Talk:Common scams

Trading in general v.s. Scams
Although some would say trading is not in spirit of game, if it is for purpose of selling with higher value, it can also be seen as a service in specific cases... - If you are 'scammed' while selling for profit, it is your own fault and you should investigate market better before deciding to sell. Just watch the prices going around and maybe sell part of your stash just to get feel wit the current street value.. - There are real scammers selling/buying for unreal prices (just don't decide to quickly thinking you make cheap bargin..) - There are real scammers selling for normal prices but sell different goods (yellow 'Letter to Mom' intead of white 'Captured Son Letter') Always double check stuff using this wiki ;) - Please feel free to add more variants...

BUT... Buying goods for resell does not have to be scamming. The sell and buy at reasonable prices you just provide service to people that do not want to wait long for best buyer/seller.... That is a service that is payed for in form of the profit the reseller makes.. In the end it is al about fair trade and ethics in doing so...

So Please do report unreal prices here as well as known scamms for others to learn from...!

Kaineng Run Scam
Has anyone noticed the mass amounts of people trying to get people to pay for runs to Kaineng Center from The Marketplace? I can't tell if these are scammers or uninformed newbies.
 * Either way, it's still a scam. &mdash; 130.58 (talk) ( 01:01, 20 June 2006 (CDT) )
 * Actually, it isn't a scam since they finish the run like promised. It is a rip-off though. &mdash; Galil  08:57, 22 June 2006 (CDT)

I dont know if it's mentioned here, but this one I almost fell for: a guy goes around in town spamming "WTB Amulet of Mists, WTS Some green item noone wants", I ask him how much he's willing to give for a amulet and he responds: 50k which is imo a very high price for a amulet, so I open tradescreen with him and put up the amulet, he put up 50k and the green item, it was a pretty unwanted green so I thought he included it as a bonus just to get rid of it and hit accept. Then he asks: green or money? Of course I respond money and he closes tradescreen, open it again and put up 50g. Appearantly he himself fell for the scam and tried to justify scamming by scamming his money back from other innocent people.

In general scammers are giving a very good deal that's hard to resist (because they dont intend to give you anything they can just as well make it more tempting for people and additionally it makes you want to do the deal quickly before he gets a better offer) and tries to confuse or distract you. Never do big trades when you are stessed and always doublecheck everything. If anything is unsual then be extra careful.


 * Indeed it is listed (List of popular scams). This seems to be a very common one. I was surprised when I saw a player in 15k-armor trying this once. Granted, armor has nothing to do with it, but it just doesn't seem right. &mdash; Galil  08:57, 22 June 2006 (CDT)

Jade Orb Value
Just to verify, this is trade channel value, correct?
 *  During the Dragon Festival 2006, 250 Jade Wind Orb are required to trade for a Ceremonial Dragon Mask. The value of an orb is roughly 60g or 250 for 15k .

I didn't see a value with merchants or material traders. I wanted to confirm before removing the listed values. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 00:10, 3 July 2006 (CDT)
 * Nevermind, verified it's trade channel value. Cleaning up that text now in article. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 00:20, 3 July 2006 (CDT)
 * Wait, what? Why are we listing the trade value of something?  --68.142.14.34 00:21, 3 July 2006 (CDT)
 * We aren't - someone had added that text; I was verifying it was trade value infor before removing it. Verified, it was, so the text is gone. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 00:24, 3 July 2006 (CDT)
 * Well now they're worth 1k/ea ;) ICY  F IFT Y FIVE  08:21, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Dragon Mask
Is it necessary for this item to have its own section? It might as well be a sub-section for armour, along with other event-equipment. Having said that, I believe the game still gives you a warning that the item is, in fact, customized if and when you attempt to trade it. I'll keep my personal opinions about the people (who, in the light of such a warning, still click "accept") to myself. --Black Ark 14:46, 5 July 2006 (CDT)

Free money if you can find me-scam
I don't think this is really a scam...Me and my guildies sometimes use to go to Kaineng Center(everyone to different Districts) and start to shout everyting like "Free Money to first one to whisper me!" and the like. It's just fun to get people "lol'd" as we say it. And everyone I have "lol'd" have been more amused than angry.&mdash;
 * Whatever it is, it certainly shouldn't go in the section it's currently in, which is for non-scams and out-of-game scams. &mdash; 130.58 (talk) ( 02:35, 11 July 2006 (CDT) )
 * You make a promise to give away free money, but then fail to deliver. Gussy it up however you want, you're still misleading people. Sure, maybe some of them "lol'd", but other players might feel ripped off, and rightly so. A proud day for you and your guild. --Black Ark 06:41, 11 July 2006 (CDT)

I don't think this is so much a scam as a boast at times. I see this alot in Kaineng Center from people who have beaten the game and have gone through the portal that accesses the upper balcony of Kaineng. The point is, you can't get to them.--&mdash; xis10al   21:31, 11 July 2006 (CDT)
 * This actually really annoys people like me who genuinely run games of hide and seek with gold/item rewards from time to time (Such as when I went around Ascalon during the Dragon Festival giving out Rice wine and Bean cakes) -it's a fun little game to play with people and they get something good out of it. People who do this spoil it for the rest of us. --Sunyavadin 15:23, 8 August 2006 (BST)
 * The same happens in owned outpost and cities. Some dull minded jockers stay inside the fence and say the'y give rewards to anyone getting there. Of course that is impossible being outside the alliance that controls the outpost. The case is that they don't usually gibe the price even to ones inside that alliance entering the private zone. That proves they were just lying. Mithran 07:25, 20 October 2006 (CDT)

I dont think it is a scam either for that matter. because I've been in droknar's forge and said "70K to the first person that can open up trade, and accually gave the money away. mostly because i had no need for it and the person i gave it to was someone i knew, go figure.  --Dc Tanks  23:50, 8 October 2006

