Scams

Scams occur when one player or group of players deceives another player out of money, goods, or enjoyment in-game. The only way to fall victim to a scam is to be ignorant; knowledge, and a little common sense, will protect you from any scam another player tries.

Identifying a Scam
In general, any offer that appears to be too good to be true probably is a scam. Scammers will often approach you directly, via whisper, with their offer, instead of announcing it on !All or $Trade. This allows them to avoid anybody else ratting them out. If in doubt to whether a deal is genuine, ask on a public channel! And, if you catch a scammer in the act, be sure to let everyone around you know what he's up to and report it to Anet as soon as possible.

Reporting a Scam
It's not a complete jungle out there. There are things to do to fight scammers. While you may not be able to recover your "game resources" (like gold paid or items lost), you will at least be able to put a stop to this person. The developers of the game have every bit as much interest as you in stopping scams.

To report a scam (the following only works if you have not logged off or it has not been a long while since the scam took place):
 * 1) Generate proof of the scam. This is best done using Screen Capture.
 * 2) Press the Chat buttom (botton left corner) or the ` key (under Esc). This will bring up the chat log.
 * 3) Scroll to where the important exchanges between you and the scammer took place. Capture each exchange.
 * 4) If there was trading done, it will also show on your chat log, this is the most important evidence. It will show what you gave and what you got in return.
 * 5) Go to Guild Wars' "Ask a Question" section here and fill out the form. In the "Department" section choose "Violation Report" and in the attachment section attach the screen captures you took.
 * 6) Submit this question and it will go to ArenaNet and they will look into it.

Item Scams
Item scams exploit traits of items to convince somebody he's getting something he isn't.

Selling Armor
All armor in Guild Wars is customized to the character that purchased it. This means that, while it can be traded to others, nobody else can actually wear it! The most anybody can do with a piece of armor is salvage it. The game now offers a warning in the trade window when the item being sold is customized.

Selling Customized Weapons
Whenever you buy a weapon from another player, look at it closely. If you see a line stating that it is customized for that player, you will be unable to equip the weapon if you buy it! You may still wish to buy it to try and salvage weapon upgrades off of it. The game now offers a warning in the trade window when the item being sold is customized.

Decustomization
Often, a player attempting a scam with armor or weapons will tell you that a decustomization vendor will remove the old customization, allowing you to equip the armor or weapon. This is blatantly false; there is no decustomization vendor, and any customized equipment you buy will be useless!

The "I know a secret place" scam
The scammer will announce that he knows an excellent place where there is lots of gold/platinum or where there is excellent loot. Victims who pay him will find out that his secret is for them to do the same to others.

Unidentified Items
This is not necessarily a scam, but it is definitely worth mentioning. As you probably know, using an Identification Kit on an unidentified item will show you what properties that item has. If the properties come from a rune or weapon upgrade, you will unlock that rune or upgrade for use on PvP characters. Merely purchasing an already-identified item does not unlock like this, so a thriving market in unidentified items exists in Guild Wars.

However, there are three good reasons not to buy unidentified items. Firstly, the odds of you unlocking a rune or upgrade you can actually use is extremely rare. Secondly, the seller can actually salvage the item before identifying it, which will, if the item holds a rune, tell you the strength and the profession of that rune. This allows you to purchase something far more likely to give you an item you can use. Finally, if you're purchasing the item to replace current equipment, the level of rarity of an item does not directly correspond to its power. A purple isn't necessarily stronger than a blue, and a gold isn't necessarily stronger than a purple. Buying unidentified items is like buying a lottery ticket, the chance for a good hit is higher with golden items, but you might still get a worthless item.

In general, unless you have very good reasons for doing so, you should avoid buying unidentified items. (Vigor runes are an obvious exception, as they are clearly identifiable by their trident symbol.)

Althea's Ashes
It is possible to buy Althea's Ashes in Piken Square, it has the same picture as a Pile of Glittering Dust but it is a quest item. Be sure to accept first the quest and then buy the urn; having the urn while accepting the quest may lead to a disappearance of the Urn without having the quest completed. You can, however, put the urn in storage until you have accepted the quest.

Be also aware that there are two quests concerning Althea; only after completing The Duke's Daughter can you accept Althea's Ashes.

Family Sigil as Celestial Sigil
When trading for a Celestial Sigil, be sure to verify that what you are buying is indeed a Celestial Sigil and not a Family Sigil. Family Sigils are a valueless quest item.

Enslavement Stone
Some people claim you need Enslavement Stones to get Chains of Enslavement, an enchantment you get after accepting the Summit Slaves quest.

Dye Scams
Gold dye can sell for prices up to 3.5 platinum, especially in Lion's Arch. However, gold dye barely costs two platinum to mix. It's a simple mix of orange, yellow, and silver dyes. The most expensive component of gold dye is the silver dye (which generally does not exceed 1 platinum). Some mixes of 'gold dye' lack the silver component as well, earning the seller a profit of nearly 3 platinum. Gold dye does not drop, even though a scammer may try and convince you otherwise.

Similarly, people will try to sell white dye, usually at around 5 or 10 platinum, or a supposed formula for white dye, which can go for 50 or even 100 platinum. The formula usually involves three silver dyes and a yellow, which generally looks pretty white. Some armors (especially ranger and monk) look better with this mix than others, however this is no guarantee that the dye will look white on other armors. The same rules apply to other custom dye mixes- gold, teal, etc.

