I have just been scammed with a scam I never thought I would be caught with. I finally managed to get my lvl 54 Prophet some B grade armour and out of my long worn Karmian set. Today (Sunday) I joined a clan and while talking with the CL some very whitty chap made a char name identical to me clan leaders' except for an i instead of an l, and its not the easiest name to remember anyway !
Anyway while we were talking and unbeknown to me this "other" person started chatting to me without me knowing. It wasn't like a really noticeable difference in chat styles or anything, and he basically persuaded me to pass my stuff over saying a char called Kalien was his alt, now before you all start, I was 100% convinced this was my CL's alt. I was thinking at the time I dont like this, it isnt right, but this was my new CL who was going to be helping me, so I did. Then my CL must have pm'd me and as I use the " to auto reply I replied to him. He was then quite bemused when I started flapping pm'ing him like mad !!
He then got a pm from Jeffa trying to pull the same scam.
Another ingenious fact, we were at the races so the chat history disapeared fairly quickly.
Anyhow I thought I'd never fall for that one but I have and they were quite clever with it so please all be careful.
Apparently this is perfectly acceptible in L2, you can create a char name almost identically to someone else, with the purpose of trying to imitate that player, to actively attempt to scam weapons, equipment, jewellry anything from them.
I have had enough of criminals in RL getting away with murder and other various crimes I really cant stand to have it in a game I play as well.
To avoid this scam, take all gear-lending requests to Clan Chat, never PMs.
And, don't trade at the racetrack. Too many folks will open trade windows with everyone who ports in, hoping they don't read the name before opening the trade window.
I still believe that NCsoft should ban for this scam because it is different from other scams. The character never 'plays' the game; it is created solely to scam. And if the scam works, the victim often leaves the game.
Double check always, yes.
I'm sorry to hear about so many people who are scammed this way. The fact that people can create similar apearing names does seem to be the main avenue by which these scams work, but things like that are truly part of the game!
consider this: Whoever used your clan leader's name might have known your relationship with him or her, even if it is only the clan tag beside your name they saw. The busy area they sent the message in ensured the fact that your chat window would scroll too fast to easily catch. The time and effort they put into this nefarious scheme was rewarded.
To them, "scamming" IS the game.
Having enemies and getting ****** off is a big part of this game, but the people who are kind to you seem all the more special because of that!
I hope you change your mind, and stay. Maybe your friends in the clan would help you out?
If not, I hope you find a game you enjoy.
I may be leaving L2 now, not through losing my armour, but through petitioning the GM's was a waste of about an hour of my time!
You cann't use that as a reasoning. I could have told you what was going to happen.
Countless people have been struck with the same type of scam and eveyone talked about how they would quit. And countless of people have posted that a person should have used the clan chat channel.
Guys I can appreicate I should have used the clan chat, but if I honest I have not long returned and you shouldn't have to use it really although yes it does make perfect sense.
I probably will quit now because it was taken me so long to get the armour I only managed to buy it yesterday !! its just annoying.
Splatter - I dont think the quote you used was very clear, I spent an hour in total waiting and speaking to a GM, my first petition was an auto reply saying tough luck its not against the rules. I then spoke to a GM after my CL petitioned too only to be told exactly the same thing, However my guess is if someone made out they were a GM they would react rather swiftly. So basically if your not a nice person you can create very closely named chars to other chars make out you are them and scam as much gear as you can, and according to L2 law thats perfectly acceptible.
Kalien obviously has a good earner tonight at least 30 mils worth.
Lilune666 - I have a tough decision to make, I cant honestly believe that people are so low and scum like to do this and where this new clan might want to help, losing the armour and weapon isnt as big an issue as knowing people are doing this and the GM's DONT MIND, I dont think I can play a game where you can steal from people, its not right and its only because they hide behind a pc and are annonymous they do it, they feel powerful. Saying that I would have thought the GM's could check logs and accounts to resolve these issues but choose not to.