Well, there are some people who annoy/scam people with tricks like that, but there are others who actually do give stuff away. For example; I was in Ascalon, and there was a guy would would call out a number, and the first person to trade with him who was that lvl got that number of platinum. (I got 20k) --Enishi
 * Yes, but there are no unreachable areas there. In Luxon and Kurzick outposts they are. It's not the same. Mithran 07:01, 23 April 2007 (CDT)

It can be a scam. One really annoying guy shouted it from Kaineng in the usual spot you get to after beating the final mission, then someone came to him. Then he started asking for the reqirements for warrior elite luxon armor. The guy came back (he must've really beleived he'd get 10k) and gave him a good portion of the items. Then the scammer said "Thanks Noob" and logged off/--Daniel Rendat 02:23, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

protect this page
this page needs protecting after yet another vandalism. --Jamie  09:00, 10 July 2006 (CDT)
 * I think setting up this page to work like Title would be good. &mdash; 130.58 (talk) ( 02:32, 11 July 2006 (CDT) )
 * I think that a similiar protection should be used as the finnish wikipedia used during the eurovision song contests for Lordis page. Prevent anon edits and edits from user names that have been created during the last few days. Same protection for the title article. Creating a user name is very fast and the current protection does not really prevent spontaneous vandalism, but a thinking time of 3-4 days would. --[[Image:Gem-icon-sm.png]] 03:07, 11 July 2006 (CDT)
 * Sounds like a plan --Jamie [[Image:Jamie.jpg|24px|(Talk Page)]] 04:34, 11 July 2006 (CDT)
 * can you protect agian? [[Image:ST47logo.jpg|User:ST47|50px]] (talk) 19:31, 23 July 2006 (CDT)

Buying Monastery Credits, Imperial Commendations, Luxon Totem or Equipment Requisitions
It is all to common to see "WTB your imperial commendations* 100G each" spamming across several chat channels. Though not a scam, it is an exploitation of players unaware that 5 Imperial Commendations trade for Superior Salvage Kit (SSK) which can be sold to merchant for 1K. The Simple math is 5 for 1000g = 200g each. These "Buyers" are attempting to double their money with almost no effort (Make Purchase> Trade for SSK > Sell to merchant> Done!) which is certainly not in the spirit of the game. Sadly, it is so easy, we will probably never be rid of this rip off tactic or the incessant spamming "WTB your imperial commendations" which to me equals "Want to RIP YOU OFF BECAUSE YOU DON'T KNOW BETTER"

Don't be duped!


 * Insert Monastery Credits, Luxon Totem or Equipment Requisitions
 * Well, what's really the situation with Monastery Credits? I buy them at roughly 125g to trade them for Hunter's Ale (drunkard title, here I come :) And 125g is about as much as the original player would save by teleporting to the Monastery everytime they need a identificitaion/salvage kit. But I doubt many would want do that. So, fair price? Because it seems as if the above comment implies that they should not be sold for less than 200g and that would mean buying them is pointless unless for *using* the +50% XP scroll, which might have a trade channel value of, say, 300g (compared to the +100% XP right now at the merchant for 700g). But I don't know if there is a (large) market for +50% scrolls, certainly haven't seen anyone selling them in Lion's Arch and if I were really that interested in XP from PvE (and have finished all quests that give XP ...) I would use the +100% because by then I should be able to afford that. Sure, you can sell a few +50% XP scrolls, but you still have to do the work and carry around the remaining 20 monastery credits. --Ts (I'm too stupid to set a link ... )


 * Note also that you can't get Superior kits with Monastery Credits. Just the Canthan/Kurzick/Luxon rewards. &mdash; 130.58 (talk) 12:44, 30 July 2006 (CDT)


 * Well, considering that the values for Monastery Credits, Imperial Commendations, Battle Commendations, and Kournan coins on the scam page contradict the values listed on the individual pages for those items, I've edited the values here to match. 200g and 300g were each 100g too high, as the above comments and the info on the item pages confirm. There's no support for the higher values that I can see. Now, whether it's worth it to sell them is a different issue, unrelated to "scams". HarshLanguage 20:49, 20 November 2006 (CST)

Trade Contract scams
This is very much same like the Monastery Credits scam in Factions. It's spammed all over in Kamadan, Sunspear Sanctuary and Kodash Bazar. These people try buying off your trade contracts for low price and then trads them for a ruby/sapphire. Yes, you can trade 3 for a key or 5 for a sup salavage kit... but you can also trade 7 for one ruby or sapphire. Always check jewel values before selling. --Lyrika 01:44, 14 November 2006 (CST)

"Auto-accept scam"
Cilvaa posted about a scam that he (she?) described (I'm paraphrasing) as "if you submit an empty offer before the other side submits an offer, the side actually submitting an item need not click accept for the trade to happen, only the empty offer side needs to click accept." I tested this out and could not get it to work at all. I tried various permutations (who starts the trade, order of clicking/moving items within the manner Civlaa described) with no luck. Reverted the edit. --68.142.14.45 05:07, 18 July 2006 (CDT)

Gold Chest Scam ERROR
The phrase "An unopened chest can contain gold or purple items, but once opened, it will produce the same color for everyone." is wrong. I see for 2 times (2) in Urgoz Warren a chest dropping a Purple to first man, and then all gold items to the rest... and for 2 times the desperation of the unlucky first... poor him.

Some consideration: &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by 62.94.130.72 (talk • contribs) 11:33, 25 July 2006 (CDT).
 * I don't know why it happens
 * I think it will be very funny if... this is punishment to chest runners! Making an elite mission fail for a stupid run is the most hated case of the game.
 * In normal cases, a chest revealing purple won't be used more than once. Why I see those 2 cases? 'cause in Urgoz people seem to share a "chest runner instinct"!!! When a chest is approchable, many hurry to open it. Noobness in elite missions, too.
 * possibly a farm mark? --Honorable Sarah [[image:Honorable_Icon.gif]] 11:40, 25 July 2006 (CDT)
 * I think not. A chest farmer is a man aware of the chest quality issue. Add that Deeproot Keys cost is 1.5k. No, I think a farmer will be the smarter one that wait 2 or 3 items before using its key. It's a matter of noob ppl that have heared "Zodiac weapons drops in Elite mission only" etc...


