Recent 'Greed' Scams

Several times today I've noticed in the trade centers of GW, being usually district 1 of Lion's Arch, Kaineng Center, and Kamadan, a scam that involves 2 people, usually either friends or guildies. One offers either a large sum of money, or something like a Miniature Kuunavang / Lich, for a certain item. The other, sells that certain item for an obscene amount of money. The purpose of this being to bait someone into buying the item, and then unsuccessfully being able to trade it for the higher priced item. Not sure if this is a 'scam' per se, as it's reliant on someone's greed, but the sheer number of them occuring is very misleading to most people.

One example was: Someone wished to trade a Miniature Kuunavang for a Miki's Staff (http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Miki%27s_Staff). While another person, attempted to sell Miki's Staff in the same district, for 30k. Anyone with a decent sense would know that a Shing Jea green is never going to be worth that much, but the aspect of greed would make them buy it to trade for the Kuunavang.

I wasn't sure if this was the correct section of the forums to post this in, and I am just wanting people to be aware of this kind of incident and be careful. I checked Wiki, and it's not listed under common scams (yet).

Obviously without naming names, has anyone been experiencing this recently?

I've personally never seen that in town, but I may not have noticed even if I did. I have seen many many forum posts though describing this exact scam so this isn't something new. I believe Temple of Ages is a common spot for the scammers to try it.

...and guess it's definitely falls under the "scam" category.

I saw this as well Exact same as yours but with a bow...(soz about crappy edit..)


Still the kind of people who make money trading probs wont fall for it as its so obviously a scam, but still....


wow that edit rly was crappy... this one is better =D

You have to be pretty retarded to fall for that, you know why? THEY COULD JUST TRADE WITH EACH OTHER AND BE PERFECTLY HAPPY.

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Common_scams/Trade_scams

Deferred Trades

Another variant of this scam is where one player says something along the lines of "WTB: Ecto 15k". His partner is nearby, deliberately ignoring him, and advertising "WTS: Ecto 10k". Even though the price of the ecto is too high, there is a 5k profit to be made from trading the ecto between them. If you buy from the first player you'll find yourself in a sticky situation as they both log off suddenly, leaving you several thousand gold down (depending on ecto prices). The most dangerous part of this is that it is not considered a scam by ArenaNet.

Its not considered a scam because,

Person A is offering a price for his item, 30k. You don't have to buy his item but that's how much he wants. He has clearly asked for 30k for it. If you choose to trade u know your getting the item for 30k.
Its not a scam.

Person B apart from attempting to influence your interest in the sale isn't doing anything actively wrong.

They are still offering an item for a trade, they might even offer a price that its equal to.

Now if you think that is a scam ID a green sometime, you'll see the listed price is 1/10 the player trade price.

Whether or not you consider these people scammers, they're still low-life bottom feeders that should have their toes smashed with a ball pin hammer.

EDIT--> No, I've never been scammed, so I'm not bitter. I just hate scum that take advantage of people.

You could try giving Person B what they ask for (provided you have the item)... they'll either ignore you, leave, make up lame excuses... or be forced to make the deal they promised. Make sure to get Screen Caps before during and after the trade.

Then it's up to ANet's Justice to prevail... report the Scammer (Person B) though Person A will get away free.

i was completly shocked to see some1 trading a mini kun for a Flints wand then seeing some1 selling a flints wand for 30k...

was so confused lol ..

This is clearly a scam aimed at Re-Sellers and unexperienced buyers.

Most likely same person using 2 computers and 2 different accounts to accomplish this type of scam.

Anet will find a way to crack down on these.

Never fall for these. The person behind this scam should be reported and banned. And because he uses 2 accounts, BOTH accounts should be banned.

god I dislike Guru server. Double Post FTL

Reporting someone for ignoring you? Goodluck with that.

While I am extremely against scamming, this scam is rather interesting. However, the moral of the story is the same. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Don't try to make easy money when someone else is involved because they are most likely making easy money off of you.

That's really not the point Fenix. By doing this they're hoping some bloke will go, "Wow for 30k I can get a Kuunavang." You trade 30k for the weapon and both of them leave. I assume they split the profit and try it elsewhere.

They're not intending to really trade the Kuuna for the staff.

I have seen this many times. I just whisper one of them and give them the name of the other guy who is trading or selling, letting them know they have the item he/she is looking for. ROFL.

It's a very clumsy version of a classic 2 man scam: the fiddle game. It was old before Al Gore invented the internet.

i wouldnt consider these types of people "scammers" but rather ingenious traders.

if you consider these people "scammers" then all power traders would also be considered "scammers".

most power traders take advantage of people who dont know prices to make a profit these people are simply exploiting greed to make a profit. whats worse? if anything, id say exploiting noobs for profit is worse then exploiting greed.

Someone is making an offer he isn't planning to honor, with the express purpose of tricking someone into handing over money.

It's a scam.

It's a good one when it works, because it's very hard to make charges stick, but it is a scam. The trick is to find a sucker to fall for it. Since there's one born every minute, as the saying goes, I bet they're making good virtual money.

The thing is though, the people getting "scammed" are trying to take advantage of people. If they weren't greedy, they would just whisper one person and say the other person has what they are looking for. If they are greedy and want to take advantage of the buyer/seller's fake ignorance, then they lose out. It is people taking advantage of someone trying to take advantage of them.

It's nothing new, but something like this happened to me a long time ago, but with opposite effects.

I was in Drok's back when it was spam central because of the troll farmers and such. I saw someone spamming trade chat for a Bone Dragon at a fairly high price (100k+40e). At the same time I saw someone selling one for 100k+20e.

I took the opportunity to sell my Bone Dragon (which I bought a couple of weeks ago) and then picked up the cheaper one for a 20e profit.

I'm just going to say it one last time, [b]It's not a scam![b]

If it was every single power-selller/trader would be considered a scammer. Hell we all want to get an iten for cheaper then the market value and resell.

Reporting them won't do anything, there providing a price for an item. if u pay that price you agree to a trade.

The other player is just attempting to raise the price, but within the rules and regs of GW he is still trading in a legal manner. He offers an item for a trade, you now what your getting if he trade or not is his choice.

Problem is you can't prove there working together, u going to report every trade who is asking a inflated price? Or just the one selling something people are asking for?

No its not

You won't get any charges to stick... Why cause its not a scam, apart from 2 different people suggesting a trade there not scamming people out of there money.
You get a price, and an item. And with the second person u get trade item for your item.

The market price for greens are purley palyer based.


How about not being a idiot and attempting to profit from the misfortune of others.

Anyone falling for the 2seller scams is trying to rip one person of, there just as bad as the first pair of seller.