A Warning

Be cautious when sending out PMs, as I just came accross a scam artist trying to scam under my name, by requesting a PM from me to someone else's sythe account.

A brief review of what happened to me today in the morning, just 10 mins ago:

Nolan from my skype list added me @ 7:05, needing to MM their trade.
Jacob Lee (the other trader) went offline @ 7:07
I got a request on skype from "ayx.sythe" @ 7:14 and the conversation below took place.
I @ 7:17 realized Nolan was indeed ayx, meaning Jacob Lee (the other guy) was trying to get me to PM the real ayx (who was pretending to be on skype under ayx.sythe), so he could use my PM to scam him.

[7:20:42] Nolan *****: hes pretending to be me?
[7:21:00] Nolan *****: yeah another kfjjjdst added me >.<

 

I can confirm. The guy was being really sketchy and even thought I was talking to kfjjjdst the whole thime I was added by an 'imposter' skype who was trying to pretend to be kfjjjdst.

to be clear Ayx.sythe is NOT me.

 

That's why I always PM people in this format.

 

Similar to what I do, but I usually also include the current Skype conversation for reassurance.

 

I found that very difficult to read... What exactly happened?

 

Hi james

I'll try to explain how the scam works and how to avoid it best. Here's an example of the scam:

Bob = Trusted trader
Tim = Victim of the scam
Jack = Scammer

Jack, using an imposter Skype of Bob (so he appears to be Bob), adds Tim. Tim thinks that Jack on the imposter Skype is Bob, but to make sure, he requests a PM.

Now Jack (the scammer) is at a standstill - he doesn't have access to Bob's sythe.org account, so he can't possibly send the PM himself. Instead, Jack decides to take his scam a step further: he creates an imposter skype of Tim, the victim. Using that skype, he adds the real Bob.

Here's where it gets pretty tricky. Jack is using two skypes: one is an imposter of Bob, and one is an imposter of Tim.

On the imposter of Bob, Jack's talking to the real Tim - trying to scam him.

On the imposter of Tim, Jack's convincing the real Bob to private message the real Tim on sythe.org.

So let's say the real Tim gets a PM from the real Bob. Now Tim thinks he's talking on skype with the real Bob, and he goes first to the imposter. Jack runs off with his cash, and Tim reports the real Bob. But the real Bob had no idea he was getting tricked, as he thought he was talking with Tim too.


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How do we avoid such scams? The best way is to include an adequate amount of information about the trade in the PM.

Whenever you're PMing someone during a trade, I'd suggest you PM the following:

Code:

I am speaking with you on MSN (or skype) now. 
My MSN (or skype) is: ---
Your MSN (or skype) is: ---
The trade is: My _ for your _
Copy paste the last 5-10 lines of the conversation you've been having:

Hope that makes sense, I know I'm not that good at explaining haha. If you need any more help please feel free to contact me

PS: Thanks for the warning kfjjj and Ayx!

 

For reference, here's another situation dealing with this type of scam:

http://www.sythe.org/report-scammer/1543061-cake-good-scammed-600k.html
http://www.sythe.org/report-scammer/1543082-dewayne-reply-his-thread-proof.html

In this case, "Cake IS Good" is the trusted member and "Dewayne" is the victim.

 

If someone not only create a fake skype of the trusted. but also the victim's. It's really annoying and tricky. Thanks for that pm format