 * I haven't done screenshots to argument my point, because I don't know before of this error. I hope to do one in future, or someone can make one now it knows what to look for.
 * The scam continues to be valid (someone can drop items near chests) but the hypothesis of "chest omogeneity" must be dropped in my opinion
 * Instead, I suggest to highligh the fact that a dropped-item-from-you is no more binded to you ("Assigned to..."). Apart the fact you can steal it (!), it's easy way to know it's not a chest drop.
 * i'm having a bit of a hard time following you. are you sugguesting that, contrary to ANET's statement and months of testing, chests do not always produce the same quality items or that people are dropping gold items near unopened chests to get people to open them? --Honorable Sarah [[image:Honorable_Icon.gif]] 12:10, 25 July 2006 (CDT)
 * [[Image:http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/4876/gw179cf3.jpg:::here the proof (Deep mission)]]
 * The last point is a idea (from me) to provide a way to identify this type of scam. The fake item can be recognized as I suggest.
 * Yes, against all of us, I see this phenomenon 2 times. And today I asked in chat (in urgoz outpost) and voilà, other ppl telling not only they get a purple from a gold chest, but they get a purple when being the 2nd,3rd,4th,etc man opening that chest. Not only the first one. I'm starting to think... a Bug? &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by 62.94.178.65 (talk &bull; contribs) 20:57, 25 July 2006 (CDT).

I believe this point is kinda moot with the Nightfall update, making chests completely and truely random

"Factions" scam
I noticed Sarah reverted the anon's edit (blanking) of the "Rare" Factions Items sub-section. However, I actually agree with the anon, that section is no longer remotely needed and is just cluttering the article. I say axe it.
 * "rare factions items cheep" is common in lion's arch. perhaps it should be generalized to cover the upcomming nightfall campaign? --Honorable Sarah [[image:Honorable_Icon.gif]] 12:14, 30 July 2006 (CDT)
 * I agree competely. Best to give it a general heading for the sale of common items in any situation as "rare". Cases in point: Selling easily farmed Factions items in LA, and selling commonly dropping event items for extortionate prices to those who don't know better (Like the people who were selling jade wind orbs for 1k+ each)... Sunyavadin 15:31, 8 August 2006 (BST)

Nightfall scams
With the near upcoming of Nightfall, new scams may appear. We can foresee some of them, like the alreay added ones that we know from factions (Buying Quest Reward Items for low prices and Impossible/Unnecesary Runnings), but other may be new. Once Nightfall is out, we may have to add scam warnings. Here we can make a list of possible scams we have to test before adding them:
 * Heroes can use customized items, but ONLY those customized for their 'master' character, not for other account of character, even if they are in the same account.

this page is getting long
long and ugly. perhaps it needs a filtering? way to much boldface. --Honorable Sarah 09:04, 8 August 2006 (CDT)
 * Yea, some cleanup is clearly needed. The bold should be reserved for headers, not used in the body of each section.  It also looks like several entries could be consolidated as they're just multiple flavors of the same scam. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 09:07, 8 August 2006 (CDT)

I've done what I could to clean it up by splitting it into subsections. I'm sure more fine-tuning and pruning of those is called for. -- Bishop [ rap|con ] 12:13, 8 August 2006 (CDT)

Misc Scams
"When you do a run ALWAYS ask for the money outside the outpost or town beacuse they might of put it back in storage and tried to scame you and demand paying zones so they pay during the run so they can not scame you and you can aske them to pay you in the zone before getting to the destination...." I'm afraid I'm too tired, but can someone please PLEASE clean that up. The ridiculously high concentration of grammar problems and AOLerisms is too much for me this late in the evening RossMM 17:25, 20 September 2006 (CDT)

When it comes to running...I always use this method.. "Running To Sanctum Cay=2k(1k @ ToA/1k @ FH)-" This is from LA with all stops(if needed)..I take payment in ToA and FH...I have had mostly good ppl so far that have always paid...so far. Also I find it helps when ppl pay to say it in chat.."Blah-Blah paid" and so onDeadlyknights 14:06, 16 October 2006 (CDT)

Unidentified Armor
With the new salvage system you can get the rune out of an unidentified armor part and the armor is still blue, purple or gold. But when you identify it you get only a white armor part. You can not see if someone has already salvage the rune out of the armor. --Trilo 05:36, 31 October 2006 (CST)
 * Wouldn't the value show up if the salvage armor part had been identified? Or am I too tired and not remembering correctly? In any event, however, I agree that the color of ID'd and rune-salvaged armor not changing is a problem. HarshLanguage 20:41, 20 November 2006 (CST)

Mixed Dyes
"Don't ever buy mixed color dye such as Gold; Dye looks different on every armor set in the game."

I don't think that this is true anymore as of the 10/26/06 update; dye should look the same on any armor. Perhaps this entry should either be removed or updated to specify not to buy them if you have armor crafted before the update.--Quaestor 12:08, 3 November 2006 (CST)

Wrong. Try to dye a newly or even old crafted Krytan elementalist armor with Silver+Yellow. This mix will make a 'gold-like' color in some armor (like paragon ones) but will make a cooper-like pale color in the Female Krytan Elementalist. You need to add green to get something like gold in that armor. Even it is true that you cannot mix dyes without the dying panel, old mixed dyed are still in some Storage and Inventories... and people may be still wanting to sell them. Basic dyes look very alike in all armor now, but mixing them still is different. Maybe in the next mayor update they change de basic textures of all armor to fix that, but currently they are still with they base colors. Just look Elonian Dervish armor, you'll see some blue spots, specially in the hood. Mithran 20:28, 16 November 2006 (CST)

Actually, is there any mixed dye exist since the new dying system? edem 09:53, 24 November 2006 (CST)

Begging
I think it's okay to give 50g to a player that needs to unlock Storage. After all, what's a mere 50g? The best advice is really just to use your Common Sense. If someone asks for 10 plat or something, be wary. If they ask for a little gold, a few free materials, etc. then what's the harm? It's true that there are some beggars out there that are not actually poor. But on the other hand there are lots of poor newbies out there that need some help.

