The Black Market and the Scammers - how to stay safe ?

Day 2,571, 10:53 • Published in USA Denmark • by Gucio

I don’t write many articles, which is to say I haven’t written a single one in the last 200 days. Some will say “shit has happened;” indeed it has.

Everyone is looking for a bargain, and nowadays it seems that many people are trying to find some cheap weapons or food, due to what they say is “the great economy.” It’s even possible, if you look in the right places, to find some Q7 tanks for as low 5cc. There is an old saying though “if it’s too good to be true, it isn’t” so doesn’t that price strike you as a bit too low?

Lately, there seems to be quite a lot of “scamming” on going. People are losing money. Some lose 5,000 CC, others 20,000. For one individual (or a government) those amounts may be nothing at all, but for others it may be all they have. Is it worth trusting some random stranger who sends you an unsolicited offer with a proposal with a nice and low price?

If your answer is yes, then sure go for it.

Seriously though, it’s never worth it unless you want to lose the hard won CC which took you months to earn.

A few “spam kings” have been using both IRC and in-game messaging to advertise their very “promising” offers. As an “old fag” you should know not to believe in those, but will a new player know too? Do you think they’ll be as sceptical as you are?

or

Those offers look very promising don't they? It’s quick, you don’t have to worry about waiting for your items to sell, you probably probably get at least as much as you would selling them on the market and it only takes 2 clicks. Though unfortunately, good luck, as there is a minor catch- you won’t get anything in return. It doesn’t really matter how exciting their “about me” is, how many times they’ve been a country president, a congress member, if they have 1,000 BHs, or even an Ambassador Award / Elite Citizen badge, none of those prevent them from scamming you.

Power Packs and Stashes are another common scam. Whenever the time comes for the the Pack-of-the-Month, dozens of people advertise that they are willing to buy it for or from someone. Power Packs (for example) cost roughly 20,000 to 30,000 CC or even 35,000 if the supply is low. Quite a bit more than a standard weapons or foods transaction, right? For even a seasoned elite this could be several months worth of income, and for a new player with only a job and no companies of their own it’s almost a year’s worth of work!

Only few days ago, yet another player lost 20,000 CC to a scammer. Unfortunately, our “favourite” “Prince” has changed their name from basat to VanBaster.



So you’d ask me - Gucio, how can I protect myself?

It’s pretty easy actually, it might only take a few minutes, but you you might save a lot of money.

1.) Don’t believe everyone just because they gave you a really promising offer and will buy massive amounts of your products.
2.) Check the person’s name against a list of known scammers. There are few sites which are updated regularly, so it might be worth it to bookmark one of those:
#iTrade Scammers list
Scammers Database
The first one seems more up to date, or at least has more entries. How to check? Use their ID NUMBER NOT their name!
3.) For CC/goods transactions, ask to use a trusted go between in #middleman.

What is Plato’s stand when it comes to scams?
The Blackmarket has always risks, whether in-game or real life, thus the official response is :
“The purpose of the "Donate" button is self-explaining. The players to which you have donated cannot be considered scammers because donation implies that you will not receive anything in return.”

So, yes indeed if you do get scammed, you won’t get your money back. It’s worth it to spend the few minutes it takes to be careful. Please don’t think Plato is the one to blame here.

There's only one way to sum this up:
“Better safe than sorry.” - it’s better to spend that extra minute to check, rather to be sorry you lost a few thousand CC later on.

A big thanks to Oblige for some editing and formatting.

Help your friends and young players! Give this a shout!

The Black Market and the Scammers - how to stay safe ?
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2474262/1/20