How to recognize scammers, and how to not get scammed?

[DrunkenAngel]

Hello guys. I just got scammed recently so I think it's really important for the innocent players to know how to prevent scammers. We made our gold by hard working, we dont want those people just take millions and millions of gold away. Im posting this topic here because im a noob at the forums so i wont be able to post it at general discussion. I hope people who are new to sro can read this, and the veteran players can add some stuff to my topic to make this topic a preventing scammer guide.

1. dont sell your item to strangers.
when u r in town, some people will ask u if u want to sell ur sos weapon, or anything for a really good price. for example, they will say:"35mil for ur sos weapon." DONT EVER trade with random people through EXCHANGE SYSTEM. if u do want to sell your item, OPEN A STALL INSTEAD, and ask the person to come to buy it in your stall. It's SAFE this way. If they dont come to ur stall, guess what, they are scammers. cuz during the exchange, they can change the price to a way lower price than how much ur item worth while distract you by make friend proposal, etc.

2. dont trust anybody too easily that u dont know in real life.
some people will make friends with u in game, and earn your trust. and then, guess what. they will scam you. for example, a lv90 guy gave me powerleveling couple times, and he was really nice. one day, he said he could plvl me for 8 hours straight, and asked me to pay him a huge amount of gold. i trusted him. i gave him the gold. a sec later, he got dc. next time when he log on, i asked for my gold. he deleted me from his friends list and blocked me. it's that simple, isnt it? im not telling u to not trust anybody in the game, cuz there are good and nice people. but u never know, right?

3. Be careful with plvling.
Pay every half hour. dont join the pt if everybody is in the same guild. dont join the pt with only 2 or 3 people and you can tell they are related by their names. be careful with people say "no 30mins".

4. ignore people trying to sell you silk.
500k gold for 250 silk???? u know that u r not lucky enough to get such a good deal.

5. be careful with the 1 gold items in a stall.
scammers can change 1 gold to a big amount while u r buying it from their stalls. so when u do buy stuff from people's stalls, make sure the stalls are open.

Thank you for reading. Please share your scam exp with everybody, and feel free to leave me any comments and suggestions.
We are living in the world full with scammers. Thats why we need to protect ourselves, and make friends we can trust

[DA_CAT]

and ppl who asks if u want 500mil for free...i know holding a sos+5 weapon catches alot of attention...so wen sum1 asks if u want 500mil for free or similar questions...dont believe it...

wen things are too good to be true, it is too good to be true

[BloodyBlade]

Good work mate, I learned some things from it =)

[streetrobban]

How did you get scammed?

I have never been scammed during my Silkroad career just by using common sense. Not trusting anybody that I dont know really well.

[Mirosuke]

I was scammed by a noob making a ong taxi lol

i was in a rush to kill a gp, then he cancelled the trade of gold for his taxi...
Hopefully i remebered the ammount of gold i had, so this is how i noticed..

[ieatpasta]

This is a really nice guide. You should share it in the guides section too.

and ppl who asks if u want 500mil for free...i know holding a sos+5 weapon catches alot of attention...so wen sum1 asks if u want 500mil for free or similar questions...dont believe it...

wen things are too good to be true, it is too good to be true

Actually one time, someone asked me if i wanted 100m for free, and I said ok. He gave it to me, and a bunch of other items. Then I asked why he give it to me, he said he hacked the character for revenge, and don't need the stuff on it. Kinda lucky? But I felt sorry for the guy who got hacked.

How did you get scammed?

I have never been scammed during my Silkroad career just by using common sense. Not trusting anybody that I dont know really well.

Not everyone is as intelligent as you. People of all ages play this game, and one person I know in my guild is about 9 years old. He is still growing and learning; and young boys and girls have fragile minds. Often they will believe what they hear, kind of like Santa. That is why it is our duty as elders to help the little ones grow smart and strong, so they don't run into trouble.

[Mephala]

i was scammed first time in 2 years.was my mistake.cause i had to leave home and i had 6h of ticket running.so i payed 3 mil for 3 hours of plvl in cave.the guy who made plvl took my gold and after 5 min he bann me.
so i lost 3 mil.
so i learned my lesson. better lose one day of premium if i can`t play it then pay for plvl....is 90% sure u will get scammed.
also never trust players who say they can copy your items.is 100% scamm to.but i guess this already all players know.
never trust someoen who show to you he made a weapon+7+8+9(maybe he buy it) and tell you "i can make one +7+8+9 for you" is 100% scammer.
and the last thing.don`t buy sun weapons cose u have huge oprtunity to lose your gold.with that money better try to make +9 r more +7 weapons..sell them.make money and when u think u have enough try to make your+9.
u don`t need a sun weapon a +9 can make a hell of a good dmg to.
good luck to all...and be vigilent

[washikaba]

somone told me they can plus 9 my weapong through a stall bug and for some REALLY dumb reason i believed it so old gullable me does it and turns out he ends up with my lvl 32 sos :( i was pretty pissed and embarassed i fell for something so retarded!

