WoW Scams 101: Auction House Scam #3 – “NPC” COD Scam

In “WoW Scams 101″, I’m going to take a pretty good look at how some ongoing “scams” work in WoW. Most of them can be easily spotted and avoided by following the simple mantra of “if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is”, however, these grifts still warrant some light shedding.

Auction House Scam #3 – “NPC” COD Scam

“The best things in life are free, but you can save them for the birds and bees…” ~The Beatles

Blizzard Doesn’t Randomly Give Anything Away – Much Less Charge You For It.

The “NPC” COD Scam has been around a while, and while Blizzard has cracked down on it, it still persists today.

Here’s the basics:

“The Mark” finds themselves hanging out in General Chat or Trade Chat asking questions or making comments that would generally label them as a new or inexperienced player. All the Grifter has to do is watch and wait. Once they’ve identified their Mark, they go to work.

The Grifter will write a very well crafted (well, sometimes anyhow) letter that sounds like it’s from an NPC in the game. They’ll use a crafty character name that could pass off as something Blizzard would actually have in the game. The message can be welcoming them to the game, congratulating them on an achievment, or even claiming to resolve an issue the player might have been having with a quest. Anything that will not raise too much concern. The letter will also contain a wrapped gift, and a COD amount… usually not too high, because, remember, the marks are usually new players to the game.

The mark reads the letter, sees the package, and pays the COD rate. Then they open the wrapped gift and usually get a piece of trash not worth anything near the amount of gold they just paid.

Blizzard Doesn’t Randomly Give Anything Away – Much Less Charge You For It.

Usually this scam goes by unreported, because the mark doesn’t even know they got scammed. They think that what they got was somehow part of the game. They’ll keep the item in their bags or bank and wait until they’re supposed to use it.

I’ve spoken with a couple of people who have fallen victim to this scam, but only realized they’d been scammed quite some time later – I’m talking months or years later. By then, it doesn’t really matter. 10 gold at level cap isn’t a big deal. 10 gold when you’re starting out is, but now that so much time has passed, people don’t worry about it.

How To Avoid The Trade Chat Shuffle Scam

I’ve gotten items in the mail from NPC’s before. I’ve gotten quest rewards, pets, mounts, beer of the month, and a whole lof of other things – it’s a common occourance. COD is also commonplace in the World of Warcraft. It’s the unrequested COD that has a very inticing letter that should raise flags for you. Did you ask for it? Was it part of something you were doign in the game, or is it related to something you were complaining or talking about in chat?

Why The Trade Chat Shuffle Scam Won’t Go Away

Since this scam goes largely unreported, and since Blizzard can’t go around banning names that resemble their own NPC names, and since there are still new people joining the game each day… this scam will be around a while.

What To Do If You See The Trade Chat Shuffle Scam

If you ever get a suspicious email (in or out of the game, for that matter), let a GM know. If you get the NPC COD scam, before you pay any gold, let a GM it out. You may wait a bit, but the evidince will be there for the GM to look at, live. It’s much easier for them to just cancel the email than it is to get your gold back to you.

Auction House Scam #3 – “NPC” COD Scam

“The best things in life are free, but you can save them for the birds and bees…” ~The Beatles

Don’t forget to check out Hearthcast over at http://www.hearthcast.com . Hearthcast – it’s about World of Warcraft.

WoW Scams 101: Auction House Scam #2 – The Trade Chat Shuffle

In “WoW Scams 101″, I’m going to take a pretty good look at how some ongoing “scams” work in WoW. Most of them can be easily spotted and avoided by following the simple mantra of “if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is”, however, these grifts still warrant some light shedding.

Auction House Scam #2 – The Trade Chat Shuffle

Another preface before I get into this: This does not happen all the time. There are legitimate deals made in Trade Chat quite often.

The Trade Chat Shuffle is all about timing, convenience, savings, and service.

This Auction House Scam can happen various ways, but the jist of it is the same:

Player A has an item that Player B is looking for. One of them advertises in Trade Chat that they want to buy or sell said item, and the other messages them indicating they want to buy or sell that item. Bottom line, this is a player to player transaction that is happening off the auction house.

Price negotiation starts. The buyer, of course, wants a price significantly lower than the AH. The seller wants something close to the going rate. The buyer throws out terms like, “guaranteed sale”, “no auction house fees”, “no competition”, “no waiting” as they try to bring the selling price back down. The buyer may even play the sympathy card: “I have no gold”, “I’m a lowbie”, “I’m just starting out” .The seller agrees. A deal is made. The item is sold to the buyer.

The buyer then turns around, runs over to the AH, and puts that item up for market value, thus making a profit on the deal.

Remember, The Trade Chat Shuffle is all about timing, convenience, savings, and service.

Timing

Knowing what items are selling well on the Auction House is important. Monitor the Auction House for trending items, and watch for Trade Trolls as they try to pull this scam off.

Convenience

The buyer was partially right. With Trade Chat, you don’t have Auction House fees. However, the rest of what they said was garbage. There is competition with other people in Trade Chat, it’s not a guaranteed sale (you could both disagree on price), there is time loss (waiting) as you’re getting to the persons location (or they yours) and negiotiating. However, the buyer will push the convenience factor quite heavily.

Savings

The “No Auction House Fees” term is tossed around like yesterdays fruit salad. It’s total hogwash, too. What the Auction House doesn’t charge you, the buyer will try to by inflating the price. Often times, sellers come out worse that if they sold the item on the Auction House.

Service

Really, there was no service provided. Only a 3 card monty game of service. “I saved you from having to put the item on the Auction House” is not a service – it’s a scam.

How To Avoid The Trade Chat Shuffle Scam

Avoiding the Trade Chat Shuffle Scam is, again, fairly simple: Know your market, and excercise patience. If you have a high supply item, hang on to it. Wait for the supply to drop, then list it. If you’ve got a high demand item, knowing the real worth and value of the item is curcial.

Why The Trade Chat Shuffle Scam Won’t Go Away

There are too many impatient and greedy people in WoW who don’t take the time to install simple addons that will let them know the value of the items they’re trying to sell.

What To Do If You See The Trade Chat Shuffle Scam

Usually, when I see it, I call the person out in Trade Chat. Not the best practice, I know – but it’s one that gets temporary results. People love to jump on the hate-wagon, and usually the Scammer will log off for a couple of hours.

The Trade Chat Shuffle is all about timing, convenience, savings, and service. All of which, the Auction House readily supplies, by default, in the World of Warcraft.