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MCDrugs Guide to Avoiding Scams / Awareness Database

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theodor488

Well-Known Member
ALL NEW PLAYERS WELCOME!

WARNING: Scamming is indeed allowed in MCDrugs, and those who scam will not be punished in any way by MCDrugs Admins and Moderators. However, you can avoid scamming by reading this guide.

INTRODUCTION TO SCAMMING

Hello everyone, my name is theodor488 and I am making an in depth guide / database for different scams and how intuitive players can use these scams on you. In this guide, I will give you examples of real scams used on the MCDrugs server, and I highly encourage others to add to the database by reporting your scam, and how it can be avoided.

HISTORY OF SCAMMING


Being a native of Lagos, Nigeria I have a wide knowledge of different scams used in real world situations, as well as in Minecraft. Taking a major in Psychology, I indeed have a very in depth understanding of why people scam. I have noted that it is not just the greed that drives people to scam, but it gives the scammers infinite pleasure to "put one over" or being able to "sell the scam". In most cases, it is like a gambling situation for the scammers, even if the scammers don't make much money out of it, if they still sell the scam they will receive the adrenaline rush that they so desire. This is what I am trying to end on MCDrugs, and give awareness to the community to keep their heads up for different scams and scammers so that these scammers do not get a rush out of getting 20k from a brand new player.

TYPES OF SCAMS:


I believe in scamming, there are 3 primary ways to scam people.

-CHAT SCAMMING: Chat scamming is a basic way to scam someone. Basically, the scammer tells you to do a prompt command, resulting in you getting scammed.

ex. /pay scam. - One of most original and out of the book scams there are, they ask you to pay them and they get the money you pay them.


HOW TO AVOID: You can avoid this by not randomly paying people for items, but using /trade and putting your money there.

-TRADE SCAMMING: A trade scam is a dishonest way of trading where you gain money/items from a player.

ex. "Trade me first, then you go after" scam - This is a simple scam that involves the scamming creating a trade deal with the player, and the scammer tells the player to give said items first. After the scammer has received the item, he will keep it for himself, and likely logout/ignore the scammed player, without paying him the goods.

HOW TO AVOID: You can avoid this scam by always checking in /trade if all the goods are given. If there is a difference in what you asked for and what he has given, simply exit the trade, and realize that you are being scammed.

-TELEPORT SCAMMING: A teleport scam is a scam that involves a scammer asking to tpa to someone, while they are in a valuable location, where they can either raid/sethome in.

ex. /tpahere /tpa scam - This is a scam where a scammer says in chat "tpa to me for a base/farm". A victim will msg them tpa me there, and the scammer will quickly do /tpahere (victim). The victim will do /tpaccept but before the victims types it, the scammer quickly types /tpa (victim), and will be able to infiltrate wherever the victim is at the time. This works on a basis of if the victim will realize the scammer has changed the /tpa command, and how well the scammer predicts when the victim will do /tpaccept.



HOW TO AVOID: You can avoid this by simply never doing /tpaccept to tpa someone but doing /tpa to another player. If you are put in a situation where you do need to use /tpaccept, never be in a valuable place such as a vault or a faction base whilst performing the command.


THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SCAMMING AND EXPLOITING:

When you have encountered a scam, you need to realize if you have indeed been scammed, or have encountered a new exploit. The difference between scamming and exploiting is that scamming is indeed avoidable, you can prevent it, but exploiting is impossible to avoid, even if you know every way to prevent it. For example, if you do /tpaccept to a teleport request that clearly states /tpahere victim and the player tpa's to you instead, this is either likely an exploit, or the chat did not update with the /tpa victim (Which is extremely unlikely). If you ever suspect you have been scammed by a scammer using an exploit, always contact an admin or a moderator to confirm whether or not it is indeed a scam or an exploit.

REAL LIFE SCAMS USED IN MCDRUGS:


You may be asking yourself "The scams you gave us in the examples are not realistic, no one EVER gets scammed like that", and you are indeed correct. This is why I am going to give you two examples of intuitive scams used by real people in MCDrugs. These are very common, but effective scams that I have seen original to MCDrugs, and are very difficult to avoid.


