I'm aware this isn't my thread, but as someone who's traded gamertags for years, I thought I'd offer my input.
I don't know much about XBOX tags so guess I'll ask.
- Is it easy to fake proofs of these?
- how hard is it to obtain this information?
Faking proofs is, sadly, incredibly easy as with inspect element you can easily make it appear as if you're signed into the account when you are not. However, an alternative method of providing proof is to ask for a Friend Request, or a message from the account in question as it is much harder to fake a message (if a message was to be faked, it would involve getting the actual owner of the tag to send a message to the buyer).
Another thing to note, is that the main reason proof isn't publicly provided is because Microsoft has become quite vigilant in banning names that are known to be sold. As a result, users have begun to star out letters in the gamertag, and then providing hints to make it harder for the gamertag to be linked to account sales. As a result, requiring picture proof when attempting to sell the account would publicly reveal the gamertag which can result in the account getting banned.
How did you come up with that statistic?
What parameters did you use in your testing?
I haven't ever done anything but sell tags, so I can't say much for the legitimacy of other sellers. But the section always looks shady, I'm unsure if it actually is though. Unlike some of the bigger sections, such as RS Gold sales, or RS Account Sales, things like donation status, account age, vouches, etc. are usually not a big deal for the gamertags section. The section is usually littered with new accounts posting threads, instead of older more trusted sellers getting involved. Not to say that these new accounts aren't legitimate, but it certainly makes the section as a whole look rather sketchy. It doesn't help that users in the gamertags section rarely file scam reports if they're scammed and have a tendency to just post on the thread saying they were scammed, or just quit the site altogether, resulting in very little being done about the scammers.
One thing to note is that unlike RS Trades which usually occur over Skype or Discord, the social medium used for Gamertag sales is usually Kik. I'm unsure if Kik is considered valid proof for scam reports? But it would have to be allowed if you wanted those users to provide scam reports.
Suggest what the rules need to be written to.
Also we have games moderators and global moderators which have access to all sections. You are not providing alot of reasoning as to why we should have a moderator specifically for that section alone. I think the issue here is the users who use that forum do not know how to trade safely on the website and thus are getting scammed
That really is the issue, at least from what I've seen. Gamertag trades are incredibly easy to scam if the seller knows what they're doing, and inexperienced users can easily get duped. I'm unsure what the Moderator team could really do. Perhaps have a stickied thread detailing the process for ensuring trying to confirm the seller owns the tag, and proper practices for securing it? I'm unsure if the section warrants it's own Moderator, but it would be a good idea to have someone around that knows a bit about Gamertag sales? As they're a bit different than RS sales.
Yes its really easy to fake proof. Most of the scammers tell you to add their kik for proof and they only show you screenshot of them signed in on the account what can be easily faked with inspect element.
You could probably make things better by asking for a message or a friend request from the account in question? Usually, if someone can't provide that, there's some shady stuff on the go.
In my opinion you shouldnt be allowed to sell non original tags there but thats just my opinion.
I'm unsure why you wouldn't allow that, albeit some of the tags being sold are pretty much worthless, that isn't exactly a scam.
I'm rather biased here, as all I've ever sold was 3 Letters and 3 Characters, never bothered trading original tags.
I think every selling thread should be approved by the xbox moderator and the seller should show proof of owning the tag by sending message from it to prevent faking screenshot. And the thread should specify how many gamertags they are selling and the number of letters their og have. This would decrease the scamming threads significantly.
This is a decent idea actually, as sending a message is one of the few ways to provide any form of verification without a public tag reveal. Sadly, it would require a dedicated mod to the section.
