- Joined
- Jul 5, 2012
- Sythe Gold
- 9,135
- Messages
- 18,939
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.
General tips
Chargebacks/Invoices
Avoiding middlemen
Impersonating users and fake middlemen
"You go first" trades
Urgent and increasing increment trades
Other notes
Thanks to A broken man for drafting an earlier version of this post.
- 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.
Last edited:
