EVE New Citizens Q&A

I laughed so hard I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw that.

In fact, some players might say that's the biggest scam of all.

Just kidding.



Anyway, all kidding aside there's a couple of other scams that should be mentioned.

If anyone says they need your full API account number to verify something, don't give it. it's a scam which could end up with your account being hacked resulting in the loss of everything.

When buying multiple items on a contract (example) like a full set of +5 Attribute Implants, always show info on each item listed even if the contract description (written by player) states 'Full set of +5 Implants' . The scam part of this is the contract will have a good price for quick sale but only 1 or 2 of the implants will actually be +5 while the rest of the implants will be +2's.

If someone in your NPC Corp chat channel says they need a loan of x amount of ISK to buy skillbooks, a Frigate, to complete a deal, etc and will repay it very soon with interest, good chance it's a scam. However, if you have plenty of ISK and can afford it, the player just might be telling the truth.


Case in point:
A few years ago a Russian speaking player in NPC corp chat asked in very broken English for 100,000 isk to complete a trade deal and would give isk reward for help. Immediately a lot of players responded with remarks like 'Go away thief' or 'Stop begging' or 'Scam' , etc. I had at the time a little over 10 million isk in my wallet and remembered when someone had helped me with a 1 million isk donation. So I decided to give the Russian 1 million isk which I mentioned in corp chat. That caused everyone else in chat channel to tell me 'Don't do it' and 'It's a scam', etc.

Next thing I know my wallet flashed and the Russian gave 900,000 of the 1 mill isk back to me. I then gave it back to him. He returned it back to me again. I then gave it back to him again. I told everyone in corp chat what was happening and they were telling me to stop or give it to them, etc.. The Russian then linked my name in the chat channel with some Russian words typed in very large bold capital letters. Someone said they couldn't read Russian but they could tell that he was mad.

About 10 minutes later my wallet flashed again, the Russian had now placed 10 million isk into it with a message - 'Reward'. I told the channel members what happened and then linked his name in chat with a salute o7. He then replied with a smile and salute :) o7. The rest of the channel members couldn't believe it. A lot of them said I was lucky. I was just trying to do some good will help. I didn't expect anything in return and ended up with about 20 mill in my wallet, doubling what I already had.

But my story doesn't stop there.

About a week after that, a new player in NPC corp chat channel said he had over 10 billion isk on his main character and was leaving Eve. Said he wanted to help out new players and would double the amount of isk anyone gave him. Since I had a bunch of isk (+20 mill), I did a personal convo with him and after he assured me he would double it, gave him 15 mill isk. After he got my isk, he closed the personal chat and continued posting his 'Double your ISK - Leaving EVE' message in NPC corp chat. I tried to do personal chat again but he wouldn't accept. I then realized I had been scammed for 15 million isk.

I told everyone about it in NPC corp chat. One of the other channel members told me thanks for the info cuz he was just about to give the guy 10 mill isk. A couple members said I just learned a very good lesson about Eve - Never trust anyone - and - If it sounds too good to be true, then it is - Other members started linking the guys name with 'Thief' and 'Scammer' next to it. This caused the guy to log out from the game. Man was I bummed out. After talking to a couple of corp members in private convo, I learned some info about tracking players. I added the scammer to my contact list with -10 standing and placed him on watch list. I also learned about Locator Agents. A couple of hours later the scammer logged back into the game.

I used a Locator Agent to find out where he was and set destination. I arrived in system to see he was running the same 'Leaving Eve' scam in local chat. I immediately started telling local chat that it was a scam and the guy was a thief. I spammed local chat - linked his name with 'Scammer' - He left the system and I warped around jumping into all connected systems till I saw him in local chat again where I continued doing the same thing, linking his name with 'Scammer' next to it. Again he left system and again I jumped around til I found him and started spamming my message in local chat again. He then logged out of the game again.

There was no way I was going to let this slide. I was pretty much online about 20 hours a day, tracking the scammer and spamming local chat with my message. Anytime the scammer came online, I was in system ready and waiting to do my thing - link his name with 'Scammer' next to it in local chat. If he traveled to another system, I would follow. This went on for a few days. I was bound and determined to ruin any chance of him scamming other players. Eventually the guy placed 15 mill isk back into my wallet with a mail message saying 'Leave me alone'.

I saw him log in and out of the game for a few more days after that. I think after his trial period was done, the character was bio-massed. I never did get 'Double' the isk amount. That was the first time I was ever scammed in Eve and hopefully it's the last time as well.

