Reporting Scammers - Guild Wars Forums

VishnuOdin · Feb 06, 2009, 03:18 AM // 03:18

So tonight I helped a guy named [edited] do the missions before the Ascension mission, and he left before he paid me. I'll admit I was naive and should have forced him to pay me a portion up front before helping him, but so far I've only encountered helpful, respectful players so the thought didn't even cross my mind.

As soon as we did the last one he left, so I was unable to /report him. He set me to Ignore and will not answer any of my messages. The only page I could find said the player had to be in the same outpost and district for the command to work. Obviously if your going to scam you can just leave / log out and your screwed.

I'm normally not this vindictive but this really ticked me off. The worst part is, now I won't help anyone unless they pay up front, which is just sad. I added him to friends and plan to report him the instant I see him, if I ever do again. I guess I have one thing going for me, if he couldn't do the missions I can't see him doing the Ascension mission the first time so he should be in and out of the area.

I checked the support section on the GW website and didn't find anything. Am I at a loss here or is there a way to submit a report when the player isn't online?

Kook~NBK~ · Feb 06, 2009, 03:20 AM // 03:20

1. No names!

2. Nothing anyone here can do. To report a problem with a scammer, use the "ask a question" link on the GW Website's support page.

VishnuOdin · Feb 06, 2009, 03:39 AM // 03:39

Thank you, I submitted a report using the "Ask a Question" link from the support page. I edited my post to remove his name, my apologies I should have read the rules before I posted.

refer · Feb 06, 2009, 07:10 AM // 07:10

Ouch, not much to say... but you can always name drop outside of here... I'm not like talking public shaming but if people pull crap they need to be held accountable (like Cash4Gold for example). One reason why I hate the ignore feature just being permanent. Why can't it build up? I know that'd not be popular but I think it'd be good.

Callista Aurelia · Feb 06, 2009, 07:41 AM // 07:41

So I know it sucks, but anet will not take action against run scammers. They do not consider it a breach of the code of conduct. I'm sorry. :-(

The whole run system is based on nothing but faith. Unfortunately, the only thing you can do to not get scammed is to take money up front, or to not run at all.

Zebideedee · Feb 06, 2009, 09:33 AM // 09:33

To OP, I've been scammed by someone who said they'd do a run for me and some others then buggered off as soon as we started mission (we all payed up front), so it swings both ways.

Just name and shame the cheapskate to your Guild/Alliance and as many people as possible in game I guess.

VishnuOdin · Feb 06, 2009, 02:09 PM // 14:09

This morning I received a response from the GW team saying they were investigating the issue and would get back to me in the next day or two. I gave them the approximate time, which district, and his name. All they'd have to do is read our chat logs and it's clear he blatantly scammed me, put me on ignore when I said I'd report him if he didn't pay, then logged off.

He probably doesn't even have the 3 plat he said he'd pay me, but it would almost make me happier if they just emptied his account so he'd have to farm before he could do anything. Or just ban him for a few days so he'll think twice about doing it again.

Now that I know I can report people after the fact I'm going to keep giving others the benefit of the doubt, and just fill out a complaint if they scam me. One thing GW has over most MMORPGs is since there's no recurring revenue from monthly fees, banning a player just saves them bandwidth

@Callista Aurelia: Are you sure? It's listed in the Ask a Question section and from the response I received they are investigating it (not the auto response an actual team member response). If they weren't I would have expected a response indicating otherwise. I wrote a small paragraph (lol) detailing the incident so I'm sure they know exactly what I meant.

DarkFlame · Feb 06, 2009, 07:37 PM // 19:37

Whether or not Anet actually takes action against the scammer, you likely won't receive an update on their investigation. They don't discuss what actions are taken with anyone other than the one being investigated. Sorta adds to the whole Anet doesn't ban scammers belief.

He'll likely just get a temp ban and marks added to his account, but it won't be something you'll notice.

