Possible New Way People are Scamming

[Pegasus Unbound]

Times have changed since the days of free mercenary groups, and power leveling is quite the valuable service! I mean, "Something for something, as the eagles in Aquilla say." Maybe the price of this deal is up for debate, but offering this service with expectation of compensation is not inherently a scam.

And I'd say that their sudden disappearance is justifiable. KingsIsle is known for unfairly banning Players (I can personally attest to that!), so this mercenary suddenly fleeing is understandable when threatened with action from KI. Unless this Player failed to follow through on their promise after receiving payment, then we shouldn't assume malintent and jump to concluding that this is a scam!

I have to admit I am confused and concerned at best by your determination to provide an "out" for potential scammers. This thread started out and is predominantly about being careful and what are some of the signs that should at least be a "red flag".

Would you rather tell players, especially younger ones to NOT be careful? Your very posts and comments on this sound like (Even if not intended) as an excuse to let caution fly in the wind and risk becoming a victim.

The main reason this concerns me is 2 part; the message of acceptance that possible scams are OK AND that someone I have read and respected numerous posts seems to be defending potential scams and scammers in favor over teaching others about some of the dangers and problems of the past, the present and sadly the future.

So I have to wonder why you are so against being cautious and taking preventative action rather than waiting for the damage to happen and try to mop up the mess. I am not trying to be mean or critical, I simply don't understand why you of all people, would be against being cautious and suspicious of "red flags".

I have and always will support a cautious approach that allows people to be proactive instead of reactive. To all of you reading and participating to this thread, please share your first hand experiences that maybe, just maybe may save another person for being scammed.

[JaredSpellFrost]

I have to admit I am confused and concerned at best by your determination to provide an "out" for potential scammers. This thread started out and is predominantly about being careful and what are some of the signs that should at least be a "red flag".Would you rather tell players, especially younger ones to NOT be careful? Your very posts and comments on this sound like (Even if not intended) as an excuse to let caution fly in the wind and risk becoming a victim.

I'm not trying to defend real scammers, nor do I suggest throwing caution to the wind. I'm just playing devil's advocate here since everybody has seemingly jumped on the bandwagon of assuming that this is a scam. Obviously we should all exercise caution with these sorts of things, but don't start blaming Players for having the potential to scam others!

The main reason this concerns me is 2 part; the message of acceptance that possible scams are OK AND that someone I have read and respected numerous posts seems to be defending potential scams and scammers in favor over teaching others about some of the dangers and problems of the past, the present and sadly the future.

I'm not defending scammers, I'm defending someone who A, never scammed anyone and B, was offering a common service. I get the feeling that this type of compensated mercenary work is unheard of here on Central, but let me assure everyone here that on other platforms, it's quite popular.

If you want me to rally against all "possible scams," then I'd have to stand my ground against practically every transaction in Wiz! Every TC trade, every contest, every single monetary trade all run the risk of being "possible scams" but it's just unfair to immediately write off these transactions because of that risk.
Proceed with caution, yes, but don't start labeling Players as "possible scam[mers]" simply because they offer an unfamiliar service.

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I have and always will support a cautious approach that allows people to be proactive instead of reactive. To all of you reading and participating to this thread, please share your first hand experiences that maybe, just maybe may save another person for being scammed.

Alright, I'll share an experience I had in getting scammed. This happened last Summer and I took up a job in power leveling someone all the way to 90, with my payment being a Pack every few levels. I made sure to keep track of the Packs they owed me, but after 9 Packs in and no compensation, in addition to dwindling activity, I resigned myself to receiving nothing. This wasn't a big deal or anything as I hadn't spent much time on this, nor had the Player gained many levels. I would honestly be hesitant to even call this a scam, as I never detected malicious intent and I got the vibe that the Player just got bored of Wizard101 and stopped playing.
But yeah, the moral of the story? Make sure that you get paid ASAP, and if you're the one paying be sure to do so in a timely manner!

[Pegasus Unbound]

I'm not trying to defend real scammers, nor do I suggest throwing caution to the wind. I'm just playing devil's advocate here since everybody has seemingly jumped on the bandwagon of assuming that this is a scam. Obviously we should all exercise caution with these sorts of things, but don't start blaming Players for having the potential to scam others!





I'm not defending scammers, I'm defending someone who A, never scammed anyone and B, was offering a common service. I get the feeling that this type of compensated mercenary work is unheard of here on Central, but let me assure everyone here that on other platforms, it's quite popular.

If you want me to rally against all "possible scams," then I'd have to stand my ground against practically every transaction in Wiz! Every TC trade, every contest, every single monetary trade all run the risk of being "possible scams" but it's just unfair to immediately write off these transactions because of that risk.
Proceed with caution, yes, but don't start labeling Players as "possible scam[mers]" simply because they offer an unfamiliar service.

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Alright, I'll share an experience I had in getting scammed. This happened last Summer and I took up a job in power leveling someone all the way to 90, with my payment being a Pack every few levels. I made sure to keep track of the Packs they owed me, but after 9 Packs in and no compensation, in addition to dwindling activity, I resigned myself to receiving nothing. This wasn't a big deal or anything as I hadn't spent much time on this, nor had the Player gained many levels. I would honestly be hesitant to even call this a scam, as I never detected malicious intent and I got the vibe that the Player just got bored of Wizard101 and stopped playing.
But yeah, the moral of the story? Make sure that you get paid ASAP, and if you're the one paying be sure to do so in a timely manner!