I play MMORPG's for fun and enjoyment after a crap day at work and hearing on the news every day someone else has been stabbed,killed. Dont need thieves in a game as well.
why will you trade your gear to a stranger in the first place ?! OO
i em a clan leader my self I never ask members for ther armor or weapon !! NOT even to see how it looks on me.
i can say sorry but that won't do anything good :/ but this all is your fault sorry to say it but its true.
i only trade wit real life friends and then we are all on a TS server (ur own TS server) and even then i say on TS "this is realy you i'm tradeing wit?" so you see if i get scamed that way its gona be by the hands of a GOOD scamer, lol if that guy can mimic the voice of my friend and scam me then he can keep my gear lol. oh sorry yeah you lost some armor :/
Lifetec thats exactly the response I really dont want to hear. You dont know the circumstances and I would never just hand over my gear. There are a number of factors that made this increasingly difficult to know I wasnt talking to my CL and if knew how to stick up a pic I'd post part of the chat !!
But please this wasn't a "please let me try your armour on so I can see what it looks like" scam someone watched me join a clan then named a char specifically like my CL and during chat I dont know about you but I use " to auto reply and at some stage this scammer started talking to me and I thought I was still talking to my CL. Im sure many more people will be scammed I only hope that the GM's buck their ideas up and at least return equipment if not ban accounts.
I'm just saying. Yes, you got scammed but don't quit. This isn't the end of the world but only a set back.
I have seen alot of threads where people got scammed and how it could have been prevented if clan chat was just used. You said it yourself how it didn't feel right, but you went ahead with it anyways.
Use this as a learning lesson.... And stick around.
The others were right however, this was your fault and it was preventable. Don't view that as such a bad thing though, for one you won't ever make that kind of mistake again. Hopefully anyone who's read this post (or one of the many others like it) will also not make the same mistake you did.
You're also in a decent position right now, as you said you had a Clan Leader that you would trust enough to hand over some expensive armor to. That Clan may not be rich enough to replace the items that you lost, but they should be able to help you get some basic armor to get back on your feet. If you explain the situation to them I'm sure they'd be happy to help, and if not there's always someone in the world that would be willing to help someone down on their luck.
All you can do is learn from your mistakes and rely on the people you trust to get you through this.
Its a huge setback, you really need to get to higher grades to feel the difference.
It was a perfectly easy mistake to make, he had already verified it was his clanleader he talked to, then an almost identical name was injected into the chat, so there was no reason to believe otherwise. It could happen to the vast majority of players in Lineage 2 very easily, and you don't really run around in guarded mode checking everything all the time.
Sadly this is a downside to NCSofts hands-off approach, makes it extremely lucrative to be an *** or do other bad deeds.
NC shouldnt have to fix this. or ban people for doing it. I dont hand my gear to anyone. not even to my wife on her toons.sorry for your loss but this is something that should be perfectly legal in the game. good luck
But you did do that, you handed over your hard earned gear, just like that. If it meant so much to you, you wouldn't let anyone pry it out of your hands unless you were willing to lose it.
But you did do that, you handed over your hard earned gear, just like that. If it meant so much to you, you wouldn't let anyone pry it out of your hands unless you were willing to lose it.
Bless you, Ellie. I was just about to post the exact same thing.
Look, I can't imagine ANY circumstances in which someone from my clan would say "Hand me your gear for a minute". It just wouldn't happen. Any request would be immediately suspicious.
Bottom line, dude, is that no matter how persuasive they were. You let it happen to yourself. Anyone in B grade should know this.
I'd like to say something to anyone saying that a scamer should be banned and your stuff returned......
Please be quiet ;)
Lets look at it through a real world perspective.....
You gave the armor to them willingly, even tho you gave it to a person who you thought was someone else this doesn't mean its not theirs, because you gave it to them no matter who you thought they were it is theirs. So do you see why the GMs don't do anything((Plus the fact that its alot of hassel))
Don't get me wrong I don't like scammers but they can't be banned for this it would just be wrong :p
Anyway just everyone be more careful in the future :cool:
Maybe, but thats not really the way everyone can play.
By the time you "earn" B grade, you should know and should be suspicious.
I am sure many people would know this, but not everyone is suspicious 24/7 and fully alert all the time.
