TruthScape.com - Activities that Seem Like Scams or Illegal Behavior but Aren't

Most of the time, if something looks like a scam, it is a scam. However, there are a few activities that seem like they are scams or illegal acts but really are not. In some cases they are just what you might call “antisocial” behavior, or may be attempts to rip off the unwary that are not illegal according to RuneScape rules. There are also cases where someone is doing something that seems like a scam but is really legitimate, if it is done honestly.

When you range a high-level monster, if your arrows sit on the ground for more than a minute anyone can see them. Other players may pick these arrows up and take them.

This is called arrow stealing, but Jagex's official policy is that if you leave them on the ground long enough for anyone to see them, it is not stealing—they are no longer yours. And I agree; I think this is common sense. You cannot report someone for “stealing” your arrows. There are easy ways to avoid losing your arrows this way, too.

Sometimes players use a general store to “unnote” items. For example, in runecrafting, a player might bring 1000 rune essence noted, then sell 25 at a time to a general store and buy them back unnoted so they can be crafted. However, once they are in the store, anyone can buy them, and sneaky people will wait for folks to sell these items to grab them from the store cheaply.

This is also often called essence stealing (or ess stealing for short). Again, Jagex's policy is that once you sell something to a store, it's no longer yours. And again, while this is annoying, I agree that the policy is common sense. You can't report this as scamming.

It is rather common in RuneScape to find people trying to sell items for far more than they are worth. The simple act of asking for a lot of money for an item is not scamming in and of itself, and not reportable.

I have mixed feelings on this one, because it's clear that many of these sellers are trying to rip people off. On the other hand, it's hard to police, because the value of an item can vary widely depending on how quickly the buyer wants it, how fast the seller wants to sell it, the quantity sold and so forth. For example, you can sometimes buy molten glass for 500 gold each if you buy 1,000 at a time; conversely, someone who needs only one immediately, for a quest, might be willing to pay 10,000 for someone to come deliver one glass to him.

You will run into players who offer to perform services for you, like making potions from ingredients, cutting gems (see Figure 88), or smithing armor from bars. This may seem like a scam, with the player trying to get you to hand over potion ingredients, uncut gems or metal bars, which they will then steal. Most often, though, the offers are legitimate; the players just want the experience. Consider how much time it takes to get a high smithing level, for example; nobody would risk a high-level skill character for a few bars or potions.

However, this sort of trust trade—where the player asks you to trust them with the raw materials and then gives back the finished product—is not a good idea for either player. The person getting the service takes a chance because sometimes this is used for scamming, and there are also risks for the player offering the service. Fortunately, there are better ways to do these deals. In particular, the new Assist System makes it possible to provide such services with safety, so you should always insist on using it with anyone who offers to help you.

Do not confuse these legitimate service trades with the bogus offers made by outright scammers. If someone tells you they are going to “magically” duplicate an item of yours, or “trim” your armor, or give you a million gold for free, they are trying to scam you.

**Figure 88: “Free Gem Cutting”**
Offers by players to perform simple services like cutting gems are common on RuneScape, especially in free worlds. The problem is that there’s no way to get the gems back if the person proves to be untrustworthy; this is why you are better off to use safer methods, such as the Assist System.

What to Do If You Are Item Scammed

Why Does Jagex Ignore Easy Ways That They Could Stop Common Item Scams?

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Last Update: September 28, 2008

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