Common scams

In games such as Guild Wars, there are people who try to get ahead by dishonest means, cheating and stealing from other players. This article aims to arm you with enough knowledge to avoid the well known scams. Be aware of them!

The main article contains hard and fast ways you should act and things you should know to avoid being scammed. See the separate sub-articles for in-depth explanations and less common scams.

Item Scams
Main Article: Item scams (a more detailed listing of the item scams summarized here)

Many scams involve trading or manipulating items in various ways. Keep the following things in mind:
 * A common piece of misinformation often aired by the sellers of req. 8 items in order to inflate their price is to say they do not drop anymore since ArenaNet removed them from drops in some unspecified update. This is simply not true.
 * Polymock Pieces, the first 3 are free in Rata Sum and need to be registered in order to use them.
 * Thunderfist's Brass Knuckles are free to get as a quest reward in Eye of the North.
 * Moa Eggs are free to get in the Prophecies campaign and are useless unless you own that campaign.
 * Hardened Moa Eggs DO NOT hatch into minipets without a long scavenger hunt that must be done by a single character, on an account with all three campaigns and Guild Wars: Eye of the North (see Black Moa Chick for more details).
 * The Mini Asura is being given away free with the May 2007 issue of PC Gamer and other magazines around the world.
 * Minipets do NOT come from Wintersday Gifts or Winter Gifts. Minipets come from Birthday Presents and other non-gift sources.
 * You cannot wear another player's armor, ever.
 * You cannot use an item customized for another player, ever (minipets are now only "dedicated" instead of "customized", other characters can now use dedicated minipets, but are unable to add them to their Hall of Monuments.
 * You cannot un-customize or customize over armor, weapons, and minipets, ever.
 * With the introduction of the festival hat maker players have the ability to craft multiple hats. All Festival Hats are customized.
 * You cannot use the festival hat maker to make yourself a hat using another player's hat.
 * Do not buy unidentified items unless you have read the main item scam article.
 * Before buying a quest item, always look it up on GuildWiki first and make sure that item can in fact be bought and used to complete the quest.
 * Before buying dye, read the main article.
 * Monastery Credits and Battle Commendations are worth at least 100 . Imperial Commendations, Equipment Requisitions, Luxon Totems, Kournan Coins, Ancient Artifacts, and Inscribed Secrets are worth at least 200 . If you sell them for less, you are cheating yourself.
 * 7 Trade Contracts can be traded for a Ruby, Diamond, or Sapphire. Always check the Rare Material Trader for jewel prices before selling your contracts.
 * Gray dye is sold at the merchant for 50 . It is also the standard color of newly crafted armor. It is not subject to the usual trader supply and demand prices.
 * Beware of people advertising "collectible" or "rare" items (not Collectors items). Often the items may simply come from an expansion other than the one they are being advertised in. This scam can involve two scammers: one advertises selling a fake "collectible" or "rare" item, the other advertises buying it a much higher price.  Do not be tempted into being the middleman! Check up on the item on GuildWiki or with your guild/alliance mates first.
 * An old scam, but never give a player any items or gold when they claim they've been hacked. Usually they will place their armor and equipment back on and travel to another city after you've given them something to raise more gold.

Trade Scams
Main article: Trade scams (a more detailed listing of the trade scams summarized here)

When trading with other players, it pays to be on your guard. Most players are on the level and will not try to cheat you, but there are bad apples out there, and keeping the following in mind will save you much grief:


 * Always hover your mouse over the items you're receiving in a trade an extra time before hitting accept. Make sure you're getting exactly what you expect. Be especially careful to check if the trade has been modified since it was originally offered.
 * Always make sure the trade window actually reflects the person you want to trade with.
 * Do not trust people who suddenly "get bugged" while trading with you.
 * Never agree to a trade that goes through a third party unless you know and trust that person.
 * Use multiple ecto or black dye to trade values in excess of 100k. Do not engage in trades that would require more than one trading session otherwise, as the seller may take your money from the first trade and run. (Trades over 100k must be performed in more than one session.)
 * 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.
 * Never believe someone when they tell you the item they are selling you is worth the merchant value shown in trade window. Some people will try to trade you an item that says "value:XXXgold" rather than giving you the gold you are asking for an item.  This is a scam because the item in trade window, if stackable, shows the merchant value of all the whole stack of items that person is holding, not just the one they are trading you.
 * "Item duplication" is always a scam. Do not let your greed get the best of you.
 * If trading for a quest item, make sure you look it up on the wiki first to ascertain the exact name of the item you need.
 * Never accept an item that is supposedly in a "bag". All bags must be empty to be traded!
 * Always remember you cannot buy armor from other players: it's automatically customized!
 * Always remember to check that the weapon isn't customized! Customized weapons cannot be used by anybody other than the player they were customized for.
 * Watch out for people selling accounts from other games. Runescape is a game often used for this, so be very careful!

Account Scams

 * Don't use the same email address and password when you sign up for sketchy forums or free teamspeak servers offered by in-game players.
 * ArenaNet will never, ever ask you for your username or password. Report anyone who does.
 * Don't ever buy an account or an access key from someone you don't know or trust, as the majority of the time it is a scam. Trading or selling account keys also violates the User Agreement.
 * Be sure to keep your Access Keys, and to add them to your PlayNC master account, so that you can change your password if your password gets compromised.

Miscellaneous scams
Main article: Miscellaneous scams (a more detailed listing of the miscellaneous scams summarized here)

All the scams that fit none of the other categories. To make your life easier, pay attention:


 * Creating a guild does not require a GM (Game Master, an ArenaNet administrator, also referred to as Global Moderators) to help.
 * Don't fall for the temptation to download "hacks" or other 3rd-party tools such as bots. Using them violates the User Agreement and can get your account banned. They can also be trojan horses that install spyware on your computer, stealing your GW password and more.
 * In general, do not waste time trying to "catch" people who purport to give away free goodies to the first person who can find/touch them. This is not so much a scam as a waste of your time, as many will refuse to give you anything, contrary to their own words. They also may use two accounts and already be in trade mode between them, meaning that even if you do catch them, you will never be able to initiate trade.
 * Do not pay anyone to be taken to a "secret place" or "farming spot". GuildWiki documents all of those better and for free.
 * Do not try to "buy a guild" from someone you do not know and trust, as it may be a scam.
 * Never "buy guild members" as the "seller" will give you names he knows will not join, making you waste gold on inviting them and you will have paid for nothing.
 * Do not buy gold, CD Keys, or items from online stores for real cash. There is no guarantee that you will get your product. It also violates the User Agreement and can get your account banned. (Section 7 of the current EULA)
 * Never promote untrusted members to a Guild Officer, usually they will kick/demote all your members and then leave the guild, leaving you with no members whatsoever.
 * Careful when helping new guild members, usually they will claim "Free Guild Member" help and then leave when they've got what they want done, for example crafting new armor.