I am probably the most casual player to ever hit this game. The instant someone even thinks of asking for my gear the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. You don't have to be the "Boom Headshot" guy to not get scammed.
i love the people that talk about how in real life people wouldnt get away with this kind of behavior. point is this is NOT real life. hey if you hand your gear over to me. im keeping it. and i will not be in trouble for it. you will just look stupid. if anyone is like me than this game is exactly the opposite of real life. this is where i do stuff i cant really get away with.
If there's anything that you have in L2 that you would consider quitting over losing, then you should always be suspicious when handing it over to someone.
You don't have to be alert and suspicious of people 24/7, you only need to be careful when dealing with items that you can't afford to lose. Your radar should always be on high in any important trade. Personally I get a bit nervous and recheck a private shop about ten times when making a big purchase.
If i got a phone call and someone identified themselfs as a police officer asking for donations and just needed my credit card number.
Would i trust them as they said they are a police officer?
It all comes down to this... NC won't do anything just because it could become a he said she said issue. Any player that has been around for awhile knows about scamming, and if they are in a clan that clan should have a policy in place because of this.
Don't clans have a policy in place because of ingame scamming and if not, why not!
If i got a phone call and someone identified themselfs as a police officer asking for donations and just needed my credit card number.
Would i trust them as they said they are a police officer?
Thats not normal behavior of police.
This would be the same as you getting stopped by the police, the police officer coming up to you, identifies himself, then another policeofficer asks for your license and registration, you hand over your license and registration, where after cop #2 laughs and runs off because he was just a guy in cops clothes.
I could understand with normal "pm out of the blue" scams, but this was just a bit beyond that, injecting into an existing conversation that had validified whom the person was talking to.
And fine SirE that you run around casually playing like that, but most of L2 does interchange gear and help eachother out. Most people are pretty careful and its pretty pompous [censored] behavior to just slam on the OP for something like this.
P.S. And, if this is such a new and great scam, why haven't you posted it in the Common Scams thread so that Elro (who has a brain the size of a planet but would fall for this scam) doesn't lose his knickers.
You can be careful all you want, but the minute your gear leaves your hands, common practice or not, it's still beyond your control. I've seen best trusted friends ever scam each other, so I accept the posibility whenever I lend anyone anything. (which I almost never, ever do)
You can be careful all you want, but the minute your gear leaves your hands, common practice or not, it's still beyond your control. I've seen best trusted friends ever scam each other, so I accept the posibility whenever I lend anyone anything. (which I almost never, ever do)
'
Of course you have to be careful, sometimes its just what you need to do, this was a nice little scam (perhaps an insider job in the clan). I do feel sorry for the the OP and calling him an idiot is quite out of place. He was wrong yes, and it happened, most of us, unless we live like hermits run this risk.
Well reading this thread has helped a lot.
I'd like to thank some of you and to the others well, you helped me decide.
I'm going to cancel both my accounts as I really don't think I am suited to this game, there's plenty of others out there and I'd rather spend my money somewhere where theres a more friendly relaxed atmosphere to the game and where [Censored] don't try to steal your stuff by means of fraud.
I tried explaining the best I could that I was mid conversation when the scammer pm'd me and I didnt notice and using the " to auto reply I inadvertantly started to chat to the scammer without even realising. My sincere apologies for not being assertive and as sharp as some of you!!
I tried my best to explain I would never never normally hand anything over but when.....oh balls!! anyway its done now and I learnt a lesson allbeit an expensive one. Due to the time it takes to be able to make stuff and the fact its perfectly acceptable to be an [Censored] in such an open game I think I'll give all my bits to the clan and call it quits.
Thanks to all of you with positive feedback and kind words of advise.
Dude, I will be honest with you...and don't let the bully forum trolls get you down here. There day will come when they will be scammed, and they were blindsided by it, and who knows. It just takes them a bit longer because they probally are not in game as much as you are, but rather on the message boards. (I don't wanna piss off the trolls, if you like message boards...thats fine...thats what you do...I have no problem with that...so I don't wanna hear... "are you commenting on my post count?" or some bull like that)
Anyway, this scam has been around for a long time. Someone tried pulling it on me also. They Pmed me and told me to hand it over to his alt, whom was poorly named as "zzandk" and I knew right away that my clan leader dosen't have that alt, nor would he pm me unless it was MSN pm...