Oh, and I'm putting the advice back in that you shouldn't try to catch people for money, it's a valid point. Entropy 02:40, 24 December 2006 (CST)

Festival Hat Maker
I have just experienced somebody to try to sell a festival hat. I argued that it cannot be used because it is armor adjusted to the char. He answered that you could get it remade by the festival hat maker and andmitted that his hat cannot be worn by a buyer. On one hand this is a normal armor scam, but on the other hand there is something new to it. I would suggest that somebody would check how to add this information: "the hat maker can ONLY redo your OWN hats". Michael57 10:27, 1 January 2007 (CST)

"Illegal"
I removed an incorrect use of the word "illegal" from the miscellaneous section, in the trading/selling account keys item. It's not illegal, it's against the User Agreement. That's a contract, not a law. — HarshLanguage 18:15, 14 January 2007 (CST)

Scammers using the wiki
I've known that this happens sometimes. People put information about item values in articles, which are clearly false, in an attempt to scam people in game. Now I encountered a new type of scam which didn't involve editing the wiki at all. See for yourself: -- (talk) 08:48, 19 January 2007 (CST)


 * Lol, what a dweeb. he probably meant guru &mdash; Skuld 10:19, 19 January 2007 (CST)


 * Should this comment really be in the miscellaneous section, as it clearly relates to trade even if the actual trick is done outside the game? RossMM 11:45, 19 January 2007 (CST)

Anonymous edits
I think the edits done by 131.104.163.178 are pointless, but since I'm still relatively new on GuildWiki, I wouldn't dare to revert or remove them. --Toxik 14:11, 23 January 2007 (CST)

EDIT: The user has already removed most of his/her edits.

Fiery/Icy Dragon Sword Scam
In the scamming article on the main page it says that players will dye the Fiery Dragon Sword blue and try to pass it off as an Icy Dragon Sword. If dying the sword only affects the hilt and not the blade then how is this a viable scam warning? If someone cannot make out the difference between a blue sword being an ice sword and a orange/red sword being a fiery sword.......then well, they are either really stupid or color blind. Even then, they should have read the description. Also, this may have been an edit by ANet to curb scamming on this item. If so, I think we should remove the scam from the list.--Old Man Of Ascalon   (T/C) 02:35, 24 January 2007 (CST)
 * It (used to?) changes the icon but not the actual color when held. --Fyren 02:48, 24 January 2007 (CST)
 * Can anyone confirm this as of recently?--Old Man Of Ascalon [[Image:25px-Poiso.jpg]]  (T/C) 04:07, 24 January 2007 (CST)
 * To be honest I'd never even heard of this "scam" before reading the idea here. I've never heard nor seen it and I'm inclined to believe it's jumping the gun. Don't warn against a scam if it doesn't exist (much). Entropy 04:38, 24 January 2007 (CST)
 * I don't think I've even seen anyone ever attempt to sell one of these swords, much less scam it. I vote for admin review to see if we should remove it.--Old Man Of Ascalon  [[Image:25px-Poiso.jpg]]  (T/C) 06:32, 24 January 2007 (CST)
 * I removed the note from the article as no one has defended it. No admin is needed for stuff like this. Administrators don't have extra powers over content. --[[Image:Gem-icon-sm.png]] (talk) 14:28, 24 January 2007 (CST)

section removed
I removed the section for Hoaxes, as the article it links to is a redirect to a subsection of List of popular scams/Miscellaneous scams --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 17:24, 20 February 2007 (CST)

MiniPig from Canthan New Year
I updated the information because the Canthan New Year event is now over. Should it be removed from the front page of the scams page? Atma 23:21, 24 February 2007 (CST)
 * I just added it to go along with info about minipets not coming from the Wintersday presents, but that doesn't really make sense now that you bring it up, since there are plenty of others you can get in other ways... ~ [[Image:GeckoSprite.gif]] Pae 01:27, 25 February 2007 (CST)

Cleanup of scams
I cleaned up several of the item scams listings. I'm not sure what the barbed sword hilt scam is supposed to be, though... are folks buying barbed hilts thinking they're rare? I've never seen that. I also noted that the list doesn't even correspond well anymore to the main article. I think we should look at combining the pages again, because the main scam pages don't add much useful info and are just duplicated effort and often go unmaintained. Also, shouldn't this page be called "List of Common Scams", not "Popular Scams"? I daresay these scams aren't popular at all! =) — HarshLanguage 08:59, 2 March 2007 (CST)


 * List of common scams would be a lot better name indeed, but I don't want to update all of the links now, I'll go to bed instead. --[[Image:Gem-icon-sm.png]] (talk) 16:59, 3 March 2007 (CST)
 * I'm happy to do the move and edit the links, leaving the current page as a redirect of course (at least until the main page was updated). Would naming it simply "Common scams" be any better than "List of common scams"? And would the subpages be moved automatically or would I need to do each separately? I've never moved a page with subpages. — HarshLanguage [[Image:qswearing_small.png|HarshLanguage]] 23:08, 4 March 2007 (CST)


 * People are buying barbed hilts for the standard trade channel value, when the scammer obtained it very cheaply from the collector. Not technically a scam, just unfair trading.Atma

Minipet "Origin" Clarification
Regardless of its wording, I think that we should keep the information that Birthday Presents aren't the only way to obtain minipets, if only for new players who may be unfamiliar with them. ~ Pae 12:32, 4 March 2007 (CST)
 * The thing is, the specific acquisition information is all in the Miniature article, as it should be. The minipet item on the scam list is for the "Winter Gift/Wintersday Gift instead of Birthday Present" scam specifically. We link to the minipet article in the scam listing, so I think that scam listing does what it needs to do: point out the scam and let the reader hop over to addtional info. Otherwise, the scam listing would need to be updated every time a new minipet acquisition method was introduced (which is fairly often recently!). However, I went ahead and reworded the scam listing to say that minipets can come from non-gift sources (without listing those sources). — HarshLanguage [[Image:qswearing_small.png|HarshLanguage]] 15:32, 4 March 2007 (CST)

