SCAMS: Read this before you trade anything!

[MrGenie]

As far as I know, the vast majority of VMK scams fall into one of the following two categories:

1) Trading for codes. These types of trades will always be problematic because they cannot be conducted simultaneously (unlike trades that happen in the game). Whoever gives something away first must trust the other person to deliver the other part of the bargain after the trade. Additionally, the code portion of the trade typically has to happen outside of VMK which further complicates matters and makes the trade more risky.

How to avoid this scam: do not participate in sequential trades (trades where one portion can't be completed in the VMK trade window) with anyone you don't completely trust. There are a lot of trustworthy people out there with the items you are looking for. Be patient, and eventually you'll find someone you feel good about trading with!

Possible signs that someone is probably scamming you: they have rare items but they are using a guest account or are brand new to the forum (check their profile); the offer seems too good to be true; they refuse to let you try out the code first before taking your in-game items.

2) Clicking "Accept" too early. Apparently, there is a bug allows someone to remove something from the trade window at the last second after you click "Accept", and the trade goes through before you have a chance to accept again. Other versions of this involve people tricking you into accepting the wrong trade by putting something valuable in the trade window, filling the trade window with less valuable things, and then deleting the valuable item while it is off the screen. A third version occurs when you add your items to the trade window and click "Accept"...once you do this, all the other person has to do is click "Accept" and the trade will be completed--even if they haven't added anything to the trade window.

How to avoid this scam: be extremely careful before you click the "Accept" button. Review all items in the trade. A good rule of thumb is that you should always try to be the last person to click the "Accept" button in a trade.

Possible signs that someone is probably scamming you: the offer seems too good to be true; they keep adding and deleting things from the trade window or doing shady things with the "Accept" button; they try to rush you through the trade and act impatient if you are taking your time to review things.

Update: In an attempt to eliminate this type of scam, VMK has added a "Confirm" window that appears after both players click "Accept." Items cannot be added or removed from the "Confirm" window, so double-check that you are getting the right items and not being scammed!

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If either of these scams occurs to you, you need to report it to VMK IMMEDIATELY using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the VMK Home Page. VMK also has a great page on scamming on their website. VMK takes scamming very seriously, and the only way to shut down people who scam is to report them to VMK. VMK may also help you get your stuff back if they can prove you got scammed from the chat/trade logs, or if you traded with someone who has been reported by others. On the other hand, reporting scammers to the forum is not allowed because we can't prove anything here and it is considered flaming. If you do believe you were scammed by a forum member, please send me a PM and I will look into it privately.

Remember that there will always be new people to the game and the forum who will unfortunately try to scam other people. Fortunately, there are only a few types of successful scams, so once you know how these operate, it's pretty easy to avoid falling victim to a scam.

One last piece of advice: I have seen several people complain that they traded something and then the other person refused to trade them back a few minutes later. However, refusing a trade-back is not a scam...once you complete a trade, it's final. If someone decides to trade back with you, that is their decision, but it is also completely voluntary. For this reason, do not trade if there is any chance you will want a trade-back in the future...you should also avoid letting someone "test out" your magic pin or whatever since there is no way to force them to give it back.

Happy trading!