Runescape: Avoiding the Scammers
MMORPG.com Runescape Correspondent Fasail Baig has written this informative piece letting the game's players know how to avoid being the victim of a scam in-game.
Do you ever get the feeling that you are being cheated out of your money? Have you ever thought a deal was too good to be true? If you have, it probably is. Scamming is a big problem in the Runescape world. Greedy and lazy players will usually do anything to get money without actually doing any work. Don't be fooled by high levels acting nice. For almost all of us we have been scammed at least once, and if you haven't been yet - give it time. This guide will tell you how to avoid some of the common Runescape scams. First off, never rush trades. Scammers will always try to rush through the trading screens so that an inexperienced player will miss some very important points. Take your time check both screens. Whenever you make a trade for gold, always keep a few things in mind. When you sell something for, let's say 20k, which is 20,000gp it should say 20k as the trade window (20,000 gold). What a lot of people will do is put up 1000k which is a million GP then they will take off 900k. This makes 100k look like 1000k, now if you were rushing through trade screens you might overlook the missing zero. Another thing to look for is Runescape players trying to scam you by adding a 4 at the end of the number which looks almost like k. This is not used very much anymore, but again, if you were rushing through your trade you might miss it and get scammed. Now just remember to never rush through trade screens.
Hacking is also a big problem. To keep from losing your account, just follow a few things:
- Listen to Jagex. NEVER give your account password to anyone. And yes, this includes your best friend and your siblings. Just don't take the risk and you don't have to worry about it.
- Never listen to anyone who claims to be Jagex or Runescape staff and asks you for your password. Jagex has clearly stated that the will NEVER email you or ask for your password (they already have it, it's on their servers)
- Remember that everyone is a threat. A lot of hacking comes from a personal friend. As I said before, just don't take the risk.
- Create recovery questions and WRITE THEM DOWN. This is the easiest way to recover you account if you are hacked/forgot your password.
Another big issue is using Runescape autos or "cheats" like autominer or autotalk, bots, macros, hacks or any of the numerous Runescape cheats or things of that nature that you think at least in the beginning will make your Runescape tasks easier. These programs may look good, and may even work, but they are often trojans themselves that are designed to plant themselves in your computer to steal things like passwords to Runescape accounts, and sometimes even more important things. Remember when downloading anything related to Runescape, or really anything at all, you have the risk of downloading something called a keylogger or trojan, so it's best to run a firewall and anti-spyware and antivirus software at all times, and sometimes even these are not sufficient. A good antivirus/antispyware software is AVG Free, which can be downloaded (for no cost, as the name suggests) from http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afe.
A key logger will track your every move and every key you type on your computer without you knowing and more importantly will tell someone your passwords for Runescape if you don't remove it in time. Almost none of these autos really work, however, and you have an extremely high risk of being caught and banned. Simply don't try them, and you won't have to face the consequences.
Some commonly used scamming techniques you have to watch out for are:
Item Swap
Person A: Selling 5000 Yew logs for 100gp ea!! Person B thinks: *WOW, cheap!* Person B trades Person A Person A puts up 5,000 Yew logs, asking person B to hurry as they have to go. Person B puts up the money; Person A declines, and says "Oops" They trade again, Person B puts up the money, Person A puts up a DIFFERENT type of log; Person B accepts without checking the trade screen - Person B has been scammed, Person A logs out. This often occurs with logs, noted armor and weapons.
Armor Trimming
Mostly a trick for inexperienced players, where scammers ask players for their armor to trim, or to edge with gold to increase its value, and usually log out after trading it. There is no such thing as armor trimming. This is impossible, so don't fall for it.
One Selling, One Buying
This will often occur in a crowded marketplace, with friends teaming up to scam you. Here's how it works...
Person A and B are friends; Person C is a regular player. Person B: 'Selling Dragon Long 110k' Person A: 'Buying Dragon Long 150k!!' Person C thinks: *WOW! If I buy this from Person B for 110, and sell for 150k, I can make 40k profit!!!'* Person C: Trades Person B; buys Dragon Long; trades with Person A; Person A declines and logs off.
Password Blocked
One of the oldest tricks in the book.
Person A: Hey look! Jagex blocks your password: ****** (he/she just typed a bunch of asterisks) Person B: Wow cool! (types password) Person B finds out he was scammed and logs out to change his password, in which time Person A logs in to Person B's account and steals all of his/her items.
Item multiplier scam
Person A lures others to a quiet area Person A: I know a way to multiply your items! Drop your most valuable item on the ground, then press ""alt+F4" / "ctrl+W" / "Alt+F+C" / "Alt+Down arrow+Up arrow+Enter."(All of which are shortcuts to close the browser) Person B drops items and closes the browser/client. Person A waits to collect items.
There are many others to add to this list, most of which can be avoided with a little common sense.
In conclusion, be careful about what you download, never give out your password to ANYONE, and always look at both trade screens very carefully when trading.