1. The Impossible Efficiency Scam

TRADE SCAM

This scam involves where a player would use a trick (not an exploit) by using the MCMMO Salvage ability, which would rename an items efficiency to X instead of the maximum VI or V. You need to make note that the maximum efficiency currently on MCDrugs is only VI, and if there is an item being listed as X or IX, it is a fake item, and upon purchasing this, and using it once, it will revert to its original efficiency.

HOW TO AVOID: Ask any admin if something on /ah is indeed the real deal, and if it is something that you expect to get, instead of a fake.

Common Users: Beintruder

2. The Ally /f home Scam

TELEPORT SCAM

This scam involves a faction leader / officer to ask constantly, factions (usually new) to ally. They will give a cheap reason as to why the would like to ally, and the victim faction leader / officer will agree to ally the scamming faction. When the scamming faction is indeed allied, they will exploit (not bannable exploit) the default faction setting where allies are allowed to do /f home to other factions. Therefore, when the new faction leader does set a home, at a base, the scamming faction leader can teleport there, and do what he likes with this.

HOW TO AVOID: When you create a new faction / are a faction leader always set the faction permission to allies are not allowed to do /f home. The command for this is: /f perm set home ally no

Common Users: jclaw11 (SolidForm)


REPORTING YOUR OWN SCAMS/SCAMMERS

When you have been scammed, or your friend or someone else has encountered a new scam, I am encouraging you to report them to this forum post, so that all new players who encounter this will be able to make note of this, and broaden their knowledge with players who are trading with them. This is so that when you do get scammed, it can stop, and the scammer getting their adrenaline rush from scamming you will be deprived of this, and will hopefully stop scamming altogether.

FORMAT TO REPORT YOUR OWN SCAMS/SCAMMERS

1. (The name of the scam)

(Type of Scam)

(How the scam is carried out)

(How to avoid the scam)

(Name of the scammer)

With this knowledge we can work towards MCDrugs being a smarter, more informed community on the topic of scamming, and we can stop these mental scammers from carrying out what they do to others.

'
Note:


You can avoid any scam by doing a few different things that will make you avoid any scam. One common way is to use a middleman trade which involves you and the trader to both give an item to either an Admin / Moderator to keep the item unless the other trader has indeed given the specified goods that the two players have agreed upon. If you see an item which you would like to purchase on /ah and you are not sure if it is indeed a real item or if it is a fake item, you can always ask an Admin / Moderator to check if it is indeed what you are inspecting it to be. The final way to avoid scams is simply common sense, if you watch your back and are careful enough, you can avoid all scams and have a nice experience on the MCDrugs server.


Thank you for reading my in depth guide on how to avoid scams, and the large database that I hope to create.

-theodor488

PS: Join Kuuantum!
:)
 
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AKAjabroc

Well-Known Member
MVP+
Outstanding Forum Contributor
This is very thought out and a good guide for some new players.
Ps. I like how you put the common users
 

Spalw

Retired Staff
Retired Staff
Hello, thank you for this thread.

We have introduced a new tag on the website for players who make especially high quality/effort posts, these tags will be awarded at the discretion of staff. You have been awarded this tag for this post, due to it's extreme quality, effort and obvious benefit to players.
 
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theodor488

Well-Known Member
Hello, thank you for this thread.

We have introduced a new tag on the website for players who make especially high quality/effort posts, these tags will be awarded at the discretion of staff. You have been awarded this tag for this post, due to it's extreme quality, effort and obvious benefit to players.

WOW! Thank you so much Spalw and staff, I feel so honoured right now! :)

-theodor488

PS. Special thanks to Spalw, if it weren't for you on TS, I would never have been so inclined to make such a post.
 
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Hrby

Well-Known Member
2017 Map Founder
Contributor III
MVP+
Outstanding Forum Contributor
I'd like to point out that teleport scams can be used in your favor to get free items.
If you get a /tpahere to someone, there is a way you can basically kill them for certain. Here are some steps you can take to turn a tptrapper's trap on them.

1. Ask a noob who has fallen into the trap to describe the trap to you. Try to learn whether it is a fall damage trap, a lava trap, a suffocation trap, or a box that you can't escape from with a hole at the bottom for the trapper to hit you.

2. Determine what world the trap is in. Use past victims of the trap to determine this. If necessary, tell them to fall into the trap a second time with their F3 on so that you can find out which world the trap is in. I highly recommend that you do not attempt to kill a tptrapper if the trap is in the end, because you could end up falling into the void with all of your gear.

