Whats up with all the recent ecto scammers?

Sniper22

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Apr 2005

Ok, for the third time, someone tried to scam me from buying my ectos. I'm just trying to sell 2 ectos for 10k. The first guy trades with me, puts up 10 gold, I cancel the trade. The second guy tries the same thing. Both of these guys were both lvl 20Mo/W spamming WTB Ectos 5k, but they didn't talk when I tried to trade.

The 3rd guy was a lvl 20 W/Mo and he actually talked to me. But first time we were going to trade he put up 10k and i put up 2 ectos, and then he cancelled. He did the same thing the second time. The third time he put up 10g trying to scam me again (of course i declined)

But what is up with all the recent ecto scammers? Maybe I just never noticed it before, but there just seems to be more and more.

Edit:

Now up to four, except the 4th just put up 5k, then changed to 5 gold....

lyra_song

lyra_song

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Oct 2005

R/Mo

just your luck i guess

Brianna

Brianna

Insane & Inhumane

Join Date: Feb 2006

Well i don't know, but people are greedy as hell now, I was selling an ecto for 4.5k which is low if you ask me, then someone pm's me and goes ''How many you got?" and i say :"Just one'' and they go :"Nevermind then'' I mean what the hell, people in the same town are selling the same thing for 5k but just because i had one the person wouldn't accept it for cheaper then the going price even.. needless to say that really got on my nerves, so i merched it. But anyways just watch the gold deposit before making a trade and you will never be scammed.

gone

Guest

Join Date: Jan 2007

sniper, they are just scumbag scammers.

Bri, that guy had profit on his mind and wanted to buy up everything you had in order to turn around and re-sell it. just one in his mind was a waste (even though it was a good deal)

Razorblade Monkey

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2006

A/

*sigh* I too have had this, although not ectos, just other items like greens. They ask for the price, you tell them, they put the correct amount, you accept, they cancel, then they say "don't cancel!". They repeat this 3 or 4 times, then they submit nothing and quickly click accept hoping you will be in the 'habit' of clicking accept from the previous 3-4 tries. I've had it tired on me about 5 times the last 2 months, but haven't fallen for it, but I fear some may have if they're still trying that method...

Getting really sick of these idiots...

Mesmer in Need

Mesmer in Need

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2006

[ToA]

I think their bots. One time i was on my necro (with a secondary of /me, i guess they respond to that because of ss) and one lvl 18 mo/w pm's me and asks for 500g. I asked him i dont want to go to uw, but he opened trade anyways. He looked suspicious, but to test him i trade him the 500g then he leaves. Then he continues to spam "monk lf ss 50/50". All it is is just a bunch of spam/trade bots.

Lothlorian Sassun

Lothlorian Sassun

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2006

Dragonestos

N/

I think the Loot Nerf is hitting the Gold Selling Companies in a big way. Not only do we so more Bots in the game to make up the decreased gold their bots get per run but we see more ToA Scam Bots than ever before. A common tactic of their scam bots is to Advertise "WTB ECTO 6K Shards 2K". They normally offer about 1K more than the going rate for Ecto. You open trade and they put 6g in the window. Most of the time the Bot can't spell shards correctly. I have seen it spelled Saardz before heheh. Sometimes they change from Ecto to Black dye but the end result is the same. They offer G instead of K. Necro's in TOA need to learn to chat with the 55 you can going with before you offer your 500g to them. Most of the Sweet Shop Chinese Farmers don't speak English. So if they can't strike up a conversation in chat then don't go to the UW with them and dont offer 500g. If you go to the UW with them they will NOT share Ecto with you and once the Aatxe are killled they will do there best to get you killed. Necro's Beware! I used to SS/SV with a 55 monk and this happened to me once but it will never happen to me again! I solo Underworld now with a 55 Necro Spoil Victor build


Let the Buyer Beware and ALWAYS check the Trade window VERY VERY carefully before you press the Accept Button.

Free Wind

Free Wind

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jul 2006

Moscow

W/

When someone starts playing the "cancel-accept" trick with me, I withdraw whatever I was selling and play the game with them. Needless to say, most of the times I win, cause they just spam submit-cancel-submit-accept

It's fun to see their reaction when they get cought with their own trick

So, next time you're selling your two ecto, take their 10g that was so kindly offered to you. Keep the ecto though

silara_jorinset

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2006

AoFT

E/Me

If you take screens of the attempted scam (with the trade dialogue agreeing price and such) its always worth reporting them as well. Last couple of times I had people do the g for k trick I reported them and I don't see them on 'friends' list anymore..