Selling Quest Rewards
Beware of items with blue names and max or near max mods when buying. Although many will think the mod(s) or the item itself is rare, it may well be a quest reward item or collector's item. If this is the case, then the mod(s) cannot be salvaged off of the weapon as they are inherent. If you see a very good mod on a blue weapon, the item is almost certainly a quest reward, as blue items never have max mods (i.e. 3/-1 Vampiric or 10/10 Furious), and most people are loathe to put a rare mod on a blue weapon.

Trade Scams
Trade scams involve trading between two or more players. Trade scams all rely on the scammer confusing you into believing him over the game window. Remember this important rule: the game window is always right! Also, do not press Accept on the Trade Window until you have fully read the descriptions of all items in it.

Running / Getting Run
For those who agree upon a gold transaction for these "services", be aware that both the runner and the person being run are highly vulnerable to getting scammed. If someone offers a run for money, and wants payment up front, there is nothing to stop them from disconnecting once they have your cash. Or they might not actually be very adept at running, and will die several times before giving up in frustration. Few legit runners will require any gold up front. They accept payment 1/2 way, or for long runs, some pre-agreed terms for a certain amount of gold at a certain marker. Similarly, if you are running a party full of paying customers, there is no way you can compel them to pay once the run has been completed. Some scams involve a person saying they have the gold in their storage, and can't get it until you enter the destination, only to have them ignore you once they arrive. For this reason, experienced runners will verify funds by opening a trade window with each of their "clients" just outside the starting point of the run, and make them show that they are carrying the required gold on their person. Then, the runner will collect due payment at the beginning of the zone adjacent to the destination, which is generally far enough that the others will not be able to complete the trip on their own.

Despite these tips, getting scammed during a run is still one of the most prevalent forms of dishonesty. Be warned.

"I'm bugged!"
The buyer will submit nothing on his side of the trade, and when you ask him about it, he'll claim to be "bugged," and that he actually submitted the item you were trying to buy from him. While it is entirely possible to be bugged in trade, it is not possible to be bugged in this way. If the trader claims to be bugged, ask him to relog, and do the same yourself. If he resists or refuses, or if the problem doesn't go away, he is a scammer, and you should not trade with him.

Bait and Switch
Often, scammers will submit an item that is not what you agreed upon. However, this is likely to get the scammer caught, so they make sure you're in a hurry first. They will usually do this by repeatedly closing the trade window in the middle of the trade, and claiming he's "glitched", until eventually, you're hitting accept as fast as possible to outrace the "glitch." When he finally submits an item, it's junk that you don't want, and in your unthinking hurry, you hit accept anyway. Don't fall for this.

Item Switch
This is a general area of scamming which basically involves advertising an item, and when the seller actually puts the item in the trade window, it is something else. This could be offering Silver Dye as of Black Dye, offering an item with +2 Energy with health above 50% as being +2 Energy always or simply advertising a weapon as being max damage when it is a few points under maximum damage.

Many scammers will actually have the advertised item, will show it to you in the Trade Window but then quickly close it (with the excuse of "oops" or showing it to another customer). When the trade window is re-opened, the fake item is now in place.

Money Switch
In offering to buy an item, the scammer quickly switches from an offer of platinum to gold, hoping to fool the seller. For example, a scammer may agree to pay 7 platinum for black dye. When the trade window opens he 'mistakenly' offers 8 platinum. Seeing the chance to make an extra piece of platinum, the seller eagerly clicks "accept". The scammer then says something like "Oops, sorry" and changes his offer to 7 gold, hoping that the seller won't notice the change from platinum to gold. Make sure you carefully check the final offer before you accept the trade.

Deferred Trades
This is a broad category of scams, but they all have the same scam element: the scammer will have you trade him an item or money, in return for an item or money he (or some other scammer) will supposedly trade you right back. This often takes the form of the three-way trade. The scammer says "I have Item A, which this guy here wants. I want Item B, which you have.  And you want Item C, which this guy here has.  So, you give me Item B, I'll give him Item A, and he'll give you Item C." Of course, as soon as you part with your Item B, they both leave or log off.

Guild / Guild Hall Scams
Some people try to "sell" their Guilds and Guild Halls. There may be legitimate sellers, but if it can't be put in the trade window, there's no guarantee of receiving it.

100k+ Transactions
If you agree to buy an item from another player for over 100k, several trade sessions are required. Each character can only hold 100k on their person, so between sessions each trader must move money through storage. Some scammers open the first window, take your 100k and vanish. To prevent them from stealing your gold, try asking for their armor or a customized weapon from them. Customized items are only useful as salvage to you (a couple platinum at best) but are worth a lot more to their owner! Give back the armor or weapons when you recieve your item.

Impersonation Scams
Impersonation scams are scams in which the scammers act as ArenaNet staff.

Username/Password Requests
Never give anybody your username or password. Ever. ArenaNet will never ask for it; not through email, not through a whisper, never.

Sigil Status
This is targeted at EverQuest players, who needed to have GMs approve their guild creation in a chat room. In this game, all guild management is taken care of in-game, so the scam has no basis in fact. Basically, a scammer will tell you that, to get your Celestial Sigil, you must pay a GM gold, and he'd transfer the status onto you, allowing you to buy a Guild Hall. Don't do it! Sigils can only be purchased from other players or the Sigil Trader, or be earned in the Hall of Heroes.