KIDGOOCH · Feb 06, 2009, 08:25 PM // 20:25

As a runner and someone who gets run, I know and understand the dangers, particularly on the high end runs. I only run players with guild tags, no non-guild members, also if the price is high 10k and up I always ask to see money outside of starting city or inside dungeon, this way player can't say they accidently went to storage. Now if someone still scams I'll jot down the name and Guild tag and search for other guildies of theirs to either shame or shun offender in to payment, this doesn't always work but you get the satisfaction of embarrassing the player in their guild.

snaek · Feb 06, 2009, 08:49 PM // 20:49

most ppl help out wit missions for free in gw
mebe thats wut he was expecting

unless this is a "run" and not jus "helping" as u mentioned
then i dun think he terribly wronged u (imo)

if u want to make money...then offer a "runnin service" not a "helping service"

run = the customer can sit afk during the whole mission
help = u both play the mission together

refer · Feb 06, 2009, 09:50 PM // 21:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by snaek

most ppl help out wit missions for free in gw
mebe thats wut he was expecting

unless this is a "run" and not jus "helping" as u mentioned
then i dun think he terribly wronged u (imo)

if u want to make money...then offer a "runnin service" not a "helping service"

run = the customer can sit afk during the whole mission
help = u both play the mission together

no, he knew what he was doing. why else would he use the ignore list?

VishnuOdin · Feb 07, 2009, 03:13 AM // 03:13

He spammed the All channel saying he'd pay 3k for the run. While the mission start timer was ticking I typed, "ill do it but please pay me

", to which he typed back, "of course i will".

** first response **
Hello,

I was able to find a violation by reviewing the game logs of the incident.

Thank you for submitting your report and helping keep Guild Wars a fun and safe place to play.

Regards,
[ name removed ]
The Guild Wars Support Team

** i emailed back to ask what that meant **
Hello,

If you read our response again, you will see that we did find a violation. The player in question has had their account suspended.

[ name removed ]
The Guild Wars Support Team

[edit] I didn't do it for me, I didn't ask for the $$. I did it so he thinks twice about doing it to someone else. [/edit]

Neo Nugget · Feb 07, 2009, 07:14 AM // 07:14

So support told you they banned the guy? That's odd. :O

What happened to the whole " keeping it a secret " deal?

VishnuOdin · Feb 08, 2009, 01:30 AM // 01:30

I don't imagine they permanently banned him, just suspended his account for a few days. Perfect timing though, hope he didn't plan to play this weekend

Why would they keep it a secret? He knows what he did.

Snograt · Feb 08, 2009, 10:55 AM // 10:55

Neo Nugget's comment is because, pretty much every time, ANet do not provide details after the event - that is, whether scammers have been suspended as a result of your report.

I'm not sure why - some privacy policy maybe? A very odd one if that's the case.

I like a response like you got, it makes you feel like ANet actually do care about stuff like this.

Callista Aurelia · Feb 08, 2009, 11:17 PM // 23:17

Glad your situation was taken care of, but this is the first time I've heard of a runner getting a favorable result in this situation.

A week ago or so I reported someone who scammed my friend on a dungeon run. I was sent the same first message as you, the "we're investigating the issue" one, but a few days later I received another e-mail saying no violation had been found. I searched the guru forums to see if this was something that happened often, and found a whole slew of threads about runners getting scammed and a-net saying that there was no violation. I went back and read the rules of contact and could find no mention of scamming at all, although in the article on conduct breaches and discipline it does mention scamming as a type of infraction: "Taking advantage of another player ("scamming") in order to take his/her items or account."

People here on the forums have said that run scamming does not count under this definition, since items are not being taken from the runner. This is the first I've heard of a run scamming being acknowledged as actual scamming, although this may be because people are more likely to post here if they have an unfavorable outcome.

I find it very strange that they told you they were punishing the perpetrator, as here is what it says on the page about infractions and discipline that I mentioned before: "Those who report a possible rules infraction by another player will not be informed of the outcome of our investigation; for privacy reasons, disciplinary actions will be a confidential matter between our staff and the affected player."

Here is the link, if anyone is interested in reading it: http://www.guildwars.com/support/leg...d_outcomes.php

So this case has gone against everything I know about how run scamming is dealt with. No offense intended to the OP, but I have to wonder what made your case so special.

Sierraa · Feb 09, 2009, 06:41 AM // 06:41

I've reported a few people and I've always been told if something does or doesn't happen. They don't say how long the person is banned for but they do say if they found a violation or not.