Clord

Clord

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2006

Finland

Victory Via Valour

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sniper22
Ok, for the third time, someone tried to scam me from buying my ectos. I'm just trying to sell 2 ectos for 10k. The first guy trades with me, puts up 10 gold, I cancel the trade. The second guy tries the same thing. Both of these guys were both lvl 20Mo/W spamming WTB Ectos 5k, but they didn't talk when I tried to trade.

The 3rd guy was a lvl 20 W/Mo and he actually talked to me. But first time we were going to trade he put up 10k and i put up 2 ectos, and then he cancelled. He did the same thing the second time. The third time he put up 10g trying to scam me again (of course i declined)

But what is up with all the recent ecto scammers? Maybe I just never noticed it before, but there just seems to be more and more.

Edit:

Now up to four, except the 4th just put up 5k, then changed to 5 gold....
This sounds like bots try to automatically to do this.

Destinyy

Banned

Join Date: Mar 2007

Faction of War [ARES]

I had the same thing too... a guy in ToA lvl 1 ele/mo trying to buy shards and ecto... My sale worked out to 21K and he put in 21g... lol chancers

Dione Davore

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2006

R/E

I had that luck too ages ago. I fell for it then and it learned me to always check again. I reported the person back then and put him on my FL, I never saw him online again. I guess he got banned.

TheRaven

TheRaven

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Sep 2006

Virginia

Spirit of Elisha

W/

lol, whenever I see a scammer I do my best to waste as much of their time as possible.

If they want me to go outside and show them the weapon or drop it on the ground (always with their assassin a safe distance away of course) I'll do it, except I won't drop anything. I'll go outside and show them the weapon equipped. When they ask me to drop it, I'll suggest seeing it in action instead.

"Hey, let's go kill that mob over there first"
"Ooops, hang on a minute. Mom's calling"
"Phone just rang. brb"
"uh, mom wants me to eat dinner. can you wait 15 min?"

Guildmaster Cain

Guildmaster Cain

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2006

Guildmistress Eve [Me], Guildmistress Azura [N], Guildmistress Azumi [A], Guildmistress Jaina [D]

Guildmaster Aeron [Rt], Arthas Ironfist [W], Guild: The Tyrian Templars [TTT]

This has been around since the first ecto dropped.

Ground rule is that anybody that is paying for a HIGH price for ectos is a scammer. Since it is high, you think it is a good sell for you, with more profit. In you haste in completing the sale (before the so-called buyer would rethink his offer), you make an error and fail to notice that he is scamming you.

Basic selling strategy of ectos (and all other sales actually): do not hasten deals, its better to sell 20k in 1 min then to get 20g in 10 seconds.
If someone scams, dont forget to take a screenshot.

Once day I found myself selling ectos, so went to the regular places like ToA and Droks. Ofcourse there was a steady supply of people willing to 'pay' 1k more then the black market value. I took screenshots of trade-windows of 5 of these scammers, only took me 5 mins to make the report to anet and got 5 scammers in 1 go. Too bad Anet is very vague about what happens to these scammers. At least I thanked the scammers for their screenshot, which usually was replied by a /ignore on their behalf.

But the above method looks nice too. ^^

De Maximoff

De Maximoff

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jan 2007

Gamers With Lives [GWL]

Mo/

I had someone try the old Mursaat Tokens instead of Ectos. I took a screen shot. I cancelled the trade window and asked him if he honestly thought I'd fall for it, he abruptly logged off. I saw him back on later and asked him if he was still running his Mursaat Tokens for Ectos scam. He claimed he had no idea what I was talking about and that he was a new player to GW. Check the trade window is all I can advise.

Evilsod

Evilsod

Banned

Join Date: Mar 2006

England

Lievs Death Squad [LDS]

Until they update the trade window with an additional confirmation that lists exactly what you bought in word form BEFORE you trade rather than after it... it won't ever stop.

That and people just don't pay enough attention while selling ectos, so it obviously works. Some people are very sad when it comes to GW.

Of course the best way to do such a thing if trading for more than 30ks worth of ectos is to just put up a Mursaat Token when they offer you 30g. My highlight of annoying a scammer was buying reasonably cheap ectos, so they put up Mursaat Tokens instead, so i just scammed them right back and got 6 Mursaat Tokens for 30g

Hyper.nl

Hyper.nl

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Oct 2006

Defending Fort Aspenwood

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Evilsod
[...]