3. Be well-geared. This is perhaps the most crucial aspect of killing a tptrapper. Always take a fire resistance potion before being TP'd to a tptrap. For some reason, most TPtrappers forget that enderpearls exist. Bring them, and you might be able to get out of their trap easily. Also, you're going to want a set of p4 with mending, and a good sword/axe. You have to be able to kill them once you escape their trap. Always be ready to be ganged up on. In fact, you should expect a gang attack, especially if the tptrapper has faction members online with him/her.

4. You will probably want a rocket launcher, just in case. There are some TPtraps that you can't escape with just pearls. A rocket launcher, however, will literally get you out of any situation. Since rockets do very little player damage, do not be afraid to shoot the trap while you are inside to blow it up to escape. If you do not have a rocket launcher, bring a pickaxe. Some trappers are so unintelligent that they don't claim their trap.

5. Kill the TPtrapper. They will probably try to run once you escape, so you're going to want a hefty amount of pearls to keep up with them. Speed pots are nice to have as well. Once you kill them, be a lad and give all of the trapper's items to the noobs that fell into his TPtrap.

Killing TPtrappers is very satisfying, but also a big risk. Be sure to follow these steps to be sure that you won't make their trap a success!
 
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theodor488

Well-Known Member
Hello all!

Since this thread has been pretty much dead since the 7 days after it had been posted, I still do think that this post should receive awareness from the whole server. So, my solution to this is to simultaneously bump this thread, whilst contributing to it by posting a scam I have encountered.


Fast One Scam

(Trade Scam)


HOW THE SCAM IS CARRIED OUT
Basically, this scam is carried out by a player trading another player, with a set deal in mind. The scammer has the intent to scam the other player by pulling a 'Fast One'. How the scammer carries this out is by showing the other player that they have the items, and they put in their own items. After the scammer thinks that the victim thinks that trade deal is equal, he will quickly either remove a large amount of money, or switch the item for a fake. For example, someone may trade a Jackhammer and 500k for a Rocket Launcher. The person with the Jackhammer is scamming, and when he trades, and shows the other player the Jackhammer and 500k, he will quickly switch that Jackhammer for any enchanted diamond pickaxe, and quickly accept, prompting the other player to accept as well.

You may think 'What kind of dumbass would take this scam?', though it is nothing short of a psychological effect. Though, at the start, they may be stressful seeing such a large trade deal go through, but after they see the wanted items, they start to relax, and just go through and accept the trade. The thing is with this, is the second after the scammer switches items, he accepts, so, naturally, the trader would like to receive his items quickly, and accept without even double checking the trade details that has been changed.

HOW TO AVOID THE SCAM
There isn't really any direct way to avoid it, but just having extreme common sense, and keeping your guard up throughout the whole trade process will save you from being scammed. After the trader accepts, always check over the items, and make sure that 300k isn't a 30k, and you should be sure not to get scammed.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO END THIS SCAM

(For the admins/owners)
I used to play this old MMORPG game called Runescape, and in their trade feature it had a 3 second cooldown, with big letters "CHECK CHANGED ITEMS" as if someone were to ever pull a fast on on somebody, it would show that the trade details had been changed.


beginner_trade_window.png


If you examine this picture from the game, it shows where the trade had been modified with an exclamation mark where the items had been removed, and on the top left it shows 'Trade Modified'. I think that if this were implemented in a similar way to the trade system in MCDrugs, the number of these scams would be greatly reduced.

Thanks for taking the time to read my guide, and read my in depth breakdown of each scam I post! :)

-theodor488
 

Burrito2

Well-Known Member
MVP
Just saying theo I'm pretty sure 'the fast one' cannot happen. When someone changes the trade and you have accepted, it takes you off of that and you are no longer accepting the trade. But if I'm wrong then good suggestion
 

theodor488

Well-Known Member
Just saying theo I'm pretty sure 'the fast one' cannot happen. When someone changes the trade and you have accepted, it takes you off of that and you are no longer accepting the trade. But if I'm wrong then good suggestion

Im not sure if I didn't explain it well enough, but how this scam works is that the player would quickly change the specified trade, THEN accept, not vice versa. If you would like me to show it to you in game, I would gladly show you.
 
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