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Understanding Item Scammers and Scamming Common Sense Tips to Avoid Most Item Scams

As I explain in my overview of scamming behavior in RuneScape, too many people blame the victim when they get scammed. I definitely disagree with this attitude, but the truth is that some people make themselves targets for scams due to their own behavior.

The ones most at risk are those who let their emotions get the better of them, or don't exercise caution in performing trades. Here are the six personality traits I believe are most responsible for people getting scammed:

• Greed: This isn't the cause of all scams, but certainly a lot of them. Scammers will entice you by promising you what appears to be the “deal of the year”. You get entranced by thinking of the profit you will make, and stop paying attention to what you are doing. Greed can also make you more likely to take foolish risks.
  
  Consider that if abyssal whips are worth 1.5 million gold and someone is offering you 2 million for it, there is probably a good reason. You may think you are taking advantage of the other person's stupidity - but it might turn out the other way around.
  
  
• Dishonesty: This is closely related to greed, because some players are so greedy they are willing to break the rules to get ahead, and scammers are happy to prey on them. Only a dishonest player will fall for a scam like “item doubling” or “gold doubling” for example, because even if it were possible to “double” something, it would clearly be cheating. (It isn't, it's always a scam.)
  
  
• Impatience: Being in a big hurry to complete a deal is a good way to get scammed. Many people lose items simply because they won't take an extra 10 seconds to check the second screen in the trade interface. Some will rush through a deal because they feel they need money in a hurry and end up ripping themselves off.
  
  
• Laziness: There are some successful scams that rely on people who are simply too lazy for their own good. For example, some fall victim to scammers because they won't take the time to research item values, or because they won't take a minute to travel to a safer place to trade.
  
  
• Fatigue: When you are tired you are more likely to make mistakes, and that means you're more likely to be tricked. I've been item scammed twice, and both were late at night when I wasn't paying attention. They were only for small sums; I now never do large trades when I am tired.
  
  
• Naïveté: Sadly but truthfully, those who are more trusting and naïve are more likely to fall for scams. This is part of why I am opposed to young children playing RuneScape; they are easy marks for con artists.

Did any of those seem uncomfortably familiar to you, as you read them? If so, you have some ideas of what you should work on to reduce your chances of being tricked out of your items.

Understanding Item Scammers and Scamming Common Sense Tips to Avoid Most Item Scams