Of course the best way to do such a thing if trading for more than 30ks worth of ectos is to just put up a Mursaat Token when they offer you 30g. My highlight of annoying a scammer was buying reasonably cheap ectos, so they put up Mursaat Tokens instead, so i just scammed them right back and got 6 Mursaat Tokens for 30g
Hehe, scamming the scammers. Priceless!

Yichi

Yichi

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Sep 2005

Guild Hall, Vent, Guesting, PvE, or the occasional HA match...

Dark Alley [dR]

With the current price of Ectoplasm being only 400g more to trade a player than sell to the rare material trader, just sell it to the trader. At least you wont get scammed... especially if you're only trying to sell 2-3 of them. 1k isn't that big of a price drop for 2-3 ecto total.

Commander Ryker

Site Contributor

Join Date: Jun 2005

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Evilsod
Until they update the trade window with an additional confirmation that lists exactly what you bought in word form BEFORE you trade rather than after it... it won't ever stop.
They already have that, all you have to do is to look at the amount they are giving you or mouse over the item. Don't be in such a rush. I always double check everything on every trade. It's when you're rushing that you get scammed.

Sir Skullcrasher

Sir Skullcrasher

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

California

15 over 50 [Rare]

W/Mo

That is why you should always check your trade window.

Evilsod

Evilsod

Banned

Join Date: Mar 2006

England

Lievs Death Squad [LDS]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Commander Ryker
They already have that, all you have to do is to look at the amount they are giving you or mouse over the item. Don't be in such a rush. I always double check everything on every trade. It's when you're rushing that you get scammed.
No they haven't... they give you a written list of what you traded AFTER you click accept. If they brought up a list of what you were about to trade after you pressed accept with an additional confirmation, maybe a few seconds delay so you coudln't just rush through it. I'm sure alot of people that didn't check may spot the words 'Mursaat Tokens' or 'gold' instead of the Ecto and Plat they wanted.

Course people are always in a hurry... so i guess it is there own fault, but theres no harm in maybe trying to protect people slightly more.

Sir Skullcrasher

Sir Skullcrasher

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

California

15 over 50 [Rare]

W/Mo

I seen this kind of scams before, where player type out "Hurray I got to go accept quickly!" They would put down like 1g or 10g or whatever in hope that you'll not look at what is on there.

darkorical

Academy Page

Join Date: Apr 2006

In the forgotten corners of your mind where the nightmare things live

Biscuit Of Dewm

E/Mo

I was trying to buy a 20/20 sundering mod and someone said they had one and opened trade I put up my money .. I dont remember how much it was now I checked and sure enough there was a 20/20 sundering mod I hit accept they hit cancel I said thank you and went on not noticing they had hit cancel

a moment later they said hey I hit cancel not accept I looked and sure enough no 20/20 mod so they came back reopened trade and put up a 20/18 or something. I guess I was either tired or nieve because when I noticed it I said no I was trying to buy the 20/20. they hit cancel and then reopened trade with the 20/20 I entered my money again and again they hit cancel then reopened trade. and there sat the 20/18 again and now I realize that they are attempting a scam so I called them on it hey are you trying to scam me? their reply "not anymore you are too stupid to even get ripped off"

all I could do was sit there and blink.

stiffler

stiffler

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2006

South Australia

[ToR]

R/

"not anymore you are too stupid to even get ripped off"


Priceless

SlyClone

SlyClone

Academy Page

Join Date: May 2006

Ontario, Canada

Canthan Wanderers

E/A

This happened to me, but I don't fall for it.

BTW, everyone.... please never expect it to say "Platinum" or display the Platinum symbol [] in your trade window.

Anet has fixed the AMOUNT to display in GOLD O only.

For example,


55k = 55,000 O

The trade display does not and will never say 55 [] 0 O

So when you review your trade you are not supposed to be fooled by someone using 55 O instead of 55 []

It's supposed to say 55,000 O

Vahn Roi

Vahn Roi

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2006

[HiDE]

I fell for this scam early after the Nightfall release. I traded a 15^50 inscription for what I thought was 30k, turned out to be 30g. Of coarse the scammer was a Mo/W in tatts. I was pretty steamed at the time, but I got over it quickly.

The new gold display in the chat window is nice now that it's no longer displayed in platinum and gold, but just gold.

