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Safe Trust Trading and Anti-Scam Item Trading Methods in RuneScape How to Safely Do Trust Trades and Player Services

Some players in RuneScape, especially higher-level ones, will offer to perform services for others for free. This is sometimes called a trust trade, because traditionally it is done by the lower-level person giving raw materials to the person performing the service, and trusting that person to return back a finished item. (Note that this is not to be confused with the “trust game”, which is a pure confidence scam.)

Now, I do tell you throughout TruthScape to beware people who want to do things for free, because that's often a setup for a scam. But there are a couple of reasons why honest players do this: first, to get experience so they can level up skills more quickly; and second, for the good feeling they get by doing something nice for others.

So, the first issue you need to deal with is telling apart the honest players from the scammers. Traditionally this has not always been that easy, but it was made much more feasible when Jagex implemented its new Assist System. This feature was specifically designed to allow high-level players to help lower-level ones safely, without the need for any items to change hands. The following activities, which have traditionally been done with trust trades, can now all be accomplished without risk using the Assist System:

• Construction Services: Making “flat pack” furniture.
  
  
• Cooking Services: Assembling or cooking various food items.
  
  
• Crafting Services: Cutting gems, making jewelry, making armor and so forth.
  
  
• Fletching Services: Making bows and crossbows; sometimes making arrows, bolts or other items.
  
  
• Herblore Services: Making potions and identifying high-level herbs.
  
  
• Magic Services: Enchanting jewelry.
  
  
• Runecrafting Services: Exchanging runes for rune essence (normally at a runecrafting altar.)
  
  
• Smithing Services: Making armor or weapons.

If someone is willing to use the Assist System, you are almost certainly safe—with one possible exception. Do not agree to pay anyone in advance in order to receive their help using the Assist System. Such an exchange becomes a “trust trade” again, with you having to trust that the person will actually help you once you’ve paid. I don’t recommend doing this, instead using a conventional safe trust trade as described in the next topic.

There are certain situations where the Assist System cannot be used to accomplish an exchange, because it has many limitations in how it can be used. In these cases you will be back in the same position as you were before the Assist System, needing to figure out whom you can trust. There are a couple of ways to go about this. First and foremost, consider what the player is offering to do. If it's something that's obvious impossible or cheating—like “item duplicating” or “raising your stats”—then it is clearly a scam.

Now, consider the person who is making the service offer:

• Is he an established, high-level player, or someone on a low-level account? Higher-level players have much more to lose by being banned for scamming, and so are less likely to do it.
  
  
• Does the person have the necessary skill level to do the task? Look up the player in the RuneScape high scores; if they can't do the job they are obviously scamming. (Of course, seeing that they can do the task doesn't prove that they are not scamming—for one thing, accounts can get stolen.)
  
  
• Is the person advertising the free service on the forums? It's rare to find a scammer doing this as they can be more easily reported. Look for replies from other satisfied customers.

Even if you are able to satisfy yourself that the person is trustworthy, you may still want to consider one of the “safe” alternatives to trust trades; read on.

Safe Trust Trading and Anti-Scam Item Trading Methods in RuneScape How to Safely Do Trust Trades and Player Services