Article Moved
I've moved the article and its subarticles to Common scams, a clearer name than "List of popular scams." There was no opposition to the move when I suggested it above a few days ago. All links from other mainspace articles have been updated as well. — HarshLanguage 13:28, 7 March 2007 (CST)

Never buy a weapon or offhand just because someone says it has a popular skin. If the stats are poor, the object is worth little regardless of the skin on it.
PFFFFFFT this is the biggest load of bullshit i have ever heard. Sephix axe... purple max but req 13 mods sucked sold for 100k+ Elemental swords.... regardless of the stats sell for 100k+e I think you people are beating a dead horse with all these "scams" SOME (not all) can be dealth with by means of common sense. In this case, however I felt that this portion of the article needed to be removed as it is not true at all and is infact opposite of the truth. -The Black Leach
 * I think you misundertood the purpose of that warning. A very, very few rare items have value if the stats are lousy. The vast majority of "popular" skins will only be worth anything if the mods are good. The item is attempting to warn players that buying an item for an extravagant price just because the seller tells you it's a popular or rare skin is a BAD IDEA. Which is true. Or would you like to buy a non-max req 13 Azure Shortbow 13% when hexed for 15k? It's a popular skin, after all! =) I reverted your removal, but clarified it a bit. — HarshLanguage [[Image:qswearing_small.png|HarshLanguage]] 18:20, 7 March 2007 (CST)

I like it. -Leach
 * Poor stat weapons are worthless is false. i have sold plenty of non-max dead swords

He means their usless to use. How will attempting to do FoW with a nonmax crystaline sword of charslaying work out?
 * Probably pretty similar. You'd miss out on 6 or so damage. 222.153.229.8 18:47, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Caster weapons can be made from non max stuff with nice skins. stick energy +5 and hp+30 on a rare skinned, non max, purple sword... instant caster weapon. &mdash;♥ Jedi ♥ Rogue ♥ 19:07, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

"Beware of purchasing unidentified gold salvage items. The unidentified superior rune may have already been salvaged out of it, leaving unidentified armor with no rune attached."
Is this still true? I accidentally attempted to expert salvage a purple salvage item a few days ago, and the game said it must be identified first. Issa Dabir 15:28, 19 March 2007 (CDT)
 * It was fixed a long time ago. --[[Image:Gem-icon-sm.png]] (talk) 17:47, 19 March 2007 (CDT)

Uh... I've recently done this with no problem.--70.112.5.115 21:12, 2 July 2007 (CDT)

revert to revert of Monastery Credits and Battle Commendation comment
Regarding my revert to here, this has now been reverted again, the Monastery Credits and Battle Commendation can be traded to the collector and sold to a merchant for a static price, selling them for less would mean the buyer is making a profit. -- Xeon 10:22, 3 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Agreed. –Ichigo724[[Image:Ichigo-signature.jpg]] 10:26, 3 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Not that I would do that but I still believe that players can sell things for whatever prices they personally choose to. Besides, what's wrong with making a little in-game profit? Azinna Videl 10:35, 3 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Nothing wrong with a little in-game profit but it is still a scam, it is deceptive and morally wrong. -- Xeon 10:39, 3 April 2007 (CDT)
 * O.o That made no sense. You claim it's "nothing wrong" then go on to say it's "morally wrong". Make up your mind already.Azinna Videl 10:54, 3 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Oh i was talking about making money in general, not making money from this scam. -- Xeon 08:34, 5 April 2007 (CDT)
 * (edit conflict)
 * Scam:
 * 1.	a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, esp. for making a quick profit; swindle.
 * 2.	to cheat or defraud with a scam.
 * fraudulent:
 * 1.	characterized by, involving, or proceeding from fraud, as actions, enterprise, methods, or gains: a fraudulent scheme to evade taxes.
 * 2.	given to or using fraud, as a person; cheating; dishonest.
 * fraud:
 * 1.	deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.
 * 2.	a particular instance of such deceit or trickery: mail fraud; election frauds.
 * 3.	any deception, trickery, or humbug: That diet book is a fraud and a waste of time.
 * 4.	a person who makes deceitful pretenses; sham; poseur.
 * –Ichigo724[[Image:Ichigo-signature.jpg]] 10:42, 3 April 2007 (CDT)
 * I know what a scam is. I'm not stupid.Azinna Videl 10:54, 3 April 2007 (CDT)
 * He was not calling you stupid, he was pointing out what gwiki refers to as a scam. -- Xeon 10:56, 3 April 2007 (CDT)
 * ^–Ichigo724[[Image:Ichigo-signature.jpg]] 10:58, 3 April 2007 (CDT)

Drawing a death and stalling to gather reserved items
This applies to pre-searing, where parties can only be two people. If the scammer notices that a valued item (i.e. Char Bag) drops during a fight, the scammer might stop fighting and allow the other party member to die. The scammer can then stall until the other party member gives up and signs off, or until the item loses its "reserved for" status (only upon resurrection?) to gather the desired item.

How to avoid? If you see a good dropped item, grab it right away. There's no death penalty in pre-searing, and you generally won't lose "position" by dying and being resurrected.

I hope this makes sense. Might need a lot of editing. ~Ben
 * It takes 10 minutes to lose an item's player assignment. &mdash; [[Image:Fin_sig.gif|User:Kyrasantae]] kyrasantae   00:10, 25 April 2007 (CDT)
 * It was increased lately to 20 minutes. Mithran 06:32, 26 April 2007 (CDT)

Contesting Recent Revert

 * An anon removed two notes: one about ferrying to LA, and one discouraging begging.
 * I reverted the changes, noting that ferrying to LA does not require another player and is thus a scam if money is charged. Ignorance on the part of a victim does not justify the actions of a knowing scammer, and there are still folks out there charging to ferry to LA.
 * Furthermore, the Begging note has been contested and removed before, and each time it has been reverted and restored. Thus, relying on past consensus and a lack of evidence as to why having the note is detrimental to the article, I reverted the blanking of it.
 * User:Solus reverted my changes; I attempted to bring the debate to his talk page.

