Old School RuneScape and Albion Online are two MMOs that are really close to my heart. I poured hours of my life into both of these games, and while I’m not currently actively playing Albion I still like to keep close and sometimes log in and maybe wonder around the royal cities, just to check my friend list and how populated the game feels nowadays.
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Context
One of the last times I logged in, I had the fantastic opportunity to interact with some scammers who wanted to surprise, surprise, scam me!
I cannot say I almost got scammed because I have pretty much become scamproof by playing Old School RuneScape and by being married with a scammer for almost three years. This scam is an old one, and it is practiced a lot under different variations in Old School RuneScape, so it wasn’t a close call.
However, if you’re a newer or more trusty person, you might think that the royal cities, or any blue zone, for that matter, are really safe. They’re not that safe because wherever the game currency is worth something people are gonna come with ingenious ways to get cash and get rich, even if it means taking advantage of the more unexperienced fellas, sadly…
Are scams bannable?
Disregarding the morality of the issue, scamming is prohibited by most game companies. However, the scammers do continuously find ways to run their businesses on a grey line, so it will be very hard for you to prove that you really got scammed. Besides this, there is generally a no items return or currency return policy for such cases, that many game company enforce simply because it takes too many resources to check the validity of the claims, and this could also lower their overall profits and create space for a lot of abuse.
At best, you will get the scammer banned, but with both Old School RuneScape and Albion Online having a free to play version, chances are that even if their original account got banned, they’d be back in the game as fast as creating an email addresses and completing the tutorial island in OSRS or starter zone in Albion Online. And the chances that you do get your Albion silver or OSRS GP back are really slim and close to zero. This is why the best method to combat the scammers is by spreading awareness about their ways… and rest assured, they will create new ways to scam, but get the word out. Feel free to send this to your friends who might need it and if you’re aware of a new scam, feel free to contact me as I’d love to write about it.
OSRS Scam
First you should understand how the OSRS similar scam works, but if you want to jump straight into the Albion action, feel free to skip this part. In OSRS, there are quite a few variations of this scam, but I will only give one example as it will most likely be clear enough.
Step 1
First, the scammer says that they are quitting and hence they will double the money of anyone who trusts them to give them valuable items. They might give other reasons as to why they are being so generous, but the main idea is that they will give you the false impression that they are being generous. Now, don’t get me wrong, but regardless of how long or short you’ve played a game you will have friends or at least guild or clan mates to give them your valuables if you really do feel generous. And if you want to be generous with strangers you can simply do that without requiring them to give you anything in return.
Step 2
After delivering the unbelievable story, the scammer will then proceed to the next step. And this is earning your trust. For example, if you give the scammer 1 mil, they will give you back 2 mil and then they will pressure you into giving them more promising they’d double that. Earning the victim’s trust is a very common step in loads of scams, and it can take various forms. Here, there’s a bribing. This scam also aims at the victim’s greediness, and I know, it’s such an ugly word, but it’s just a human desire that sometimes can override reason…We can all feel that emotion, acting or not acting on it is the key.
Step 3
After a few such successful trades, once the scammer feels that they milked a satisfactory amount of GP or trust, they will simply take the 100 mil or as much as they could take from you and not give you anything back, not the doubled amount or anything. They will simply disappear with your gold, and besides reporting them, there’s nothing that you can do. Sometimes they will laugh in your face, sometimes they will just log out. Even though you can report them Jagex will not return your GP, and will at best mute or ban them, provided that you can give enough proof of what happened.
Albion Scam
I logged in and went to Lymhurst (from my Lymhurst island, nothing special) and since I was just enjoying a moment of not over populated area I /dance since one of the sounds I miss the most is the dance sound in Albion. Immediately a guy came to me and started dancing, and another one followed shortly. Until now nothing suspicious, as these spontaneous dancing parties can often happen in blue zones. However, the first one hands me 100k Silver and tells me to double it and give it to someone else who’s dancing there with us.
I immediately knew what was going on. These scammers were not working alone, they were together, one acting like they were both there randomly. Luckily, this is where the story ends as I know not to engage with the scammers. I kept the 100k though, so their overall profits from doing this goes down.
However, I can still tell you what would have happened if I played along. The next step would have been giving them the 200k then I’d probably be given a 600 or 1 mil and expected to double that. They would have probably tried to make some small talk in between the trades to try to build my trust even more.
Even though this scammers had no leverage as one in OSRS would after you gave them the first mil, they could have tried to create some more leverage, by trying to throw in some ‘if you give him x I will give you that’. And this would probably end, only when you tell them you got no more silver to give.
Take care!
It rarely ends pretty, and thinking you can outsmart the scammers is never a good strategy because they have been doing this for longer and are generally really good at manipulating their victims, spotting weak spots, and instantly changing their story to get you. Plus, while you’re alone, they’re usually working with someone that you might not suspect and be more willing to trust.
Stay safe in the blue zone!
