Guide To Avoiding Duel Arena Scams
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 2:35 am
Hello,
So lately I've realized there's a ton of player reports coming in about players attempting to scam other players via common staking scams. I would like to go over some things to potentially save a few players from being victims of these scammers. I know a lot of the people who do stake won't even visit this section but even if a few players take what I've got to offer into consideration then maybe we could cut out some players falling victim to these scenarios. One I would like to talk about is ruby ring scamming.
So first of all I'm sure a lot of you know about the scam where a ruby ring is offered in the stake instead of a perfect ring. Unfortunately a lot of players fall a victim to this scam and don't even think twice to check what the stakes being offered are. I'd just like to point out how this could be avoided and how you could tell the difference between the two rings. This was brought to my attention by 'Youre It' today that there is an actual visual difference between both rings. A lot of you may or may not have known this but I felt it was definitely worth sharing.
As you can see above, there's two rings. One is a perfect ring and one is a ruby ring. You can see the visual difference between the two. The perfect ring has a thicker gold band and is slightly slanted differently. If you just take a minute to review the stakes and double check what's being offered you could avoid staking 30b for a ruby ring.
What To Do If You Come Across A Ruby Ring Scammer:
So say you did happen to come across one of these scammers. What should you do? First of all, it's great you've taken the time to double check everything and be cautious. What you should do now is right click the ring being offered and simply use the ::ss command or click the 'screenshot' button on the top of the client. It also helps if you can get a part of the chat in there where the suspected scammer is saying anything like "ddsing 20b" while still having the stake interface open with the ring being offered. It is important these situations are always reported and valid evidence is taken. This way we could get rid of these scammers one by one. The evidence should then be sent to a staff member or posting in the Report A Player section.
Now this doesn't just go for ruby ring scamming, this goes for anything along these lines. The same procedure should be followed.
Common Scams:
There are tons of different duel arena scams out there, these scammers are slick with it sometimes as well.
Some common ones are:
How Do I Provide Good Evidence:
Providing staff members with evidence is a big necessity when it comes to these situations. If we are unable to understand what is going on in the evidence provided it's sad to say we can't do much about it. We'd hate to wrongfully ban someone. So evidence is a very sensitive and important factor in scamming cases. I can't stress enough that you should always screenshot every part of a stake, especially if it's a big one. As soon as you let your guard down that's when you're the most vulnerable to fall a victim to a scammer. If you are on your toes and prepared each stake if you were to get scammed then the staff team would be able to see what exactly happened and then take action. Taking screenshots is very simple, I explained above that all it takes it a short command of "::ss" and everything on your screen will be screenshotted and saved to your computer. However, nothing compares to how good video evidence is. I know a lot of people don't want to be recording each and every stake because it's just a bit tedious. If you were to at least record the larger stakes with a video recorder it could potentially help you far more if you were to be scammed. This way staff members are able to see the entire transaction and know exactly what is going on. If this is something you want to consider, I would highly recommend using Bandicam and just having it minimized in the background to where all you need to do is press 'record' before the stake. You can get it here: Bandicam, it's free and very easy to use.
Also, when taking screenshots be sure to try to get all the information and evidence you can within one screenshot, such as:
What Happens If You're Caught Scamming/Attempted Scamming:
If you were to be caught doing any sort of scam I'm sure you should already know that this would result in an account ban if valid evidence has been provided. There's zero tolerance for scamming players, this isn't something we want in our community. If you were caught attempting a scam but didn't get to execute the scam yet this will also result in an account ban. For example, you offer a ruby ring intended to be a perfect ring stake and get reported. The evidence comes back as valid. You will then be banned from the game for "Attempted Scamming." I don't need to go into much detail here about the consequences as it's written high and low in the rules.
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*** I can't stress enough that as long as you're cautious and on your toes at the duel arena you should not be scammed. Always keep your guard up and expect the worst. Duel arena scamming is a major issue lately and yet people are falling a victim to these situations on a daily basis. Always double check everything and review the first staking interface as well as the second interface! There's no rush at all as well as no reason you should be rushing into any stake!
*The best way to avoid being scammed is to simply just be careful, cautious, and double check everything on both interfaces!
I chose to discuss ruby ring scamming mainly because it is the most common scam lately. A lot of players seem to fall for this scam the most. It is a shame that these people exist but it's best to bring it to player's awareness incase some aren't aware of this. This guide isn't about how to avoid ruby ring scamming but scamming in general. What it boils down to is just being careful and persistent, do not let these scammers fool you.
This was just a small guide to bring some things to the surface and just put out there. It's not in as detail as it could and should be. If you want to add onto it or bring anything up that you think I should have mentioned please do so below.
So lately I've realized there's a ton of player reports coming in about players attempting to scam other players via common staking scams. I would like to go over some things to potentially save a few players from being victims of these scammers. I know a lot of the people who do stake won't even visit this section but even if a few players take what I've got to offer into consideration then maybe we could cut out some players falling victim to these scenarios. One I would like to talk about is ruby ring scamming.