I made it clear to all my clan mates that if they need something from me, they need to type in ally/clan/MSN PM, or over vent if I am on it. If not, well tough luck...you don't get anything from me.
It can be tricky though, and really...if you trusted your brand new clan leader that much...that takes an act of trust in people, or complete stupidity. But like you said, your CL you would have handed ur stuff over to because he was someone that would help you...well now hopefully he helps you!
Getting scammed isn't a good reason to quit. Unless of course you just don't wanna play anymore, and don't like L2. But quitting for being scammed if you like L2 isn't really a good excuse.
Anyway, hope you recover...and I bet you won't fall for it again. ;)
Dude, I will be honest with you...and don't let the bully forum trolls get you down here. There day will come when they will be scammed, and they were blindsided by it, and who knows. It just takes them a bit longer because they probally are not in game as much as you are, but rather on the message boards. (I don't wanna piss off the trolls, if you like message boards...thats fine...thats what you do...I have no problem with that...so I don't wanna hear... "are you commenting on my post count?" or some bull like that)
Anyway, this scam has been around for a long time. Someone tried pulling it on me also. They Pmed me and told me to hand it over to his alt, whom was poorly named as "zzandk" and I knew right away that my clan leader dosen't have that alt, nor would he pm me unless it was MSN pm...
I made it clear to all my clan mates that if they need something from me, they need to type in ally/clan/MSN PM, or over vent if I am on it. If not, well tough luck...you don't get anything from me.
It can be tricky though, and really...if you trusted your brand new clan leader that much...that takes an act of trust in people, or complete stupidity. But like you said, your CL you would have handed ur stuff over to because he was someone that would help you...well now hopefully he helps you!
Getting scammed isn't a good reason to quit. Unless of course you just don't wanna play anymore, and don't like L2. But quitting for being scammed if you like L2 isn't really a good excuse.
Anyway, hope you recover...and I bet you won't fall for it again. ;)
first off im not a bully forum troll.
and thats about all i have to say actually.
Oh yea ive never been scammed.
that and olo sux.
btw are you comenting on my postcount? WTH dude!?!
im listening to ColdPlay atm, and if you dont like them then you fail at life....sorry.
but im jsut rambaling. Good day, and if i can hav e your stuff hit me up on Lionna. ill coem to your server to collect it!
Veansa, For one I dont like people who ask for hand outs part of the reason I am so pi$$ed off if the amount of time I spent saving to get my armour 2 lvls after I could use it.
Secondly, by the style of your writing Im guessing your young or just an idiot, if you have nothing constructive to say please clear off.
Thirdly, Coldplay ?! You love them that much I need not say any more.
AND NO YOU CANT HAVE MY STUFF, why? because you asked for it.
Thanks for you post Bahamut. L2 is a great game, its just that the type of person I am what happened to my I find really offensive, some people wouldn't be phased by it, they'd pick themselves up and carry on, unfortunately thats not me so best I move on.
I just find scamming in a game pretty low, gutter level garbage type of people. Solution go where they are not or where they cannot scam this way.
BTW just look at the names in the image below. Its easy to miss when you aren't looking for something like this to happen and the CL is a sound guy as is the clan, hence why I joined.
Scam chat (http://www.the-laylands.co.uk/L2/Scamchat.jpg)
I still say, stick it out....Let the clan help you.
I've yet to be in a clan where I got handouts.
By the way, when you loose items that are anything above D grade, recovering them is much more of a problem than when it might have been during the first 40 levels of the game.Add to that the fact that not everyone has or wants to play a very low level toon(s) for years at a time.
And why don't you talk to the clan leader about coming up with some clan polices to prevent this from ever happening again to someone else.
And how would they do that? Just like a number of people did in this thread?
a possible scenario as taken indirectly from this thread:
"Attention Clan: JohnDoe has just been scammed into giving his items to someone else! He was stupid!! It was his own fault for not paying attention. Don't any of you repeat the same stupidity and fall for a scam, cause if you do, I'll just call you stupid some more"
Something like that?
This is exactly why I don't usually participate in these threads. Person got scammed, he came here to vent frustration and gets called "Stupid" in return.