""Those who report a possible rules infraction by another player will not be informed of the outcome of our investigation; for privacy reasons, disciplinary actions will be a confidential matter between our staff and the affected player."

VishnuOdin · Feb 09, 2009, 02:16 PM // 14:16

I may be making assumptions but I can only guess as to why they told me.

1) I've only had an account for a month, and expressed my frustration as a new player.

2) My chat logs were very clear as to what took place. I did not offer this run, he asked for it, offered payment, and confirmed he would pay me when I asked him as the mission timer was ticking.

3) I reported it less then 10 minutes after it happened, was able to provide them with a half hour time frame of when it occurred, which district it was in, which mission it was, and copies of our conversation. I had GW minimized so I literally typed our conversation into the complaint.

4) I never asked for the money he was supposed to pay me. All I asked was if they could do anything about it, to please do. My second email to them asked what finding a violation meant, was it just an acknowledgment that he did scam me or did they take action against the offending player?

If they hadn't responded the way they did, I wouldn't have as much faith in the reporting system as I do now. If they couldn't find a violation, I would assume they either couldn't find the correct conversation, or things didn't add up as your friend said they did. Maybe they exaggerated? Or maybe it wasn't clear through the chat logs exactly what was supposed to happen? Or maybe they only take complaints from the person who was scammed and they wondered why you submitted the request for them?

Or maybe it's happening more frequently now and ANet has started to crack down on scammers? I can see why it would be a pain to do these types of requests, but after a while you have to otherwise things will just get out of hand.

Feb 06, 2009, 03:18 AM // 03:18	#1
VishnuOdin Academy Page Join Date: Jan 2009 Profession: N/E	Reporting Scammers So tonight I helped a guy named [edited] do the missions before the Ascension mission, and he left before he paid me. I'll admit I was naive and should have forced him to pay me a portion up front before helping him, but so far I've only encountered helpful, respectful players so the thought didn't even cross my mind. As soon as we did the last one he left, so I was unable to /report him. He set me to Ignore and will not answer any of my messages. The only page I could find said the player had to be in the same outpost and district for the command to work. Obviously if your going to scam you can just leave / log out and your screwed. I'm normally not this vindictive but this really ticked me off. The worst part is, now I won't help anyone unless they pay up front, which is just sad. I added him to friends and plan to report him the instant I see him, if I ever do again. I guess I have one thing going for me, if he couldn't do the missions I can't see him doing the Ascension mission the first time so he should be in and out of the area. I checked the support section on the GW website and didn't find anything. Am I at a loss here or is there a way to submit a report when the player isn't online? Last edited by VishnuOdin; Feb 06, 2009 at 03:27 AM // 03:27.. Reason: removed players name

Feb 07, 2009, 03:13 AM // 03:13	#12
VishnuOdin Academy Page Join Date: Jan 2009 Profession: N/E	He spammed the All channel saying he'd pay 3k for the run. While the mission start timer was ticking I typed, "ill do it but please pay me ", to which he typed back, "of course i will". first response Hello, I was able to find a violation by reviewing the game logs of the incident. Thank you for submitting your report and helping keep Guild Wars a fun and safe place to play. Regards, [ name removed ] The Guild Wars Support Team i emailed back to ask what that meant Hello, If you read our response again, you will see that we did find a violation. The player in question has had their account suspended. [ name removed ] The Guild Wars Support Team [edit] I didn't do it for me, I didn't ask for the $$. I did it so he thinks twice about doing it to someone else. [/edit] Last edited by VishnuOdin; Feb 07, 2009 at 03:22 AM // 03:22..

Feb 07, 2009, 07:14 AM // 07:14	#13
Neo Nugget Site Contributor Join Date: Jan 2006 Profession: R/	So support told you they banned the guy? That's odd. :O What happened to the whole " keeping it a secret " deal? __________________ "Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return."

