Crime & Punishment

Have you ever seen a man eat his own head?

So just had a run in with this "legit" ISK doubler. Figured I'd give it a shot, take a risk, and see how the game is played. Since I've played, I'd like to now share exactly what the scam is to those allured by it:

• First she reels you in with you making a small (50mill to maybe 200 mill) donation she does indeed double, along with the claims by other people who had her truthfully double their small amounts.
• The trick comes directly after this when you start feeling secure and safe in this being an actual "business".
• Maybe not in your second, but at least definitely in your third when you've sent her a good amount of isk, you'll find her not sending you anything back.
• When confronted about this, she states something akin to "Oh, I got spammed and didn't see it. Send me the same amount and a screenshot and I'll triple it".
• This is where her real scam begins. You've already sent a large amount that she fully intends on keeping, and now she has you were you possibly think she's legit given she's already done what she promised.
• So you're considering her proposal, but regardless if you give her more isk, you've already fallen in her trap. You can either cut your losses or dig yourself deeper. Either way she's not paying you anything.
• Furthermore, when confronted, she will continue to insist that you are actually scamming her. That if you weren't, you'd send her the isk she asked for. Nevermind the fact that she would lose more by simply giving you your money back, or even just simply tripling it as she promised.
• Also, she'll claim that she gets photoshoped images all the time and can't tell if it's shopped or not unless she has the duplicate amount to compare against, which sounds like utter BS if ever there was any. If I could shop it once, I could shop it twice.
• When pressed on the logic of all this, and in fact even presented with an API key showing the exact transaction through EVE's own site, she still feigns ignorance, claims you're trying to trick and scam her, and demands you send her even more isk as proof of your sincerity.

TL;DR:

Your first low amount of ISK you send might return double (provided you follow her rules). Any ISK sent of sizable amount, however, will be promptly kept, and when questioned she'll actually accuse the accuser of scamming, ignoring all logic and proof, demanding you send her even more isk.


Just figure'd I'd enlighten those who were curious as to the true nature and inner workings of her "business".

P.S. You might could scam the scammer though by creating alts more than 4 weeks old and sending her the min bid only once following her rules in an attempt to beat her at her own game. Most people can make more money doing other things for 4 weeks, but still, if everyone were to use their alts to beat her at her own game, she'd soon be out of ISK and everyone would be a modest bit richer.

I can provide chat logs, api, and pics of my wallet should anyone request. I love how much stock you claim to put into photos and then claim they're all shopped when photos are provided. Quite amusing really.

Well, I explained how she operates. Any money you send her is still liable to be taken. I just stated, as of the time of that posting, she does honor the first small amount of isk sent so long as it follows her rules. She has to in order to reel you in for bigger amounts. She's still a scammer, and you should be aware of that if you do send her anything, even if it's just trying to get that first small amount back.

As a result of this thread, I took it upon myself to get to the bottom of it all. As with any good detective work, I decided to begin at the beginning. Since isk doubling is a well known scam, someone making a legit business out of it seemed sketchy at best. How would one even attempt it? Delving into my target's bio, I found my answer: rules. It appeared on the outside that this was more than your average "send me some isk and I'll double it" scheme. I thought to myself, "self, can you follow some simple rules? If not we need to scrap this right now." Self said to me, "Let's do the damn thang." I transferred a cool 1 billion isk in from my main and the fun began. I logged in and began the process of decoding the intricate rules of this Most Dangerous Game. 50-500m isk get 2x back. 600m-1b get 3x back! 3-5b get 5x back! "WOW" I said, my lust for free isk overcoming me. But wait, what's that in the fine print... Each investment must be at least (this is important) 2x what you received just prior, 3 investments per player. Time to dance the dance. I mapped out my conquest, If my first donation is 100m I'd get 200m back. Okay, so 100m out, 200m in. Then I suppose jump to 600m, which is at least 2x 200m, get 1.8b back? So now I need to invest at least 2x 1.8b or 3.6b+. Hmm, seems I would be a little short on isk, but hey, that's what a main is for,correct? Another 1.3b later and I'm back in the game. 3.6b out, holy ****: 18 BILLION in! Remember, this is all in my head. Do I have the cajones to go through with this? Quadruple checking my work, I am sure I am playing by the rules. Here goes nothing...

100m out
200m in!
so far so good

jump it up to 600m
1.8b in!

now for the money maker
3.6 (gulp) billion out
...
...
...
18 billion in. Suddenly I was space rich.

As Walter Sobchak might say, "This is not Nam. There are rules." Good Luck.

Because this sort of thing fascinates me and i am a top internet lawyer i decided to give this a go in the hope that i could unravel the mystery.

here goes...

redacted

I was having a bad day so I thought what the heck i'll have a gamble.

Really glad I did, played the game according to the rules and made a few billion.

Wallet is happy, i'm happy, and the rain clouds above the head have dissipated.

Confirming Erotica is legit.

Hmm...I think this case is not as clear-cut as others have speculated. I found a detail which I think anybody who claims Erotica's supporters are her alts or cronies may have missed: many of the people who posted on this thread and verified that their money was doubled have quite a few likes on the forums. In other words, they have a reputation as a positive influence in the EVE community.

At the same time, the "rules" aren't complicated. I doubt that enough people break them while trying to get their money multiplied to fund the rest of this operation. My speculation is that either Erotica does research on whoever sends her money before deciding what to do, or is not a scammer but a troll and just chooses at random whose money she doubles or walks away with.

I haven't sent anything to her yet, though I plan on sending 200m when I see her in Jita chat next. I'll post what happens.

By the way, I'm not "falling for her scam". It's just that, out of everything in EVE to spend money on, I consider fooling around to be the most worthwhile. I'll be happy whether or not she pays me what she claims she will in her bio.


Also, a personal note to Erotica: Whatever it is you're doing, I applaud you. Keep up the tomfoolery!

You know...life in Eve can be strange. Really, really strange.

Now, maybe I lucked out. And maybe I did not. But, one evening, sufficiently merry (drunk), an alt of mine took a gamble on this (my disgraceful alt was drunk, I of course was not).

I can wholeheartedly confirm that my isk was doubled. I put in a lot for most people, and I got a lot back. Realising I'd be willing to initially bet no more than I do every time I undock in a pimped out BC in my "total warfare at all times" life, I went for it. But, I can categorically state that I definitely was not scammed. Quite the opposite in fact. You just need to, perhaps controversially, follow the stated rules.

Life is risk. Sometimes...well, you can decide if it's worth it.