How To Protect Yourself Against Scammers In EVE Online - Guide
First of all you should know few things, which are not specific to just EVE Online:
There is no EASY MONEY!
If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
There's never going to be anyone who will just give you money/isk, without being a catch
Please read below the most common scams (aka ways in which you can lose your ISK):
ISK Scams:
- Never EVER send ISK to strangers in EVE Online, no matter what they claim to do with it (eg: double it, triple it, etc). They will surely take your ISK and you'll never hear from them again.
- You may find yourself in a situation where the ISK scammer will actually send you ISK back to gain your confidence, if you've sent them a small sum, just to make you send even more after. This can go on 1-2 times, the third time, when you'll send the most, they'll not send anything back for sure.
- You may see people in Local Chat praising these scammers, saying they are legit. Those people are either being paid by the Scammers or are just Scammers' alts, saying that in local just to make you believe the Scam is real... it isn't.
- Don't believe any stories these people will tell you, such as: they are quitting EVE and they are giving out all their ISK for free (seriously if you quit you just do it, you don't stick around to spam Local Chat to give people your ISK); they want to share their wealth with you (nobody is that generous, and if they were they'd simply send you ISK, not ask you for ISK first); etc, etc, the stories go on and on.
- NO MATTER how good the proof they show you, IT IS FAKE!
Trade Scams:
- You will often see in Local Chat people offering to sell certain items (eg: PLEX, High Value Ships, etc) for a much lower value than the Market, they will only "sell" these items via Trade, they'll also give you a bullshit story that they can only do it via Trade because they have negative value in their Wallet.
- Never trade with strangers in EVE Online, you will NOT get the items you think you will get, you'll only end up losing ISK.
Contracts Scams:
- You will often see Local Chat (in trade Hubs) being spammed with a lot of Contracts, 99% of those Contracts are Scams!
- You should never accept a Contract from the Local Chat in trade Hubs, these contracts are misleading and you'll end up paying a lot of ISK for nothing.
- ALWAYS use the Market to Buy/Sell stuff, it is the safest trading method in EVE Online at this time.
- You should use Trade/Contracts JUST WITH the people you know (eg: corp mates, real life friends, etc).
Hopefully you had the patience to read this whole Guide, and you will remember these things for the future so you will not get Scammed. Your hard earned ISK belongs to you and nobody else!
And remember: If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Fly Safe!