Feb 08, 2009, 10:55 AM // 10:55	#15
Snograt rattus rattus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: London, UK GMT??0 ??1hr DST Guild: [GURU]GW [wiki]GW2 Profession: R/	Neo Nugget's comment is because, pretty much every time, ANet do not provide details after the event - that is, whether scammers have been suspended as a result of your report. I'm not sure why - some privacy policy maybe? A very odd one if that's the case. I like a response like you got, it makes you feel like ANet actually do care about stuff like this. __________________ Si non confectus, non reficiat

Feb 06, 2009, 03:20 AM // 03:20	#2
Kook~NBK~ Grotto Attendant Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: A little chalet outside Drok's Guild: Natural Born Killaz	1. No names! 2. Nothing anyone here can do. To report a problem with a scammer, use the "ask a question" link on the GW Website's support page.

Feb 06, 2009, 03:39 AM // 03:39	#3
VishnuOdin Academy Page Join Date: Jan 2009 Profession: N/E	Thank you, I submitted a report using the "Ask a Question" link from the support page. I edited my post to remove his name, my apologies I should have read the rules before I posted.

Feb 06, 2009, 07:10 AM // 07:10	#4
refer Jungle Guide Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: US	Ouch, not much to say... but you can always name drop outside of here... I'm not like talking public shaming but if people pull crap they need to be held accountable (like Cash4Gold for example). One reason why I hate the ignore feature just being permanent. Why can't it build up? I know that'd not be popular but I think it'd be good.

Feb 06, 2009, 07:41 AM // 07:41	#5
Callista Aurelia Academy Page Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Bay Area, CA Guild: Kitchen Pirates [CKIE] Profession: E/	So I know it sucks, but anet will not take action against run scammers. They do not consider it a breach of the code of conduct. I'm sorry. :-( The whole run system is based on nothing but faith. Unfortunately, the only thing you can do to not get scammed is to take money up front, or to not run at all.

Feb 06, 2009, 09:33 AM // 09:33	#6
Zebideedee Jungle Guide Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: 55?? 57' 0" N / 3?? 12' 0" W Profession: N/Me	To OP, I've been scammed by someone who said they'd do a run for me and some others then buggered off as soon as we started mission (we all payed up front), so it swings both ways. Just name and shame the cheapskate to your Guild/Alliance and as many people as possible in game I guess.

Feb 06, 2009, 02:09 PM // 14:09	#7
VishnuOdin Academy Page Join Date: Jan 2009 Profession: N/E	This morning I received a response from the GW team saying they were investigating the issue and would get back to me in the next day or two. I gave them the approximate time, which district, and his name. All they'd have to do is read our chat logs and it's clear he blatantly scammed me, put me on ignore when I said I'd report him if he didn't pay, then logged off. He probably doesn't even have the 3 plat he said he'd pay me, but it would almost make me happier if they just emptied his account so he'd have to farm before he could do anything. Or just ban him for a few days so he'll think twice about doing it again. Now that I know I can report people after the fact I'm going to keep giving others the benefit of the doubt, and just fill out a complaint if they scam me. One thing GW has over most MMORPGs is since there's no recurring revenue from monthly fees, banning a player just saves them bandwidth @Callista Aurelia: Are you sure? It's listed in the Ask a Question section and from the response I received they are investigating it (not the auto response an actual team member response). If they weren't I would have expected a response indicating otherwise. I wrote a small paragraph (lol) detailing the incident so I'm sure they know exactly what I meant.

Feb 06, 2009, 07:37 PM // 19:37	#8
DarkFlame Desert Nomad Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ascalon Profession: E/	Whether or not Anet actually takes action against the scammer, you likely won't receive an update on their investigation. They don't discuss what actions are taken with anyone other than the one being investigated. Sorta adds to the whole Anet doesn't ban scammers belief. He'll likely just get a temp ban and marks added to his account, but it won't be something you'll notice.

Feb 06, 2009, 08:25 PM // 20:25	#9
KIDGOOCH Krytan Explorer Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: MD Profession: R/Mo	As a runner and someone who gets run, I know and understand the dangers, particularly on the high end runs. I only run players with guild tags, no non-guild members, also if the price is high 10k and up I always ask to see money outside of starting city or inside dungeon, this way player can't say they accidently went to storage. Now if someone still scams I'll jot down the name and Guild tag and search for other guildies of theirs to either shame or shun offender in to payment, this doesn't always work but you get the satisfaction of embarrassing the player in their guild.