[washikaba]

So anything that sounds WAY too good to be true, probably is.

[DrunkenAngel]

and ppl who asks if u want 500mil for free...i know holding a sos+5 weapon catches alot of attention...so wen sum1 asks if u want 500mil for free or similar questions...dont believe it...

wen things are too good to be true, it is too good to be true

It happened to me couple times. What they do was taking you out of town, and ask you to set up a stall or sth. I dont know how will they scam by doing it. I was trying to figure out what they wanted to do, but I was tired of their poor English so I left. anyways, yeah, dont believe it. only idiot and scammer will give u 500mil for free. XD

[DrunkenAngel]

How did you get scammed?

I have never been scammed during my Silkroad career just by using common sense. Not trusting anybody that I dont know really well.

You are lucky and smart in game then. I didnt get scammed by all the method I listed, but a few of them. Im not shame to talk about it tho cuz i wanna other people to know better about scamming.

[DrunkenAngel]

I was scammed by a noob making a ong taxi lol

i was in a rush to kill a gp, then he cancelled the trade of gold for his taxi...
Hopefully i remebered the ammount of gold i had, so this is how i noticed..

Thats a really good tip actually. Thanks.
ALWAY REMEMBER HOW MUCH GOLD YOU HAVE BEFORE ANY EXCHANGE OCCUR. so at least, you can realize you that get scammed.

[DrunkenAngel]

This is a really nice guide. You should share it in the guides section too.

and ppl who asks if u want 500mil for free...i know holding a sos+5 weapon catches alot of attention...so wen sum1 asks if u want 500mil for free or similar questions...dont believe it...

wen things are too good to be true, it is too good to be true

Actually one time, someone asked me if i wanted 100m for free, and I said ok. He gave it to me, and a bunch of other items. Then I asked why he give it to me, he said he hacked the character for revenge, and don't need the stuff on it. Kinda lucky? But I felt sorry for the guy who got hacked.

How did you get scammed?

I have never been scammed during my Silkroad career just by using common sense. Not trusting anybody that I dont know really well.

Not everyone is as intelligent as you. People of all ages play this game, and one person I know in my guild is about 9 years old. He is still growing and learning; and young boys and girls have fragile minds. Often they will believe what they hear, kind of like Santa. That is why it is our duty as elders to help the little ones grow smart and strong, so they don't run into trouble.

Thanks. I will probably post it into the guides tutorials section after i gather everybody's experience and suggestions of scamming. I think my post is not mature enough to be a guide..
you are so lucky with the free 100mil. i wish i was lucky like that.
Wow, a 9 years old player? i wonder if he will totally own me..XD...yeah, you r right. we need to take responsibility for the littles.

[DrunkenAngel]

i was scammed first time in 2 years.was my mistake.cause i had to leave home and i had 6h of ticket running.so i payed 3 mil for 3 hours of plvl in cave.the guy who made plvl took my gold and after 5 min he bann me.
so i lost 3 mil.
so i learned my lesson. better lose one day of premium if i can`t play it then pay for plvl....is 90% sure u will get scammed.
also never trust players who say they can copy your items.is 100% scamm to.but i guess this already all players know.
never trust someoen who show to you he made a weapon+7+8+9(maybe he buy it) and tell you "i can make one +7+8+9 for you" is 100% scammer.
and the last thing.don`t buy sun weapons cose u have huge oprtunity to lose your gold.with that money better try to make +9 r more +7 weapons..sell them.make money and when u think u have enough try to make your+9.
u don`t need a sun weapon a +9 can make a hell of a good dmg to.
good luck to all...and be vigilent

Thanks for sharing your scamming experience. XD. can i quote your experience in my future anti-scamming guide?

[DrunkenAngel]

somone told me they can plus 9 my weapong through a stall bug and for some REALLY dumb reason i believed it so old gullable me does it and turns out he ends up with my lvl 32 sos :( i was pretty pissed and embarassed i fell for something so retarded!