Then as an extra added bonus, or rather, to add Insult to Injury, there's always someone who goes: "You're leaving? can I have your stuff plz?"
There will be no trading of armor or weapons unless verified in clan chat first.
Sub article 1.1#
There will be no trading with claimed alts of clan members, all trades must be made with registered members of that clan.
So in other words if someone is claiming to be an alt of your clan leader or the leader themselfs. Then this chat should be happening in the clans chat channel.
There's a difference between getting handouts from a Clan and getting help from your Clan after suffering a loss. Even if the Clan can't afford to give you anything permanently, it's not hard for a decent Clan to loan you some equipment. And as I said earlier, if you trust someone enough to hand over equipment like that there's a good chance they'll help you out, if they don't then perhaps they're not the person you thought they were.
As for prevention policies, there are plenty of things you can do. Requiring a codeword to be used before every trade is the most simple one. Another would be to require that all high profile trades have some insignificant item such as a wooden arrow to indicate membership in the Clan.
Those two methods are a bit unsafe however since they could be found out by scammers with some work. The most reliable way would be to confirm all trades in MSN, Ventrillo, or some other medium outside of the L2 client.
With a little preparation and caution you can avoid scammers no matter how hard they try.
And as for the OP, if you do like the game as you say you do perhaps you should give it another shot. At the very least you could ask your Clan if they will help you out before taking off. If you do decide to quit, then good luck wherever you go.
I'd like to say something to anyone saying that a scamer should be banned and your stuff returned......
Please be quiet ;)
Lets look at it through a real world perspective.....
You gave the armor to them willingly, even tho you gave it to a person who you thought was someone else this doesn't mean its not theirs, because you gave it to them no matter who you thought they were it is theirs. So do you see why the GMs don't do anything((Plus the fact that its alot of hassel))
Don't get me wrong I don't like scammers but they can't be banned for this it would just be wrong :p
Anyway just everyone be more careful in the future :cool:
this seems insane. Your "real life" senario is completely flawed as in "real life" if this event happened and you had their name (or a way to track the transaction . . . such as a log) you could report them to the police for fraud. They would go to jail and your items would be recovered (if it was possible)
My impression is that you're saying that its ok to scam (even in real life) cause you can't get punished. and if you do get scammed, you're just stupid and deserve what you got.
And I'd question . . . is it wong to be banned when you knowlingly commit an act of fraud (and possible identity theft) or is more wrong that acts of fraud (and possible identity theft) are looked at with a blind eye so others may suffer the same way as the OP?
As for prevention policies, there are plenty of things you can do. Requiring a codeword to be used before every trade is the most simple one. Another would be to require that all high profile trades have some insignificant item such as a wooden arrow to indicate membership in the Clan.
Those two methods are a bit unsafe however since they could be found out by scammers with some work.
They are just silly. There are simpler and more efficient rules:
1. Any transaction supposed to benefit other members of your clan shall be discussed in the clan channel.
2. In any transaction of inequal values, the giver shall target the taker, not the over way.
3. (Actually, 0.) When you have even slightest doubts, ask others. It does not matter that much how silly you look before the transaction... :D
Well I'd go play WoW but I aready did and its sh*t! The graphics aren't a patch on L2's.
Its quite amazing the broad range of gaming etiquette people have and I have to admit I am a "nice" player and its posts like HIeverybody's that really just gets my back up. I hate scammers full stop.
Yes it was probably my fault I handed it over theres no getting out of that, but handing something over to some you know and trust and handing something over to someone who has made you think they are the person you trust is a different story and just plain wrong, but I'm sure theres plenty of ******s out there that get quite a kick out of this kind of thing.
At the end of the day I have to just accept its my fault, although I actually think its the scammers fault, otherwise none of this would have happened, stengthening my feelings for finding another game !! :( unfortunately
At the end of the day I have to just accept its my fault, although I actually think its the scammers fault, otherwise none of this would have happened, stengthening my feelings for finding another game !! :( unfortunately
It's not the scammers fault. If it wasn't for people like you, there would be no scamming in this game.
btw welcome to my fan club. you aren't the first to hate me and u wont be the last. PM here if u want to get my newsletter.