The doubling money scam is one of the oldest scams in Old School RuneScape and it leverages the desire to get GP fast and player’s trust as a means for the scammer to obtain free GP. It is usually advertised at the Grand Exchange with the text “doubling money”.
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What is doubling money
The concept of “doubling money” is pretty simple and it involves giving a sum of money away and receiving double of that back. It dates back in ancient times, not in RuneScape, and it even appears in the Bible. It is heavily used in finances, especially in investments. However, in Old School RuneScape it holds a darker meaning as it relates to a very popular scam. It is, in fact, such a well known scam, that Jagex included it in their rules, under scamming.
The doubling money scam
The doubling money scam has two versions: a simple version that involves a single trade, and a complex version that will take the victim to multiple trades and even chats before the actual scam transaction. But none of them would work unless there would be players actually doubling money or unless players wouldn’t try to anti scam the scammer or profit of the scammer.
Legit doubling money
This occurs very very rarely in comparison to the scams, and it is pretty much done by streamers or youtubers trying to make videos with OSRS content. Such an example is this youtuber who did it for an hour to prove a point and unbelievably he did get players to trade him.
Such things however rarely happen, so if you see someone “doubling money” at the GE it is best not to engage, and even if you do so, do not give a sum you aren’t willing to lose.
Simple Doubling money scam
The simple doubling money scam involves a single transaction. The scammer will advertise “doubling money” or “doubling GP” at the GE or in other popular places. Once you trade them, they will simply keep your GP and never trade you back anything. This doesn’t bring much profit to the scammers, so it is more likely you’ll come across the complex version more often than not.
Complex Doubling money scam
The more complex version is similar to casinos and it’s build on building trust with the victim through the chat. The scammer might even throw some youtube or stream that doesn’t even belong to them to prove they are legit. They will start with advertising the “doubling money” or “doubling GP” text and once they get a victim trading them they will even start chatting. They could even add you and PM you if you accept or if your chat is on public. They will double your GP for a few transactions, and then once you reach a certain value threshold they will keep your money and remove your from their friendlist.
This complex version appeals especially to players who are trying to scam the scammer and get as much GP out of the scammer. Some red flags if you stop initiating more trades with the scammer are that they will PM you stating that they will start doubling for someone else, that it’s now or never that they are doing this, and other texts along this lines meant to create the sensation of urgency and unbeatable deal. I do not advise in any way to interact with strangers or give them any GP at all, but if you do so and they start doing this (trying to urge you to do something you’re not comfortable with), remove them from your friend list and hop worlds.
Another thing the scammers could attempt to do is try to humiliate you or laugh in your face about how small the sum is. Another huge red flag is that the scammer has a minimum amount they’d “double” and this goes both for the simple version and the complex version.
How to avoid the doubling money scam
The simplest way to avoid this scam is by not trading people who say they are doubling money or GP, and if you do so, just don’t trade anything of real value to you.