So first of all I'm sure a lot of you know about the scam where a ruby ring is offered in the stake instead of a perfect ring. Unfortunately a lot of players fall a victim to this scam and don't even think twice to check what the stakes being offered are. I'd just like to point out how this could be avoided and how you could tell the difference between the two rings. This was brought to my attention by 'Youre It' today that there is an actual visual difference between both rings. A lot of you may or may not have known this but I felt it was definitely worth sharing.
As you can see above, there's two rings. One is a perfect ring and one is a ruby ring. You can see the visual difference between the two. The perfect ring has a thicker gold band and is slightly slanted differently. If you just take a minute to review the stakes and double check what's being offered you could avoid staking 30b for a ruby ring.
What To Do If You Come Across A Ruby Ring Scammer:
So say you did happen to come across one of these scammers. What should you do? First of all, it's great you've taken the time to double check everything and be cautious. What you should do now is right click the ring being offered and simply use the ::ss command or click the 'screenshot' button on the top of the client. It also helps if you can get a part of the chat in there where the suspected scammer is saying anything like "ddsing 20b" while still having the stake interface open with the ring being offered. It is important these situations are always reported and valid evidence is taken. This way we could get rid of these scammers one by one. The evidence should then be sent to a staff member or posting in the Report A Player section.
Now this doesn't just go for ruby ring scamming, this goes for anything along these lines. The same procedure should be followed.
Common Scams:
There are tons of different duel arena scams out there, these scammers are slick with it sometimes as well.
Some common ones are:
- Removing x amount of coins/tickets/items from the stakes while you're doing the rules
- Offering a ruby ring as a perfect ring
- Offering a soft clay as a wooden shield (so stupid, I know, but it's a thing)
- Offering a cut ruby as a blood diamond
- Offering an easy, medium, or hard clue scroll casket as an elite.
- Disabling limited weapons so that the scammer is able to use a wide variety of weapons during the stake and not strictly what was agreed on
- Tampering with the rules trying to change/enable/disable something before your eyes i.e. turning food on hoping you didn't notice it.
- Offering a brown apron or team capes as if they are worth something. *Note: These items are next to worthless. A brown apron is not worth anything at all. It can be obtained from the wall in ::skilling or a workshop in a POH. Teamcapes don't have a value anymore of 100k.
How Do I Provide Good Evidence:
Providing staff members with evidence is a big necessity when it comes to these situations. If we are unable to understand what is going on in the evidence provided it's sad to say we can't do much about it. We'd hate to wrongfully ban someone. So evidence is a very sensitive and important factor in scamming cases. I can't stress enough that you should always screenshot every part of a stake, especially if it's a big one. As soon as you let your guard down that's when you're the most vulnerable to fall a victim to a scammer. If you are on your toes and prepared each stake if you were to get scammed then the staff team would be able to see what exactly happened and then take action. Taking screenshots is very simple, I explained above that all it takes it a short command of "::ss" and everything on your screen will be screenshotted and saved to your computer. However, nothing compares to how good video evidence is. I know a lot of people don't want to be recording each and every stake because it's just a bit tedious. If you were to at least record the larger stakes with a video recorder it could potentially help you far more if you were to be scammed. This way staff members are able to see the entire transaction and know exactly what is going on. If this is something you want to consider, I would highly recommend using Bandicam and just having it minimized in the background to where all you need to do is press 'record' before the stake. You can get it here: Bandicam, it's free and very easy to use.
Also, when taking screenshots be sure to try to get all the information and evidence you can within one screenshot, such as:
- Things the suspected scammer has said in the chatbox and the entire staking interface.
- Right click any rings, such as ruby/perfect.
- If the rules have been tampered with and changed it's good to screenshot that the other player has accepted rules you're not agreeing to. For example, your opponent offers his items and sets the rules and unchecks 'no food' and then accepts. Taking a ::ss then would be able to tell us that this player was most likely trying to scam via enabling food so he could eat during the stake.
What Happens If You're Caught Scamming/Attempted Scamming:
If you were to be caught doing any sort of scam I'm sure you should already know that this would result in an account ban if valid evidence has been provided. There's zero tolerance for scamming players, this isn't something we want in our community. If you were caught attempting a scam but didn't get to execute the scam yet this will also result in an account ban. For example, you offer a ruby ring intended to be a perfect ring stake and get reported. The evidence comes back as valid. You will then be banned from the game for "Attempted Scamming." I don't need to go into much detail here about the consequences as it's written high and low in the rules.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** I can't stress enough that as long as you're cautious and on your toes at the duel arena you should not be scammed. Always keep your guard up and expect the worst. Duel arena scamming is a major issue lately and yet people are falling a victim to these situations on a daily basis. Always double check everything and review the first staking interface as well as the second interface! There's no rush at all as well as no reason you should be rushing into any stake!
*The best way to avoid being scammed is to simply just be careful, cautious, and double check everything on both interfaces!
I chose to discuss ruby ring scamming mainly because it is the most common scam lately. A lot of players seem to fall for this scam the most. It is a shame that these people exist but it's best to bring it to player's awareness incase some aren't aware of this. This guide isn't about how to avoid ruby ring scamming but scamming in general. What it boils down to is just being careful and persistent, do not let these scammers fool you.
This was just a small guide to bring some things to the surface and just put out there. It's not in as detail as it could and should be. If you want to add onto it or bring anything up that you think I should have mentioned please do so below.