Unfortunately, Solus seems to be uninterested in discussing the issue, stating that "fyi I didn't bother to read your post" and calling my comments "crap". Because of GW:1RV I do not have authority to undo his (in my opinion, bullheaded) revert...regardless of the fact that my revert restored the article to a state which has been maintained consistently over many challenges.

I may not be able to revert again, but I certainly can re-add the notes in comment-brackets. If someone cares to undo Solus' revert, remove the brackets and restore the notes. If not, the general public is none the wiser anyways, and it's a win-win situation. (T/C) 02:29, 28 April 2007 (CDT)
 * "Begging" is too general to consider it a scam. I personally don't see how begging would turn into a scam other than the begger keeps asking for more. The ignore list pretty much silences any persistent begger. The LA ferrying should be considered a scam, since as stated, it's can be done alone easily. --8765 02:49, 28 April 2007 (CDT)
 * It wasn't a begger asking for more that I am concerned about (since like you say, ignore pwns them). Rather, I am concerned for the poor newbies who innocently assume Good Faith(tm) in the hearts of men and donate some platinum to a "beggar"...who later turns out to have a full set of FoW armor or such. Or for example, a newbie "loans" money to a beggar, with fervent promises that they will return it. And then the money never comes back, the beggar puts the newbie on their Ignore list, and they're similarly dispossessed of their rightful property by what is essentially a scam.
 * In the literal meaning of "scam", however, it's true that "begging" is too broad a term to fall on either side of the line cleanly. There really are poor, unskilled newbies out there who could use a helping hand to start them along. But there are as many, if not more, malicious veterans who would not be troubled by hoodwinking a newbie out of their platinum with promises of repaid loans or claiming to be "poor".
 * How about this...reword the note on begging to a more general piece of advice.
 * Be wary of giving or "loaning" money and items to players. A "poor" player may not be poor at all, and an agreement to repay a loan or return items is not legally binding. Treat these as altruistic acts of charity rather than loans: never assume your money or items wil be repaid.
 * That seems to cover the bases better, without specifically criticizing begging. Yes/No? [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 03:08, 28 April 2007 (CDT)

That's basically saying running is scamming, running is using the knowledge of knowing where to run to a location. Ferrying in this case is no difference, most wouldn't know how to get to the guild hall, where to go and what to do. Begging obivously isn't scamming, and with holding information regarding where to go shouldn't be either. Knowledge is a service. Solus  02:56, 28 April 2007 (CDT)
 * Yeah, right - so you're telling me that it's okay to buy Imperial Commendations for 50g, knowing very well that you are scamming newbies. "Knowledge is a service" and therefore it's their fault for not knowing.
 * But if we do not inform them, who will? I ask you that. [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 03:08, 28 April 2007 (CDT)
 * I will prefice this commentary with "In My Opinion" to avoid offending anybody. And now, My Opinion: I believe that any action which involves somebody paying for Information instead of Ability, should be documented on wiki as a scam if it is commonplace, since you are paying money for something you do not need, were you properly informed.  And the job of this wiki is to properly inform people.  Thus I see no reason why the ferrying to Lion's Arch &etc should not be listed as such.  As for Begging, I think a warning should be provided, perhaps as a small note at the bottom of one of the sections, without being noted as a scam per say. Also, Solus, please try to actually read other people's opinions.  It leads to more congenial discussions. --[[image:rollerzerris.jpg|50x19px]]    12:37, 28 April 2007 (CDT)
 * a begger with full FoW is as much a scammer as anyone selling the secret farming spot; they're taking coin from others through deception. however, a legitimate begger is simply rude, not criminal. ferrying is one of those unique gameworld concepts. yellow cab charges for gas, vehical rental and driver's time. since there is no such thing as mutli-passenger mounts or fuel in GW, you're paying for driver's time only, and, by extension, ferring is simply overcharging for a run (i'll leave the "scam" qualification to the reader on this account). --Honorable Sarah [[image:Honorable_Icon.gif]] 22:56, 28 April 2007 (CDT)

Topaz Crest
Recently I saaw someone who said: 'Selling minipet, it is following me all the time! 25k!' I looked at it and he showed me a topaz crest, so I'm not sure to add this or not. &mdash;Shady Guy  12:17, 23 June 2007 (CDT)
 * No, it doesn't even say "Miniature ___" in the item's name. And its not too common, shouldn't be in the article IMO. --NYC Elite 12:21, 23 June 2007 (CDT)

Trading 10g instead of 10plat
I'm removing the waring about trading 10g intead of 10plat. This is old and doesn't help. Why do people want to know about past scams that Anet fixed? StatMan 17:10, 16 August 2007 (CDT)

Guild Wiki Advertisment Scams
As "Pay per Click" advertising is a booming business on virtually all web sites, it is no surprise that Guild Wiki is a victim of numerous web scams.

The most recent, the "Free Guildwars Nightfall" from several "unclaimedlayaway.com" banner adds is just one. Expecting a scam, I decided to check out the add anyway. After having to provide email and address information on the first web screen, I was then presented with more than 20 following screens of services I could select, with often as many as 40 services per screen. After carfully sellecting "no" to every service, I was finally presented with a screen that offered a $50 EB Games card only AFTER selecting - and paying for a particular service. From Sewer pumping to storm window replacement, the offers were endless. After the initial screen, Nightfall and indeed, Guildwars, was never mentioned again.

Durring the 20 minutes it took to get to the dead end, my email IN box began to fill up with even more service offers. I have since added the ".net" source to my block list.

