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Trust Games Phony Friends, Lying “Boyfriends” and “Girlfriends”, Sob Stories and “Loans”

This is a variation on the “trust game”, where someone who claims to be the leader of a clan will tell you that in order to “prove your trustworthiness”, you must engage in a “clan trust test”. Usually this will take the form of some sort of gesture on your part, like giving the clan leader items or gold, which he claims he will then return. If you refuse, he'll say you aren't worthy of being in the clan—this is a form of peer pressure or “guilt tripping” that's meant to coerce you into giving him the gift.

I suppose it is possible that a real clan might have a “trust test” requirement of this sort. But I can't see any legitimate reason why it would be required. Anyone can claim to be a clan leader, of course, and a real clan leader should know that this is a common scam trick and not want to be confused for a scammer. Even if it's a real clan, there are hundreds of RuneScape clans out there, so why waste your time on one that requires you to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable?

A variation on this is the “clan initiation”, where you may be asked to (again) give some items to another member of the clan, or drop them in a place where someone else might be able to get them, etc. Again, I would assume that anyone asking me to do this was trying to scam me. Just avoid these people altogether and find an honest clan if you really want to join one.

Note that bogus clan initiations are also used as the basis for certain types of lures.

Trust Games Phony Friends, Lying “Boyfriends” and “Girlfriends”, Sob Stories and “Loans”