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The Keys to Dealing with RuneScape Item Scams Are You Making Yourself a Target for Scams?

I really wanted to start out TruthScape's coverage of item scams by talking about scammers and what makes them tick. But I have to admit that I'm not sure how good a job I can do of this. As an inherently honest and fairness-minded person, I have never really been able to understand what motivates thieves, con men and other criminals. Especially in a multiplayer game, where you'd think the idea was to meet people and have fun. It all just seems so “warped” to me.

So what motivates someone to undertake item scamming? Based on my experiences, I think there are four main categories of scammers. Understanding these may let you grasp better what these folks are after, and help you avoid being one of their victims.

First, there are just some genuinely selfish and greedy people in the world, who only think about themselves. They will do whatever they can to advance their cause and simply don't care if anyone else suffers as a result. The pursuit of overpriced “rares” fuels some of the greed as well, since players figure it's the only way to get hundreds of millions in gold quickly.

Second, many players in RuneScape are teenagers who are often angry, and may feel like they are powerless to control their real life situations. They come onto RuneScape to take out their frustrations on other players, and don't really care how it affects the others. Some of these scam people as an act of aggression (though many more engage in luring instead.)

Third, there are some who actually scam for “fun”. They view it as a game to see how much money they can trick other people out of. They will even brag about it to their friends. These people are basically online bullies, and some probably even have psychological problems.

Finally, some engage in scamming so they can sell the items and gold for real money. This is of course completely against the rules, but as long as cheaters are willing to buy RuneScape gold, other cheaters will sell it.

What do these all have in common? The fact that the Internet is anonymous, which makes it easier for scammers ignore the fact that there is a real person behind every character. They just think ha I got a million gold off of JoeBlow91402”—they don't think about how they may have just cost a real 14-year-old boy two months of playing time spent earning that money.

Another factor, of course, is that it's also easy to scam in RuneScape. There are so many scams to choose from; Jagex doesn't warn players about them; most victims are young and don't know any better; and most scammers never get caught (or if they are caught just start over on a new account.)

Here are the most common types of item scams in RuneScape. Each is described in its own subsection:

• Trade Window Scams: Scammers trick you into making an unfair deal by deceiving you in the RuneScape trade interface. They will try to change items, reduce quantities without you noticing, or confuse you by adding and removing items. This is the most common category of scam, but fortunately, can be avoided if you pay attention.
  
  
• False Advertising and False Claims: These scams prey on the ignorant, by lying to you about the value of items in the hopes that you will overpay for them. In other cases they trick greedy players who think they are getting a “great deal” but actually lose out. As we'll see, these can be combated by paying attention and avoiding trades of items you aren't familiar with.
  
  
• Con Games: Another big category, con games include a large number of scams that are all based on the scammer getting you to trust them, and then ripping them off. Some are simple and easy to see through. Others can be very difficult to deal with, because the smarter scammers can “set you up” for a long time before they move in for the kill.
  
  
• Duel Arena Scams: These won't affect most players, but can be very serious for people who engage in high-stake dueling at the arena. Scammers there have come up with several nasty ways of tricking their prey into unfair fights that they have no chance of winning.

Of course, some scammers use entirely different techniques. Rather than going for items, they may try to scam your entire account. Others may engage in luring, which is a form of item scamming but uses a different technique.

The Keys to Dealing with RuneScape Item Scams Are You Making Yourself a Target for Scams?