If you see other players in local chat saying they got double isk from so and so, they are either alts or friends of the scammer, all of them trying to get your hard earned isk.

I feel compelled to speak up for proper, decent scammers. Not all of us are spamming Jita local with mis-labelled contracts. A noble handful of us are hardworking grifters running sophisticated confidence games, hustling ISK day in and day out to finance the endless war against Goons and Russian botters to keep Delve and Period Basis safe for decent people.

Rest assured, gentle victim, the billion ISK you just paid me for something that was worth a tenth of that is going to a good cause. (After I buy another PLEX and faction-fit my new Archon, of course)

P.S. Block this toon if it makes you feel better, but it won't do you any good. Getting your ISK is the easy part, counting it all...that's hard.

I had a look at that one too a few times trying to work out where the scam was, until I read it in this forum a while ago (about the 3rd or 4th post in).

I believe that such macros are not allowed either. Actually they are just simple bots.

Where does the EULA stand on scamming for out-of-game (but related) services?

If I tell someone I am going to host a killboard for them, and the agreed payment is a PLEX, what would be the repercussions on myself for not delivering on it?

I saw someone offering exactly this service, and scamming for it, and it struck me as being a bit "off" - not least because there are no in-game mechanisms for detecting or acting on the scam.

I have one thing to say about all this....Thank you Jita....thank you very much

Thank you for telling that. I really like collecting rare items and using them to remove fake buy orders from market. After this I'm going to like it even more.

Tl;dr: We don't like scams of this sort, don't do it!

Players who find themselves scammed in this manner should petition immediately to have the matter looked into, reporting the incident weeks or months after the fact will likely not amount to much as we naturally cannot reliably determine whether the service was provided in the past.

No, you'll not get away with the scam by stalling the buyer for some time with promises that the service will be ready in a few days. The payment should not be rendered by the buyer until the seller is ready to start providing the advertised service. As a legitimate seller, do not accept payment for the service unless you‘re ready to start providing it within a few hours.

The scammer should at the very least expect to have the proceeds of the scam removed. A warning or even temporary/permanent account suspensions could apply based on the situation at hand/the scammer's track record. There are plenty of ways to scam in EVE without breaking the game rules, sticking to those methods will ward off any potential trouble.

Finally, for maximum accountability, transactions involving out-of-game services such as killboard/voice chat server hosting should be negotiated through the sell orders section of these forums. It goes without saying that this should not be taken as a free pass to conduct scams of this sort outside of these forums.

1. Spilling a drink has nothing to do with intelligence. Perhaps you have never spilled a drink, hot or cold, in your life, but it happens to people for a wide number of reasons that have little to do with intelligence. Now, if Liebeck had made the choice to drive a car while holding a hot cup of coffee, that would have been stupidity, but she was the passenger in a parked car when she spilled it. This matters because the trial that followed determined she was 20% responsible for being burned.

That means that McDonald's was found 80% responsible. Why? Because of the choices people within the corporation made.

2. McDonald's policy was to serve the coffee at 180-190 degrees F. Not only is this hotter than other major coffee providers (Starbucks and Dunkin's) but prior to the incident with Liebeck, McDonald's had over 700 complaints about people being scalded by their coffee and had already paid over $500,000 in damages.

McDonald's made the choice to serve a product it knew could cause injuries because the price of paying people off was easier than changing its existing policy. This is a choice many companies make. Recalls, re-training, and replacing equipment cost money. For a company as large as McDonald's, it can literally cost them millions.

3. Liebeck suffered third-degree burns, permanent scarring, and required skin grafts. The representative for McDonald's admitted that he knew this was a possible consequence of its coffee spilling on someone but also that the average consumer would not be aware of this.

Negligence often involves the idea of the reasonable person. A reasonable person expects to suffer some burns when a cup of coffee hits their lap, but not for their genitals to fuse to their inner thigh.

4. Liebeck initially asked for $20,000 and was refused. Recall that McDonald's previously just paid off medical costs but this particular franchise owner decided that he or she would only pay $800. Again, that's a choice. McDonald's could have avoided a trial altogether with one $20,000 check.

5. McDonald's legal strategy was to admit to all wrong doing and then say they had more important things to worry about. Seriously. If you want to talk about stupidity, look at the lawyers for the defense and their witnesses.

In my humble opinion this thread could do with being made a sticky!!