Avoiding scammers in the marketplace - A guide

The adage "Every man has his price" holds true when doing business online: There is a chance that other users will scam you on Sythe.

• The purpose of this guide is to familiarize you with several common types of scams.
• This list is not comprehensive but serves as a solid starting point for new Sythe users.

General tips

• Google is your friend. Searching "site:sythe.org [user's name or skype] scammer" may turn up a hit suggesting that the person you are about to trade is a scammer. Be resourceful!
• Also check the Report a Scammer section for any pending reports against others users.
• You can also use Sythe's built-in IP lookup tool to see if multiple users are operating on the same IP.
• Users with more/fancier vouches, miniranks, fun ranks, avatars, and user images are not necessarily more trustworthy than those without.
• Users with old join dates are not necessarily more trustworthy than those with more recent join dates.
• Be wary of "too good to be true" deals. If the price of an item is $80 and someone offers you $120, they are probably trying to scam you, either via chargeback or by using stolen funds.
• Be wary of users that seem "too legitimate." Ask yourself whether a user that has only been on the site for 3 days, donated $200, and started a website seems trustworthy.
• Make sure to confirm who you are talking to on Skype by asking for a Sythe pm. Anyone can add you and link you to a vouches thread with 100 vouches, but you need to confirm that those vouches belong to that person.
• Be wary of users that have suddenly become active after years of inactivity on Sythe. Some of these users may be hacked.
• Be wary of users posting the same deal in multiple places; if someone asks a dozen people if they want to buy his account, it is likely that he is desperate to scam one of them.
  
• If someone does manage to scam you, report them in the Report a Scammer section so that we can ban them and try to get you your money back if possible.
• Document your trades. Take screenshots of you trading the other party, or video record your trade.
• You can always ask staff members for help and advice about trading someone.

Chargebacks/Invoices

• There is always a risk in accepting PayPal/Skrill/etc. payments from other people.
• Some users may offer to send you money in exchange for goods or services with the intent of cancelling that order and getting their money back.
• This is called "charging back," and it is perhaps the most common scam in online marketplaces.
• Some scammers will try to send you invoices instead of cash payments. Do not send people goods or perform services for them until you have cash in your account.
• The only types of transactions that usually cannot be charged back after being completed are: Bank/wire transfers, bitcoin transactions, and Western Union transactions.

Avoiding middlemen

• Many scammers will refuse to use middlemen.
• Some will say "Middleman scam" or "I don't trust middlemen."
• If someone says something to you along these lines, stay alert.
• Be wary of users asking to use middlemen from other forums.
• Note that it is not a requirement for users to accept to use middlemen. Do not report users solely because they refuse to use middlemen.

Impersonating users and fake middlemen

• Some users will try to impersonate other users or middlemen in order to scam you.
• This commonly happens on Skype as follows:
  • Fred wants to sell gold to Bob.
  • Fred posts on Bob's thread saying "Add my skype, I want to sell you gold."
  • A scammer lurking the forum adds Fred's skype pretending to be Bob.
  • The scammer convinces Fred that he is Bob, and Fred trades the scammer the gold he thinks he is trading to Bob.
• Sometimes the scammer goes one step further and impersonates both users in a trade:
  • Fred wants to sell gold to Bob.
  • Fred posts on Bob's thread saying "Add my skype, I want to sell you gold."
  • A scammer lurking the forum adds Fred's skype pretending to be Bob and add's Bob's skype pretending to be Fred.
  • The scammer convinces Fred that he is Bob and convinces Bob that he is Fred by copying his chat with one user to the other.
  • The scammer asks Bob to send Fred a private message on Sythe stating that he, Bob, is talking to Fred about buying gold.
  • The real Bob sends the real Fred a private message on Sythe, and the real Fred thinks he is talking to the real Bob on Skype.
  • The real Fred trades the scammer Bob his gold, thinking it is the real Bob.
• The only way to prevent scams like this is to ask for a proper private message from the person you are dealing with.
• This message should include both of your Skype account names and a snippet of your chat.
• Confirm that the words and timestamps in the chat in the private message you receive match those in the Skype conversation you are having.
• Be wary of people who invite a middleman to trades very quickly. They will often invite fake profiles claiming to be trusted Sythe middlemen in an effort to scam you. Always ask for a Sythe pm.
• We have compiled a list of frequent impostors here.
• A list of extremely trusted ("Official") middlemen can be found here.

"You go first" trades

• Be wary of users asking you to go first to them in trades. They may scam you for surprisingly low amounts.

Urgent and increasing increment trades

• Be wary of users who try to break down large trades into increments but suddenly ask to change the deal.
• For example, if you are trading $100's worth of items in 5 trades, and the person you are trading completes two $20 trades but then asks to do $60 all at once, they may be trying to scam you.
• Use caution in these situations, especially when the other person tries to pressure you ("I need to go" or "Hurry up" are common excuses).

Other notes

• Staff of private servers sometimes lurk these forums. Beware that you may be trading with an admin of a server who may be trying to ban your account.

Thanks to A broken man for drafting an earlier version of this post.

 

Thanks - have done. Anything else missing?

 

Maybe something warning people that their chance you could run into staff of their sever and face mac or ip ban? Does that count as scamming though.

 

added