No, i dont think you r dumb or retarded. when we are in game, we are in a different world. it's like a fairytale world. i believe people tend to be more innocent and easy to believe things in game. it's not ur false. trust me. go ask people in ur server who didnt get scammed before. theres really not that many.

[ieatpasta]

One scammer failed at scamming me. I will share with you, as to how to avoid it. The guy spots something on you he likes, like your +7 weapon, or other nice item. Then he will ask to buy it. He says, "Come meet me ouside of town. Show me the weapon first before I buy it. Open in stall network and show it for 1 gold." DO NOT OPEN STALLS OUTSIDE OF TOWN. ESPECIALLY IN STALL NETWORK. Everything may seem normal, but the only thing not normal in this trade exchange is the person your dealing with. He is asking too many detailed things for you to do, just to see your weapon. Stalling outside of town in the stall network, anyone will be able to come in and take your item for the price you put.

[DrunkenAngel]

One scammer failed at scamming me. I will share with you, as to how to avoid it. The guy spots something on you he likes, like your +7 weapon, or other nice item. Then he will ask to buy it. He says, "Come meet me ouside of town. Show me the weapon first before I buy it. Open in stall network and show it for 1 gold." DO NOT OPEN STALLS OUTSIDE OF TOWN. ESPECIALLY IN STALL NETWORK. Everything may seem normal, but the only thing not normal in this trade exchange is the person your dealing with. He is asking too many detailed things for you to do, just to see your weapon. Stalling outside of town in the stall network, anyone will be able to come in and take your item for the price you put.

This makes sense for how I didnt get scammed when people ask me to put my sos in the stall outside the town. cuz when i put my sos in the stall, i priced it as 500mil. of course, nobody is gonna take it for 500mil. so...yeah..Thank you.
oh, another thing is that some people doing taxi with u will set up a stall right next to u while u guys are getting exp. dont trust them, and dont buy things out of their stall either.

[JunkBox]

i dont understand what is with this outside stalls? i bought many times from a outside stall and nothing happened ....if u want to explain one more time will be perfect thx

[DrunkenAngel]

Hello everybody. Thanks for the support. This is some additional info that just came up to my mind.

1. be really careful when u r in donwhang.
from my experience, donwhang has the most scammers. dont ever trust anybody here who wants a trade, exchange, etc. if u really think they are serious buyers who offering a good deal, set up a STALL and ask them to come to ur stall. if they dont come, haha. they are scammers.

2. be really careful to strangers if u r wearing pimp avatar.
avatar is the easiest way to tell other people that u have silk. so does ability pet. watch out when u have pimp items such as sos too. cuz when scammers know u have silk and plenty gold, u become scammers' main target.

3. when u r not in town, open up the chat window to ALL so u can see whats everybody is talking about especially when u r doing taxi. This is a good way to get info about taxi scammers. people who got scammed by the plvler in ur area will always say something in the chat such as "....is a scammer." so u will know that u dont wanna take taxi with this scammer guy.

4. join the guild that u trust. have u heard about that some guild are scam guild? I heard about it. the whole guild is full with scammers and the purpose of the guild is to scam noobs.

5. be careful, be careful, be careful, be careful.

Thanks. XD

[DrunkenAngel]

i dont understand what is with this outside stalls? i bought many times from a outside stall and nothing happened ....if u want to explain one more time will be perfect thx

There is no problem with outside town stalls. the problem is that the people involving with this stall. some scammers will talk to u in the town, and ask come outside the town to show them ur weapon. DONT do what they tell u to. and NEVER put ur item in the stall for 1 gold just to show them ur weapon. always put a big amount that worth more than ur item should be when u r showing people ur item. Thats about all i know about it. Hope it would help. XD

[BloodyBlade]

k I'm gonna explain the stall trick;

Go to out of the safe zone (there are the mobs) and open a stall. Press open stall and activate stall network. A message will appear which is saysing that stall network doesn't work outside a town, press confirm. No put in the item you want to dublicate. Put it in for 1 gold. The Item doesn't appear (You can scam and get scamed with this trick x_X). It looks like you have no items in your stall, but this is wrong! Your item is in the stall, but you can't see it. Now you friend visit your stall, he can see the item, you not. Press open stall, you still cant see the item in the stall. Your friend, who see the item, will buy it for 1 gold. Now your stall closes. You friend have the item you stalled. If you look in your Inventory, you will see no difference, the item you tried to stall is still there...
The item in your inventory you tried to stall is the copy of the original item. With this copy you can't to much. Only things like me in the video^^ you can equip it thats all. You can't sell it, you can't drop it, you can't put it on an other slot, you can't eat it. If you want to delet this item, just teleport or log out and than log in into silkroad.
The original item has you friend. He can sell it, drop it etc.
If someone is telling you he can dublicate your sox, he wants to scam you. SO BE AWARE!!!!

