Popular Runescape Scams and How to Avoid Them

Number Scam

One of the common scams is the number scams. This is how one works:

1. You offer an item
2. Opponent offers money with a lot of zeros (eg. 100000 gp)
3. Opponent declines
4. You trade again, this time opponent offers instead of 100000gp, 10000 gp (from 100k to 10k)
5. You do not notice the change because the deal was too good for the 100k already that you are eager to buy it
6. You keep clicking the accept trade box, only to find that the scammer paid instead of 100k, 10k
7. You get scammed

This scam is easy to avoid. With BIG numbers, the second trade screen shows you a number in k's (thousands) for more accuracy. ALWAYS CHECK THE SECOND TRADE SCREEN!!!

Item Look-Alike Scam

In this scam you think one item is something else.

1. You offer money (usually)
2. Opponent offers a rune armor/weapon that is NOTED
3. Opponent declines and you trade again
4. Instead of rune, opponent offers mithril (notice that they look alike)
5. You are scammed because you offered too much money for the mithril armor/weapon

Always check the trade screen and items!

Armor Trimming Scam

There is such thing as trimmed armor however players cannot trim their own armor.

1. Player says, “Free armor trimming” (or the like)
2. You trade and give him your armor
3. Trade accepts and scammer logs out
4. You get a nice, trimmed, blank inventory space instead of trimmed armor!

Never believe that armor trimming exists. It does NOT!!!

Item Duplicator Scam 1

Items cannot be duplicated!!!

1. Player says that if you give him items, he can duplicate them for you
2. You trade him
3. Scammer logs out with your items

Never believe this scam!!!

Item Duplicator Scam 2

Again, items cannot be duplicated!!!

1. Player leads you to an isolated area
2. Player says something similar to, “To duplicate items, drop them and press alt + F4.”.
3. You do as you are told and the Runescape window closes!

Alt + F4 closes the program you are currently working with, and this gives the scammer time go get the item before you log on. There are also complications while logging on such as having to wait 30 seconds to change a world.

Password Scam

Jagex does not block your passwords ALL of the time. Even though they have a better system as of May!!!

1. Player says, “Look jagex blocks your pass! ******”
2. Really the player just made asterisks (shift + 8)
3. You try it and it looks something like this “[Your password (unblocked) here]

Never type your password in game!!!

E-mail Scam

This one appears mostly on search engines and is very hard to report to Jagex.

You see a message on the Internet saying something like this: Send an email to jagexpassword@gmail.com. For the subject type: 351293736[Username Here]svx87rnf. For the body type: sf7htry3gwn98 Username Here x87wgg///s589 Your password here afidugw58t2nvyoc Username of Whom You Wish to Hack Here 32098h2958tv.

Do not log on for one week, or else it won't work. (The reason for not logging on is so that the scammer has time to change your pin, recovery questions and password.)

You will 100% send the e-mail to a scammer, not jagex! Never believe these!

Trust Trade Scam

Sometimes scammers make you feel comfortable with them…

1. Scammer tells you to give him around 10 gp to start
2. He asks you to give it back to him now
3. You give it back
4. Scammer says that now you give him some money (such as 100gp)
5. You give it
6. He gives it back
7. You and the scammer keep doing it until the amount being traded is very high, let's say 100k. (The scammer makes you feel safe to give him money because you think he will give it back)
8. At a high amount of money, the scammer will log out, without giving you your money back!

Never trade someone who is doing this in the first place! This scam can also work with expensive items (Starting with a bucket and going up to a d long)

Misleading Information Scam

Scammers may try to get you to sell something by saying that it is worth very little.

1. Scammer says your item is worth way less than the actual price
2. You believe him and accept trade

Always check the price of items that you are not sure of. Also a scammer may try to sell you and item for more than it is worth!!!

Drop Trade Scams

Scammers might just lie to you.

1. Scammer says to drop trade
2. You drop your offer
3. Scammer does not drop his although he says he did
4. Your item disappears, and the scammer now has it
5. Your item has not appeared yet. (It won't appear)

Always use the trade screen to trade, never drop trade!!!

Wilderness Scam

This usually happens with noobs.

1. Noob (you) needs help for a quest. (you are wearing something like lots of money and valuables)
2. Scammer finds out what you are wearing
3. He says you need to follow him
4. Scammer leads you north to the wilderness
5. He says that the part of the quest that you need is in the wilderness
6. You go further into the wildy
7. Eventually, the scammer starts attacking you
8. You die and lose your items

This is actually item scamming. Hint: NO NONMEMBERS' QUEST REQUIRES THE WILDERNESS!

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are simply too many types of scams, even to list in here. Runescape is always growing, with more and more scammers every day. You must help Jagex make this game better by using the report abuse button as necessary to stop scammers in their tracks. You, yourself must never fall for a scam.

Be aware of the person you are trading, and yell out a warning if someone tried to scam you, as this might prevent the scammer from scamming someone else. Know your Runescape prices all the time. Just remember, sometimes scammers are scamming when they don't even know it!