Sniper22

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Apr 2005

I've never really been scammed either, but I think what Anet needs, is like some sort of scam points system for scammers. If players notice that the trader is trying to scam them, they can give them some sort of scammer points. Each time that they trade with someone, there will be a message displaying how many scam ppints they have gotten in big red letters.

So pretty much, it will be easier to tell who is a scammer in trade.

Of course you could probably remove the warnings if a player hasn't gotten one in 2 weeks, cause stupid people might give people warnings for no reason.

Winterclaw

Winterclaw

Wark!!!

Join Date: May 2005

Florida

W/

This is why I like GWG:auction... if there's a problem with the guy you can report him and usually the people who you trade with on it are pretty good.

ValaOfTheFens

ValaOfTheFens

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Sep 2006

Warrior Nation[WN]

I've had trade windows open in Granite Citadel w/o me even expressing any interest and ppl whispering me about buying my ectos. *lol* I can use the Mursatt tokens to see if they're real ppl.

Thorondor Port

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2006

British Columbia

W/

Yea, lots of scammers. every game, everywhere.

deal with it. not worthy of a thread to me...

mr_groovy

mr_groovy

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2006

Netherlands

No Inherent Effect [NiE]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thorondor Port
Yea, lots of scammers. every game, everywhere.

deal with it. not worthy of a thread to me...
Other people can get usefull info out of this thread.It's perfectly legit imo, you got something to confess?

Had lot's of scammers trying to scam me. Fortunately I have my methods of dealing with them

Further truth is that scammers most of the time can't use proper sentences I had one saying:
  • "Wanna buy, oki, yes? yes?"
    cancel trade
  • "????????!!!!"
  • cancel trade again
  • "????!! weird accept me"
  • tries to scam with gold instead of k

Lonesamurai

Lonesamurai

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Apr 2006

Cheltenham, Glos, UK

Wolf Pack Samurai [WPS]

R/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by ValaOfTheFens
I've had trade windows open in Granite Citadel w/o me even expressing any interest and ppl whispering me about buying my ectos. *lol* I can use the Mursatt tokens to see if they're real ppl.
i hadn't thought of that... is it scamming to scam a scammer?

mr_groovy

mr_groovy

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2006

Netherlands

No Inherent Effect [NiE]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lonesamurai
i hadn't thought of that... is it scamming to scam a scammer?
Nope it's common sense

Guildmaster Cain

Guildmaster Cain

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2006

Guildmistress Eve [Me], Guildmistress Azura [N], Guildmistress Azumi [A], Guildmistress Jaina [D]

Guildmaster Aeron [Rt], Arthas Ironfist [W], Guild: The Tyrian Templars [TTT]

A point system to give points, similar as the one on guru auctions, would really be nice for GW. But will never be implemented, since it wont fit in the game code.

Lets just vote for a rating system in GW2, it should be possible there.

Guildmaster Cain

Guildmaster Cain

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2006

Guildmistress Eve [Me], Guildmistress Azura [N], Guildmistress Azumi [A], Guildmistress Jaina [D]

Guildmaster Aeron [Rt], Arthas Ironfist [W], Guild: The Tyrian Templars [TTT]

A point system to give points, similar as the one on guru auctions, would really be nice for GW. But will never be implemented, since it wont fit in the game code.

Lets just vote for a rating system in GW2, it should be possible there.

Marth Reynolds

Marth Reynolds

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jan 2006

The Netherlands

The Lore Enforcers

Me/A

I did see something like this lately but a bit more rude also happend with selling a kanaxai's edge for 15k not ecto.

Person whisperd me i'll buy it
-he puts in 15k and i put in edge i press accept.
-he cancels the trade and reopens it, placing his 15k again and i place the edge now waiting for his accept before i;ll accept.
-he cancels again.
-And he tells me to friggin stop canceling the trade window and says he'll hurry.
-he places 15 gold and i canceld trade and whisperd no thanks.

Hyper.nl

Hyper.nl

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Oct 2006

Defending Fort Aspenwood

E/

I had this scam attempt 2 weeks ago:

At Kodash:

Scammer: WTS Sapphire
Me: Price?
Scammer #price
Me: Deal
I check, pay and accept. Scammer cancels.
Retry: same thing.
I say. Check your gold. You can only have 100k. Dump some in storage.

Last retry: Scammer puts in some quest item with identical look as sapphire.
Fortunately I kept checking the item name, and the scammer cancelled and zoned out when I was reading.