Source; http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=AW-zbDjmpPE

[washikaba]

k I'm gonna explain the stall trick;

Go to out of the safe zone (there are the mobs) and open a stall. Press open stall and activate stall network. A message will appear which is saysing that stall network doesn't work outside a town, press confirm. No put in the item you want to dublicate. Put it in for 1 gold. The Item doesn't appear (You can scam and get scamed with this trick x_X). It looks like you have no items in your stall, but this is wrong! Your item is in the stall, but you can't see it. Now you friend visit your stall, he can see the item, you not. Press open stall, you still cant see the item in the stall. Your friend, who see the item, will buy it for 1 gold. Now your stall closes. You friend have the item you stalled. If you look in your Inventory, you will see no difference, the item you tried to stall is still there...
The item in your inventory you tried to stall is the copy of the original item. With this copy you can't to much. Only things like me in the video^^ you can equip it thats all. You can't sell it, you can't drop it, you can't put it on an other slot, you can't eat it. If you want to delet this item, just teleport or log out and than log in into silkroad.
The original item has you friend. He can sell it, drop it etc.
If someone is telling you he can dublicate your sox, he wants to scam you. SO BE AWARE!!!!

Source; http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=AW-zbDjmpPE

yeah thats the one that got me but the dude just told me wanna see a bug that'll +9 it and i got too excited i guess lol

[Puma60]

Also, never EVER lend your char out to people, not even friends. A guildy had his char stolen the other day because he lent his char to his 'friend'.

Btw, friendly tip to DrunkenAngel, dont post 4 or 5 posts one after the other, the mods dont like it because people often do it to up their post count. Fit all you want to say into one post

[Cheeze]

How did you get scammed?

I have never been scammed during my Silkroad career just by using common sense. Not trusting anybody that I dont know really well.

2. dont trust anybody too easily that u dont know in real life.
some people will make friends with u in game, and earn your trust. and then, guess what. they will scam you. for example, a lv90 guy gave me powerleveling couple times, and he was really nice. one day, he said he could plvl me for 8 hours straight, and asked me to pay him a huge amount of gold. i trusted him. i gave him the gold. a sec later, he got dc. next time when he log on, i asked for my gold. he deleted me from his friends list and blocked me.

[MissLe2]

ok heres some more tips

never do something in a hurry always take the time to check items
before clicking on accept

never let your greed get the best of you

the other day someone tried to get me to go outside to give me gold
lol

another thing is even people you have played with for months may scamm you, so only give things you dont mind losing to another, because you may never get it back

sometimes you give things to someone, and many things can happen
they scammed you
they decide not to play again, so your stuff is locked in thier account
they get hacked (remember sometimes people say they are hacked to get things or not give things you lent them)
they get banned, bye bye items

one thing i dont do is show my items to someone i dont know, in stall or exchange, even in town

[Akhenaton]

A while ago I got scammed with a 3D weapon using exchange. The culprit would show you a +4 +5 or +7 item and give you a buy it price, when you place gold they swap with similar NPC item and nothing changed visually and approving to quickly you'll purchase a worthless NPC item.

Always check the item by placing the mouse cursor on item again before final approval on the trade and beware of 'friends' and 'guild' pop-ups that may occur prior to exchange; and especially players that also place other junk items in exchange window along with desired item.

On another note, I loaned a lv 24 SOS spear to one of my guild members, unaware that the player was bot'ing and he got banned as a result my item was lost along with his account.
Be weary of lending items or gold to players unless you can part with it for good.

[saphirre12]

3. Be careful with plvling.
Pay every half hour. dont join the pt if everybody is in the same guild. dont join the pt with only 2 or 3 people and you can tell they are related by their names. be careful with people say "no 30mins".

I laugh at the bold part . I plevel for gold and YES , I say: "no 30 mins" all the time . You don't know how annoying it is . Here is one example :
After 30 mins , I have to stop and ask the person if he wants to continue . I stop fighting and everyone in the party starts complaining . It goes on and on . Eventually , everyone is leaving and say : " SCAMMER , you take 1h plevel gold and only plevel us in 45 mins because you keep stopping ".