Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Alexander Rykis]

Hey guys

So, a post by someone else gave me the idea to pop this up here.

Missioning sucks. Mining sucks. Plexing sucks. FW missions suck. PI is a pain in the ass for no isk. Wh's suck. Trading sucks.

So, Alex, what do you do for isk. Well I'll tell you what I do, good sir. I let other people do these things and then I talk them into giving it all to me.

Scamming is the best isk / hour income source in the game, hands down. The ONLY thing that might be able to touch it is running plex's in c4's or c5's but that takes more people and a decent amount of initial investment. Scamming, however, usually takes no initial investment and you can do it by yourself. Never underestimate the capacity for idiocy in this game. Ever.

Example: I recently scammed a guy out of 600m and the whole process took all of about an hour, in total. The guy had been spamming in recruitment chat for 2 hours saying he was looking to rent 0.0 space. Why you would ask there is beyond me, so this told me he was a perfect mark and a complete retard. I end up getting a buddy from TEST alliance to sit in the room and told him I was someone with connections. He ended up renting a system in Scalding Pass that wasn't owned by anyone and paid me 500m for rent along with a 100m thank you for setting it all up.

The key to scamming is charisma. knowledge of game mechanics and knowledge of politics. Knowing who is what with who and who lives near who and all this will help immensely. Sounding like you know what the fuck you're talking about and showing it goes a really long way.

Ok so, I was just wondering if there might be any interest in an actual guide? Like past chat logs and screenshots as examples along with advice and ideas. I'm willing to teach anyone who wants to learn. Actually the more people involved on one scam, the more comfortable the mark will feel.

Feedback?

[Alexander Rykis]

By the way, I wouldn't charge for this. Just saying... people think that because you'll rob one person means you'll rob everyone. Some people have lines they won't cross. Period.

[IzzyChan]

Sadly I'm just not quick-witted enough to pull off anything.  Plus the whole feeling guilty thing.

I did know a few guys who would scam alliances that pissed them off though.  It was wild to watch them work their magics. D:

Guide away, brah.

[Alexander Rykis]

Anyone can scam bro.

Like I said, if you're interested, post here or hit me up in-game. I'll teach you the ways

[Lillith Blackheart]

Izzy's not a bro.

Though I wouldn't mind a few tips, as scamming is something I've pondered in the past. I'm unscrupulous enough to do it, too, I just haven't been assed to get around to it yet.

[Alexander Rykis]

Well she called me brah so...

Sorry, love.


Anyway, Lillith hit me up in-game when you have about... 30 min - an hour of free time. We'll start going over things

[Vikarion]

I admire scammers, in a way, but I personally find being completely trustworthy with people's assets far more gratifying.

That said, scam away! It makes people like me much more valuable, heh heh heh. 

[Alexander Rykis]

Well...

I'm not a thief, I'm a con-artist. Major major difference.

Scamming involves convincing people to give you their shit. This isn't stealing in any way. So honestly, the only way for a scam to work is for them to believe you are trustworthy.

And I am trustworthy by the way, as long as we're friends or you're in the RP community. If the isk/hour is shit, we're friends, or scamming you would hurt more than help I won't do it. Or if you're a noob... or if you don't have the means to make the isk back easily.

[Zag]

I think a guide would be interesting.

But as you already said Alex, alot of it does come down to personal charisma and being able to make a hard sell. (Or usually, an easy one.)

Scamming however is just something I can't do for the sole reason in that I do want to keep some semblance of faith in humanity. (As in, having to see people being just that damn stupid and trusting causes dissonance with my worldview that humanity is in general intelligent and discerning.)

Then again, I did once buy a 200mil Kestrel.

[Vikarion]

with my worldview that ...humanity is in general intelligent and discerning.

 

[Zag]

Yes, I know Vik. I find myself disappointed on a daily basis.

But I'm forever the optimist. 

[Mizhara]

So... how does this scam work?
*shifty eyes*

[Benjamin Shepherd]

I don't mean to derail this thread, but seeing your avatar and then posting about scamming some guy in EVE is hilarious.

[Senn Typhos]

A guide to scamming would be... an interesting read. It'd be difficult to write a guide to something that, in itself, is a completely improvisational art. Both pulling off an elaborate heist and jacking a carrier with 14bil in BPOs, and convincing a random noob to fork over a million ISK for some "awesome module" you have, are scams.

Likewise, it'd be difficult to write a guide on being charismatic. The fact that you pulled off this 600 shows you have that inherent spark that leads to a natural con-man. Or politician. Or CEO, really.

That being said, if you could write such a guide, even to start potential scammers off, it might be a worthwhile investment. Much as I loath to say it, EVE isn't like other MMOs; if it can net you ISK, its a valuable endeavor, and that includes scams. It keeps other players on their toes, and in a way contributes to the "wild frontier" feeling of the game.

Besides, con artists spark their own economies. Plenty of people are willing to pay brash young mercs to hunt down offenders or hire security. And those security personnel can be paid off by the con artists in an endless cycle that leads to such events as TenTron's re-re-rescamming of a single corp.

Its beautiful, in its own way. 

[Mizhara]

I do have to agree. I love good schemes. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that if someone managed to hustle me out of a few hundred million or more through social engineering or something like that... I'd applaud. I'd bow my head and say 'yeah, you got me... you got me good.' I'd nod to myself, take note of everything I'd experienced, including any of the danger signs I maybe should have noticed, and considered it a lesson learned. Maybe a lesson worth the money I lost.

Then I'd sell six plex and throw the ISK to mercs in order to get the money back in ships destroyed.

Anyway, I'd be really interested in seeing a 'Guide to Scamming' written. The thing is, though, that any such 'public' guide would quickly turn into 'Guide to how not to be scammed'.