an relatively new auction scam..be careful!

Message

Mystique · #1 Post by **Mystique** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 6:12 am

recently, it seems some players have found a loophole in the new auction rule of not allowing withdrawl of neopoints once you bid. the scam goes like this:

the scammer posts a link to an auction and claimed it to be a cheap deal. unsuspecting players would copy and paste the link, not knowing that it is actually one that bids on the item straightaway. hence, if you have lotsa nps in your pool, you may have bidded 500k on a snowball b4 you realise it.

there's a topic on this in bd chat:

http://www.neopets.com/neoboards/topic. ... c=31500729

pls do not go to the auction link in that topic.

TheClone · #2 Post by **TheClone** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 6:23 am

The topic is gone, just so ya know. Never heard of that scam, thanks for the warning.

banaplush · #3 Post by **banaplush** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 6:24 am

oh i clicked on one of those but i didnt have enough lol. im super lucky arent i?

Mystique · #4 Post by **Mystique** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 6:30 am

yeah the scam is pretty ingenious. i would have fallen for it if i ddin't see the warnign first. for now, to be safe, do not directly go to any auction links.

edit: to check if the auction link does not cause you to bid directly, make sure the
url :http:/ /w w w.neopets.com/auctions.phtml?type=bids&auction_id=(auction id)

doesn't have any number after bids for example:

http:/ /w w w.neopets.com/auctions.phtml?type=bids=(insert number here)&auction_id=(auction id)

frozenxxfire · #5 Post by **frozenxxfire** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 6:32 am

whao... that' really clever of the scammin... hmm, i think TNT should do something about this,,.. thanks for the warning!

TheClone · #6 Post by **TheClone** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 6:42 am

Mystiques also just gave away how to do it. :-/

Now, the simplest way to fix this problem would be to disable links in the Neoboards. Seem's like they'd have to redesign the whole Auction system to actually fix that.

Well, anyone want a 500,000 Bottle of Black Sand?

Mystique · #7 Post by **Mystique** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 6:54 am

luckily, since all auctions take at least 1 hour, it is unlikely that the scammer would get away with his ill-gotten gains b4 a monitor freezes him. it seems like it's time for neopets to review the auction system again.

Vertigo · #8 Post by **Vertigo** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:19 am

Yup yup, anytime I think about getting over my irritation with Neopets, I just have to come here to see what the latest disaster is.

Scamming is just not the sort of "skill" I like to see children learning. Kind of off-topic, ever seen House of Games? Good movie about the confidence (con) man.

untouchable dragon · Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:39 am

yeah, i saw some post about it, its sad

still cant understand where they get the link....

everconfused · #10 Post by **everconfused** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:40 am

Vertigo wrote:Yup yup, anytime I think about getting over my irritation with Neopets, I just have to come here to see what the latest disaster is.

Scamming is just not the sort of "skill" I like to see children learning. Kind of off-topic, ever seen House of Games? Good movie about the confidence (con) man.

The scammers are just unbelievable, aren't they? I agree that it's not the kind of "skill" anyone should be learning. The people doing this type of thing, if they are children, I can only wonder how proud their parents would be to learn their child is using their brainpower to figure out how to steal...

Great movie with a fabulous twist! Haven't seen that in ages.

ocean_wave · #11 Post by **ocean_wave** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 9:42 am

yeah I heard of this too, there are alot of posts about it on the trading/auctions board. It's a horribly sneaky way to scam people

Lucky thing url's posted are not automaticlly converted to links or else alot more people would be scammed.

autechre · #12 Post by **autechre** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 10:46 am

hmph. trust some people to find a way to use that new rule to their advantage

anyway, thanks for the heads up, but i find it just easier not to go to any links rather than having to scrutinise the link

Sacrilege · #13 Post by **Sacrilege** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 11:33 am

There was a case yesterday in the BD chat.. poster claimed they uploaded their pic onto their pet page. Once you click the link via the pet lookup, you would have bidded on a keychain for 1 million nps(if you had enough nps out). Someone fell for that scam. I never got to see the pet page though.. heard that kind of link is made by CSS.

They are getting smarter!

Mystique · #14 Post by **Mystique** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 11:37 am

yeah. it's quite scary...imagine if someone were to put this in their shops...which allows neopets link.

Xil · #15 Post by **Xil** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 12:07 pm

Mystique wrote:yeah. it's quite scary...imagine if someone were to put this in their shops...which allows neopets link.

I could just Imagine that.."Click here for some awesome trades"

*sighs* I suppose this one was coming for us anyways. Wasn't there a scam where they used the URL editting, but in shops when they first came out?

I don't quite remember.