OK, so in this thread you use "devils advocate" to validate dangerous activities.

There are times where playing "Devils Advocate" is so very important, but wrong is wrong and ANY attempt to help others avoid a scam should be be nurtured and strengthened.

I have always looked forward to your posts, but now I know/feel you walk a path that supports attempts to take advantage of others. I seriously don't know why you have to take a thread that is there to protect others and try to turn it into a "Devils Advocate" unless it is to cause controversy instead of helping those who need guidance.

I am greatly saddened to find that you are taking this stance and making excuses for missing the most important thing of this thread...trying to give advice, guidance and tips on how to not get scammed.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree, but I am just sad and disappointed you can't see beyond your need to "play Devils Advocate" instead of using you vast knowledge to help others stay safe.

There is a time and lace for everything, this was neither the time or place to cast "shadows" on peoples attempts to protect each other.

I'm done with this part of the thread that YOU started and I honestly don't know if I will feel encouraged to read other posts from you because of my disappointment. As the kids today say "Read the room dude".

"Too bad, so sad"

[Lightdragon]

I'm not defending scammers, I'm defending someone who A, never scammed anyone and B, was offering a common service. I get the feeling that this type of compensated mercenary work is unheard of here on Central, but let me assure everyone here that on other platforms, it's quite popular.

most of the members here never heard of it. I heard of it for almost 10 years and never really gave it a second thought. more like the 800 pound gorilla in the room no one is talking about.

Proceed with caution, yes, but don't start labeling Players as "possible scam[mers]" simply because they offer an unfamiliar service.

in games where the target audience is older. I generally don't care. For this game where the target audience is younger at 10-13 it's a big difference. While i will back you up that this happens in the game and they are not scamming. You never know. you got kids in the game and a lot of people like scamming kids including other kids. mainly because it is easy as they are more trusting.

years ago i used to trade tc's for forum gold on here. there was an issue of some sort and i was able to report what happened here. sort of like the BBB. So if an incident happens the admins/mods/etc can make sure that person doesn't do it again.

[JaredSpellFrost]

I have always looked forward to your posts, but now I know/feel you walk a path that supports attempts to take advantage of others. I seriously don't know why you have to take a thread that is there to protect others and try to turn it into a "Devils Advocate" unless it is to cause controversy instead of helping those who need guidance.

Don't twist my words. I have made it abundantly clear that I do not condone scammers, and although I fully recognize the possibility of what Baily Jade described devolving into a scam.. I try to assume innocence until proven guilty. Yes, there was a very real possibility of this Player being a legitimate scammer, but seeing how we lack the evidence to convict, I will continue to play devil's advocate.

And please, I'm never one to shy away from calling KingsIsle's Packs or weekly bundles scams, and I will vehemently go after scammers when I see them. I'm not one for supporting grifts, and so I hope that my history will help speak to my credibility on that.

I am greatly saddened to find that you are taking this stance and making excuses for missing the most important thing of this thread...trying to give advice, guidance and tips on how to not get scammed.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree, but I am just sad and disappointed you can't see beyond your need to "play Devils Advocate" instead of using you vast knowledge to help others stay safe.

I've already offered my "vast knowledge" on what to do in these situations, and even shared my own similar experience! Check out this post and this post for proof. And that's not even counting all of the advice I've given on other social media platforms! Perhaps consider that a differing perspective, one possessing knowledge many on this site do not have, is something to be valued and not to be immediately shot down with distorted words.

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in games where the target audience is older. I generally don't care. For this game where the target audience is younger at 10-13 it's a big difference. While i will back you up that this happens in the game and they are not scamming. You never know. you got kids in the game and a lot of people like scamming kids including other kids. mainly because it is easy as they are more trusting.

That's a fair point, and we should definitely all be more cautious since this is an E10+ rated game. I definitely see the value in bringing this type of transaction to KingsIsle's attention on those grounds, maybe in time they can create a system that oversees these trades for everyone automatically!

[Bailey Jade]

Playing devils advocate....hmmm. Claiming that people had already jumped bandwagon assuming that this was a scam and yet here you are assuming that it was not. To assume that the person in question never scammed me, is really no difference to assume he was going to. No one knows for sure in how this would really played out. There might have been no harm and that this person was genuine, but then again, this person might have had full intention to get something out of me for something that he said he would have helped out with. Either way, people have the right to choose in what they want to think and react in a situation like this.

I want to thank you all for your input on this matter. The point of my initial writing is to simply increase awareness for our community members. Whether it was a scam or not is debatable. However, in closing, I might not believe in, when offering to help someone, players should expect something. I do think that it is most likely a 'best practice' to make payment AFTER services are rendered. Once you make the statement, “I will pay AFTER the job is done.”, and they leave., you will know that this is likely a scammer.
@Willowdreamer I will ask you to close this thread. There is no need for it to go around and around.

Have a good day everyone!