So, in conclusion - When trying to avoid Scams, avoid any and all banner adds on Guild Wiki as well. -Lefick

Two-man scams
I just saw some guys in lions arch... 1 was trading mini pet kuuanavang for gorrels staff and his GUILDIE was selling gorrels staff for 30k... i have a friend who bought gorrels staff and then the guy with kuuanavang said that he alredy trade it... ive seen it couple of times after it... User:Nikola
 * That's a dastardly (but I must admit well thought out) scam. Could we possibly add a section for the rather rare but evidently existing 2-person "scams"? (He did technically get what he paid for, but he was expecting to end up with 30k less but a Kuunavang, not a Gorrel's Staff. Also, it was definately set up if what Nikola says is accurate). Also, this isn't very relevent to any other above comments so I'm making this its own topic--Daniel Rendat 02:37, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

Wiki editing
"Never make edits to a Guild Wars wiki, regardless of the actual wording of the license by which you release the edits, unless you agree to all of your edits being used for commercial purposes. A license declaring that a work shall not be used for commercial gain should provide protection. In truth, it means nothing to those who would profit from your work, as it is difficult to enforce." You have no right to tell people they can't edit on the wiki. I'm not becoming part of the revert wars, so either an admin or another willing user please remove that note. Silver Sunlight 06:21, 14 September 2007 (CDT)

Rewording links
I read the link to the item scams page (Main Article: Item scams (a more detailed listing of the item scams summarized here)) and realized it doesn't make much sense. How can something be detailed and summarized, not only because the two contradict, but also because this page practically is a summary of the different categories. Anyone else think we should change it?--Daniel Rendat 02:28, 2 November 2007 (UTC) i THINK detailed refers to the other page, and summarized to this one ~Big Mike, The Lownage 16:34, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Shadow step scam
Never trust a player who asks you to drop your items on the ground, unless you are giving that item away. If they cannot open a trade window, they are playing a demo and will be unable to pick up the item anyway. '''A common scam is an Assassin at the edge of your aggro. He will use a skill to teleport to you and take your items.'''

This scamer wouldn't have to be a assassin because of the skill Ebon Escape. I don't really know if anyone uses the skill fo scamming but it is possible so I thought i'd make a note. --DragonStorm 09:35, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

Do not pay anyone to be taken to a "secret place" or "farming spot". GuildWiki documents all of those better and for free.
WTF? That's fine. Maybe the people just want to show a guildie a cool spot to farm. Like one time with my 330 spirit bon rit someone showed me a cool spot to farm near Cavalon and i get like 2 golds a run. So, why would it be considered a scam to get more cash from a little help? Or why is it bad to get a friend and find a new favorite place?--‎ Spam  King  14:55, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * You'd charge a guildie? Glad I'm not in your guild. [[Image:Jamster Sig.jpg|19px]] ---Jamster--- 14:57, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * WHat, when did i say i charge guildies?--[[image:Spam_King_Sig.gif|19px]]‎ Spam  King  14:59, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The passage quoted states 'do not pay anyone. Of course, showing them it for free is fine O_o. [[Image:Jamster Sig.jpg|19px]] ---Jamster--- 15:01, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Oh, jeez, i must be blind. I read that scam like 30 times and never realized the first part. Omg, you can just forget this.--[[image:Spam_King_Sig.gif|19px]]‎ Spam  King  15:03, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Isle of the nameless
This isn't necessarily a scam I don't think but I've come across some people that use to claim their graphics card sucked and that they had to trade outside GToBalth in the Isle of the Nameless. I never bought that crap from those who claim that - but just a question... Is there something wrong with that person? I mean, it can't possibly be a graphics card glitch as they seem quite sinister. I've even had someone swear at me because I will not go out to the Isle of the Nameless. One time I did but I quickly zoned back (without any items with me of course!). He then said a bunch of stuff claiming he saw nothing in my inventory. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why people do this and what this does? It was a while ago though - haven't had it happen to me for a while now. Perhaps an exploit of some sort? --Call Me Rexy 09:06, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Scam probably. If his computer sucks he may have a low framerate in cities with a lot of people, but that's hardly anything that would prevent trading. On another note, he can't take any of your items outside of towns, unless you trade it to them or drop it. &mdash; Poki#3 [[Image:Poki.jpg|19px|My Talk Page :o]], 10:55, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
 * The funny thing was I think I had some mediocre item on me once when I zoned out with the person and as soon as we loaded he promptly exclaimed I do not have the item in my backpack. I assume this is much more than just an ordinary thing. Maybe there was an exploit in the system at some point in this location? It sure seemed sinister to me. --Call Me Rexy 13:39, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm definitely not an expert, but their may be a way to packet sniff your inventory by other people or something. Still, they can't take it. I would definitely report this strange behaviour to support :/ &mdash; Poki#3 [[Image:Poki.jpg|19px|My Talk Page :o]], 14:06, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
 * It has been far too long since it has happened so I don't remember the date and time etc to report. I think I may have a few screenshots around somewhere. --Call Me Rexy 19:01, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

Scam not listed here
I was just the subject of an odd scam. I was in kamadan dis 1 trying to sell my chaos axe when a guy saying he was an ArenaNet employee asked for the price of the axe so I told him it. After I told him the price he said that a co-worker also from ArenaNet was looking for a chaos axe so he wanted me to hand my axe over to him and said she would pay me later. Obviously I realized it was a scam and told him no. After I said no he threatened me and said that if I didnt hand my axe over he would tell some person named Henry i was scamming and get my account taken away. I told him that I had screen shotted the whole conversation and told him to report now that I have evidence. Once I said that he started saying I was photo shopping the pics and would report that also. I just laughed at him after that and he stopped pm'ing me. So I dont know if this has happened to anyone else where people try to pose as ArenaNet employees to scam people but I wanted to share this experience with everyone just in case.


 * I have one that unfortunately I was duped by. Never pay for a mission/quest run until the mission/quest is actually done, or as in Dungeons, the last boss is dead.

