.

Cally was called out by Currin, and couldn't produce transaction logs to prove it wasn't a ponzi. She logged out for a week, then staged trickling info about how she was litterally hit by a bus, but would get back soon, blah blah. Turns out HE was picked up at Her Majesty's Pleasure (jail). Then he ran with all the cash.

Originally posted by Czanrei

Regardless of  who "may" have deserved what and when, hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet to make snide and insensitive remarks only reinforces the fact there is a problem with the modern gaming community. 

It doesn't matter if you are playing a game or staring someone down face to face in RL; you are still a responsible human being. Act like one. 

I remember being called the N-word because my character was dark...way back in Ultima Online. 

Nothing new under the sun.

Any games rules are irrelevent under any country's law where the rules say one thing and the law says another, the law wins. As the in game money has real life money worth, it is conceivable that a country's fraud laws could apply to this kind of happenstance. It would need a test case. Or to be more exact a prosecuting authority willing to take any complaint of this nature seriously. Some countries like Korea may well take this seriously, though whether they have jurisdiction is another question. I guess it depends where the scammers are based. Alternatively there is where the game company is based. The company could be accused of aiding and abetting said fraud, perhaps they wouldn't be criminally liable but it could be argued in a civil court...

Originally posted by Xondar123

In real life there are laws against stuff like this. The fact that no such laws exist in the EVE universe means that EVE is actually lawless.

I can't see this as being anything other than a black mark against EVE, at least where the non-hardcore player is concerned.

A bunch of guys put out this "official sounding" statement promising that if people give them some money ("invest") they'll get back a return on it.

That right there should have set off a red-flag for anyone... I'm assuming it did for most.

Hell, I've never even gotten that deep into the game, and *I* realize that there's no binding laws in that game, where those people would be forced to keep their word. There's no 'contracts' or anything of that sort. There's no repercussions for scammers, other than a ruined rep... which they probably don't care about.

People willingly handed over their money to an "organization" whom they had absolutely no reason nor precedent to trust or hold to their word. They simply assumed they would.

They did it - as others have stated - out of greed; likely out of the promise of "getting more money back without having to earn it themselves".

So, they ignored the warning signs, saw $$$ instead, and it cost them.

Lesson learned and perhaps next time they won't be so gullible.

If you see it in local, it is always a scam. It doesn't matter if it's a contract, investment scheme, offer to help, free blowjob advertisement or your mom logged on to get you to come down to dinner. IF IT'S IN LOCAL, IT IS ALWAYS A SCAM.

Originally posted by WhySoShort

Gee, why wouldn't I want to play a game that celebrates criminality? 

You mean games like WoW that encourage and reward racist genocide?

I love these long scams that people pull off in Eve.  That is one of the coolest things about that game.

ROTFLMAO!! Good for you guys! Now don't be stupid and try to ebay that ISK, and you will not end up perma banned like the fellow who ran the galactic bank scam. 

Originally posted by rtbbvr

I'm not sure that they can't spend the ISK. EVE doesn't have a policy against scammers.

Exactly correct. This will no doubt be ruled totally legitimate by the GM's/Dev's(as it should be).  Fools and their money are soon parted. One would think that after the various scams over the years, that people woul have at least *some* common sense. 

Originally posted by Xondar123

In real life there are laws against stuff like this. The fact that no such laws exist in the EVE universe means that EVE is actually lawless.

I can't see this as being anything other than a black mark against EVE, at least where the non-hardcore player is concerned.

 

 What some people don't want to acknowledge is that scamming, con-schemes, whatever separates you from your isk are as valid a form of PvP as gang bang gate camps or suicide ganks.   And I absolutely agree with someone who posted the remark that victims of scammers are usually greedy people and therefore deserve to be scammed.  The way I like to say it is that Every mark deserves his conman. 

I figured out in the market in old Everquest what the real meaning of greed is.  Some people think that if I invent something valuable or go out and kill some badass mob that drops something valuable and I set a price on it that you can't afford, that makes me greedy.  Those people are wrong.  If you want something that you don't have the skills to invent or the skills to defeat the mob that drops it but I do and you want me to sell it to you at a price that you set that I don't agree with, I being the one who invested the time to develop the necessary skills, it is you who are greedy, wanting something before you have a right (through earning) to possess it.

And once we agree on a price, if you find a way to get it cheaper later, don't cry to me about cheating you and I won't cry about being cheated by you if I find someone willing to pay even more than you did.  The fact that we agreed on a price when the item exchanged hands means the price was a fair price at that moment.

EVE lawless?  the laws of EVE are Darwinian.  Stupidity is injurious, extreme stupidity is fatal.  But if you are lucky , then you will discover what I have, That which kills us makes us stronger.

What does that phrase non-hardcore player mean?  if you aren't in EVE because you like what it offers to all level of player, then you should find some non-hardcore game to play instead.

Originally posted by Xondar123

In real life there are laws against stuff like this. The fact that no such laws exist in the EVE universe means that EVE is actually lawless.

I can't see this as being anything other than a black mark against EVE, at least where the non-hardcore player is concerned.

You mean like the laws that allow the big banks to make very risky investments, pocket the profits, and dump their losses on the tax players?...  There are two BASIC rules to remember in EVE. One, Trust No One.  Two, don't fly what you can't afford to replace.