Feb 06, 2009, 08:49 PM // 20:49	#10
snaek Forge Runner Join Date: Mar 2006 Profession: N/	most ppl help out wit missions for free in gw mebe thats wut he was expecting unless this is a "run" and not jus "helping" as u mentioned then i dun think he terribly wronged u (imo) if u want to make money...then offer a "runnin service" not a "helping service" run = the customer can sit afk during the whole mission help = u both play the mission together

Feb 08, 2009, 01:30 AM // 01:30	#14
VishnuOdin Academy Page Join Date: Jan 2009 Profession: N/E	I don't imagine they permanently banned him, just suspended his account for a few days. Perfect timing though, hope he didn't plan to play this weekend Why would they keep it a secret? He knows what he did.

Feb 08, 2009, 11:17 PM // 23:17	#16
Callista Aurelia Academy Page Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Bay Area, CA Guild: Kitchen Pirates [CKIE] Profession: E/	Glad your situation was taken care of, but this is the first time I've heard of a runner getting a favorable result in this situation. A week ago or so I reported someone who scammed my friend on a dungeon run. I was sent the same first message as you, the "we're investigating the issue" one, but a few days later I received another e-mail saying no violation had been found. I searched the guru forums to see if this was something that happened often, and found a whole slew of threads about runners getting scammed and a-net saying that there was no violation. I went back and read the rules of contact and could find no mention of scamming at all, although in the article on conduct breaches and discipline it does mention scamming as a type of infraction: "Taking advantage of another player ("scamming") in order to take his/her items or account." People here on the forums have said that run scamming does not count under this definition, since items are not being taken from the runner. This is the first I've heard of a run scamming being acknowledged as actual scamming, although this may be because people are more likely to post here if they have an unfavorable outcome. I find it very strange that they told you they were punishing the perpetrator, as here is what it says on the page about infractions and discipline that I mentioned before: "Those who report a possible rules infraction by another player will not be informed of the outcome of our investigation; for privacy reasons, disciplinary actions will be a confidential matter between our staff and the affected player." Here is the link, if anyone is interested in reading it: http://www.guildwars.com/support/leg...d_outcomes.php So this case has gone against everything I know about how run scamming is dealt with. No offense intended to the OP, but I have to wonder what made your case so special.

Feb 09, 2009, 06:41 AM // 06:41	#17
Sierraa Supastar~ ??? Join Date: May 2006 Location: USA [GMT -7] Guild: Sierraas Asian Harem [love] Profession: Me/	I've reported a few people and I've always been told if something does or doesn't happen. They don't say how long the person is banned for but they do say if they found a violation or not. ""Those who report a possible rules infraction by another player will not be informed of the outcome of our investigation; for privacy reasons, disciplinary actions will be a confidential matter between our staff and the affected player."

Feb 09, 2009, 02:16 PM // 14:16	#18
VishnuOdin Academy Page Join Date: Jan 2009 Profession: N/E	I may be making assumptions but I can only guess as to why they told me. 1) I've only had an account for a month, and expressed my frustration as a new player. 2) My chat logs were very clear as to what took place. I did not offer this run, he asked for it, offered payment, and confirmed he would pay me when I asked him as the mission timer was ticking. 3) I reported it less then 10 minutes after it happened, was able to provide them with a half hour time frame of when it occurred, which district it was in, which mission it was, and copies of our conversation. I had GW minimized so I literally typed our conversation into the complaint. 4) I never asked for the money he was supposed to pay me. All I asked was if they could do anything about it, to please do. My second email to them asked what finding a violation meant, was it just an acknowledgment that he did scam me or did they take action against the offending player? If they hadn't responded the way they did, I wouldn't have as much faith in the reporting system as I do now. If they couldn't find a violation, I would assume they either couldn't find the correct conversation, or things didn't add up as your friend said they did. Maybe they exaggerated? Or maybe it wasn't clear through the chat logs exactly what was supposed to happen? Or maybe they only take complaints from the person who was scammed and they wondered why you submitted the request for them? Or maybe it's happening more frequently now and ANet has started to crack down on scammers? I can see why it would be a pain to do these types of requests, but after a while you have to otherwise things will just get out of hand.