The 100k scam
Okay recently I was scammed out of 100k... and I'll tell you how the scammer did it. So I was buying 2 tormented items for 100k +65 ectos (ectos are worth 3.3k/ea atm) so I put on my 100k and 65 ectos, he put on his tormented items, and I accepted. Thing is, he's like; "hold on, what do you think a good caster weapon would be for a male monk?" I, having no idea what he was talking about, proceeded to tell him which skins I liked, and he said he had one of them (Icy Bladed Axe) and needed a black dye, and offered to buy one from me. So I though, hmm, okay... proceeded to remove my 65 ectos from the trade window and put a black dye in it's place. The scammer then put 1 ecto and 4k (approximately worth what a black dye is atm) and I naturally accepted. So you might be wondering, how did I get scammed out of 100k? Well, if you read closely, after changing from myself buying tormented weapons to selling him a black dye, I forgot to remove my 100k... So naturally, I traded him 100k + black dye for 1 ecto + 4k. Just thought I'd let everyone know that even the best and most experienced of us can still be scammed. ICY  F IFT Y <font color="#220000">FIVE 08:47, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
 * That's not a scam, that's just you being forgetful. Did he ignore/log off when you asked him to return the money? [[Image:Felix_Omni_Signature.png]] 08:50, 28 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Mine wasnt as severe, but was also cause I didn't pay attention. Was buying Destroyer Cores in CTC, and some guy said he had 11 Cores. So, I put up 3k 850g in the trade, and sumbitted. He put some item in, took it out and pressed Sumbit. Cause I wasn't really paying attention, I assumed he didn't take out those cores, and pressed Accept. Poof, 3.8k gone. Ah well, it's not a lot.. Not paying attention can get expensive, though, as evident by FiftyFive's comment O-o --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]]-- (s)talkpage  08:52, 28 June 2008 (UTC)


 * The most I've lost was 10k. I was selling a lot of ectos and didn't think anyone would buy them all in one go. So when the guy wanted to, I minimized gw and worked out how much he owed me, then went back into the game. He then took so long to come up with the money, that I only checked the last number out of frustration, but when I pressed accept I saw he gave me 10k less than what he should have. <font face = "Matura MT Script Capitals">Silver Sunlight [[Image:SSunlight.jpg|19px]] 09:53, 28 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Yea, I got a few friends to all spam him with "omg I'm gonna ban you for scamming Icy", "reported" etc... and he eventually gave me back my money :D Icy > Scammer ^^  <font color="#220000">ICY <font color="#550000"> F <font color="#990000">IFT <font color="#550000">Y <font color="#220000">FIVE  08:32, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Scammer Guilds?
I have heard rumors of several potential scammer guilds, guilds made up of nothing but scammers, specifically the account buying rackets that have becomea major probolem. Has anyone identified if these rumors are true and if they are what guilds are suspected as being "scammer" guilds. 63.209.225.146 21:24, 17 July 2008 (UTC) Invisus Phasmatis

Auto Accept Glitch Confirmed!!!
[]

lmao... lookout of someone with evil intention knows how to abuse this for scam trade Conget 15:39, 21 August 2008 (UTC)
 * You didn't open the trade before the mission ended? XD Also, if the person gave you 1k, it might not mean that if you try to trade something, they'll be able to accept without making an offer. ــѕт.  мıкε  16:00, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

10% value scam
I saw this 1 in ToA yesterday. Some person said that he was leaving GW for good, and that he wanted to give all his money away. So if a person showed him some money, he would give you 10% of that money to keep. So some ppl did show him money, and he put up his money (10% as he said) and then they hit accept, without thinking about the fact that they still had their 100K in the trade. Result, a 90K loss. Im not sure this is a scam, but i wanted to share this, so i put it here. comments are appreciated.Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 15:45, 23 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Isn't that called stupidity? --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]]-- (s)talkpage  15:52, 23 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I was thinking that too, but it's still a delibrate attempt to rid some1 off their 100K. But its pretty stupid to fall for, though.Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 15:56, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

The photoshop for guild page scam
In the past few months there has been an increasing ammount of dishonest players advertising in towns like Lions Arch, Kamadan, Kaineng Center and even on the Great Temple of Balthazar the following add: "Looking for players with Tormented weapons, Obsidian Edge or Voltaic spears for Photoshop shots for our guild page. Paying 4k". This is but a scam that goes has follows: the scammer will invite you to his party and enter an explorable area, there he will open the trade window so you can show the itens. After this they will go to the edge of your aggro circle and ask you to drop the item has if it was a monster drop.DO NOT DO IT!! Once you drop the item the scammer will either use an assassin skill or the Ebon Vangard skill "Ebon Escape" to teleport to you and steal your itens. Some scammers ping a bogus skill template that doesnt show their real skills that is made by going to the manage skills option and send the skill template code to chat. In an explorable area U CAN NOT PING YOUR BUILD ONLY THE SKILL YOU ARE CURRENTLY USING. Some scammers have evolved their methods by using speed buff skills or a buddy. The buddy will act like a regular player always trading first, droping the item and "getting payed" making the player believe it is a honest deal. After the buddy leaves YOU WILL BE SCAMMED using the above methods. The best way to protect yourself is to stay sharp! If you see a player advertising imediatly report him for scamming in "ALL" chat option so everyone in the town stays alert. Only by reporting scammers amongst players can we stop them. Here are the names of two confirmed scammers: <<names removed --Dr ishmael>>. -- originally posted by Scammers Must Die 15:30, 3 September 2008
 * There was no need to keep this, it's a simple variation on the "come outside town, I'll walk away, you drop your item *RECALL*PICKUP*GONE*" scam. &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 20:15, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
 * It is a narrative account of teh modus operandi that is summarily mentioned in the article, and it includes a setup, which is very important in any kind of scam, whic is why I think this tells readers more than the article itself does. I agree, however, that it doesn't fit the article as it is now structured, but it does fit this talk page. --◄mendel► 20:39, 3 September 2008 (UTC)