Scams

"RuneScape is home to millions of people from many countries and walks of life and, like any community, there can be a few bad apples."

- Jagex

Scamming is the act of stealing items or accounts from another player via trickery which is strictly against the RuneScape rules. Doing so will result in banning of the player's account or even subsequent accounts used by the player.

Different kinds of scams tend to come and go due to updates. For example, the Gravestone update reduced scamming greatly by preventing players from immediately being able to pick up a player's items after dying. Although Jagex has made an effort to limit scamming as much as possible, it still persists today. Secondly, the removal of free trade and the wilderness in 10 December 2007 put an end to most scamming, as players could no longer scam others for valuable items without paying for them; the most a player could theoretically gain from scamming was 50k. Wilderness luring also had become an impossibility.

However, the return of both Free Trade and the Wilderness on 1 February 2011 caused many scams to resurface, including new ones such as the "Dice Game" and "Flower Game" as players were no longer limited by the amount of coins that could be traded. This guide will hopefully ensure you outsmart the scammers of RuneScape. This page is not meant to promote scamming, but rather to prevent players from being scammed.

Item Scams
Always remember that ''' if a deal is too good to be true, it's probably a scam. '''

Double Money Scam
The true money double, although few ever do it, is to show the doubled money in a single trade or two trades.

The scammer says he or she is doubling money. Once the scammer gets someone to trade, he will either then take the money (depending on how much the scammer actually gets) and log out or actually double the money to gain the users trust. The user will then trade a large amount of money to the scammer and the scammer will then log out.

This scam is often performed in honesty to gain trust, doubling genuine amounts of money as "tests" often in piles of millions, when trust is gained and players gain confidence, and attempt to double larger piles of money, the trade is accepted without a trade back.

Suggested Action: Don't trade, Jagex cannot do anything about this scam as you have accepted the risk and terms of the trust trade, the easiest way to put a stop to these players is report them right away IF the do scam you. If they actually double your money or are just saying, "doubling money" you can not report them because there is nothing to report them for.

Trust scam
Some players might attempt to trick other players into playing "trust games" where you have to show your "trust" of another person by letting them hold onto a large amount of cash or a valuable item of yours. ''' Never participate in these types of games! ''' "Trust game" scams have now resurfaced as a result of the free trade update.

Beware these types of scams, as there are many possible variants and ways of gaining your trust. For example, the scammer may actually return the given items the first few rounds, making the game actually seem legit until someone offers a sufficiently valuable item or a large amount of coins. In addition, the scammer may also have a friend for the purposes of bringing up the price of the bids, and in the event that the friend's bid is the highest, the scammer may give his friend the promised money to make the scam seem legitimate.

Suggested actions: Immediately after the host provides evidence that he is playing the trust game, the player may report him/her for item scamming in the honour section of the rules.

Ice Plateau Scam
Ever since the old style Wilderness returned on 1 February 2011, this scam has become quite common. A high leveled player (120+) advertises a drop party often on a crowded world at the Grand Exchange. Once the scammer attains a line of followers, they usually lure them to a less crouded location. The scammer will then announce that the drop party will be happening elsewhere (usually a telegroup location), so they ask the crowd to turn on Accept Aid. The scammer will then cast Tele Group Ice Plateau to teleport everyone to Ice Plateau and then kill the unprepared players, thus looting everyone's valuable items. It is common practice to invite players onto a different server, normally a German or French server and attempt to teleport them, as the teleport screens are shown in different languages, it can be quite easy to accept the teleport without much thought. Another place to beware such an action would be the ZMI altar, where group teleports to Moonclan are common, lowering players' level of alertness.

Suggested action: It is rather difficult to tell if the player in question is legitimate or not until he/she teleports others. To avoid this scam, always check twice before hitting the "Confirm button" so you know where you are being teleported to. You can also just bring nothing and accept the teleport to see whether it is actually a scam or not. If you suspect a scam, you can also warn other players not to accept any teleport offers. Also, you could turn off Accept Aid, so the teleport won't show up on your screen.

Rounding money scam
This scam is similar to doubling your money. It seems more legitimate as the scam takes place over one trade instead of two. The scammer will claim to round your money up to say the nearest million coins and ask you to place your money in the trade window so they know how much to give you. They will then put up the required money and click accept. The scam only works if the target forgets that they have offered money. A scenario where this scam is used is where a target has 3.1 mill and places all of it up in a trade. The scammer then offers 900k and clicks accept. The target player forgets that they have the 3.1m in the trade and accept it they will find themselves 2.2m down.

Item trading scam
A potential victim is advertising an item he/she is willing to trade. Another player (the scammer) trades him or her, but offers money or an item that's worth significantly more than the item the player is willing to sell. The seller is about to click accept as the scammer removes their money/item. And after removing, the scammer also accepts. The seller can't believe he/she gets so much profit from a trade that he/she would forget to take time for checking the second and directly clicks accept without looking. And when he/she looks in their empty inventory, he/she would realize that they just got scammed.

A scammer may also advertise that they are buying an item for an unusually high price. When a potential victim offers to trade that item, the scammer will offer his amount, then decline once the trade reaches the final confirmation window. The scammer will then ask the potential victim trade back and instead offer a value that appears to be the original, but is significantly less (for example, a first trade offer of 100k might be changed to 100 gp on the second trade).

A scammer may also advertise that they are selling an item (one that has a cheap look-alike) for a relatively low price. The victim offers to buy that item, and the trade is canceled by the scammer on the final confirmation window. The scammer will then re-trade the victim back, but will instead put up a cheaper item that looks like the original.

Suggested Action: Always check the second trade window. Also report the player for item scamming.

Bait-and-switch scam
This scam is related to item trading scams. The scammer offers to trade a valuable item for an amount of gold well below the item's value. Before the trade is completed, the scammer declines the trade, possibly claiming that some error occurred. Upon repeating the trade, he offers an item that looks similar but is worth far less than the amount of gold he originally asked, hoping that the victim does not notice the switch.

Suggested Action: Really check the second trade window, every time. Check the net value transfer of a trade. Also report the player for item scamming.

Money For Information Scam
A player sees a new item and wants to know more about it. The scammer states he will inform the victim on how to obtain the item for a fee, but when the scammer receives payment, they log off. The scam is most often performed with uncommon or unusual items like a Rune defender or Barrelchest anchor, or newly released items.

Suggested Action: Report the player for item scamming. Ask a more honest player about the item or look it up here on Runescape Wiki. (Note: If the player actually tells you what the item does after being paid, you CANNOT report him/her).

Claiming an item is rare when it isn't
A scammer may claim an item is very rare, when it is actually very easy to obtain, or extremely uncommon. He or she may offer to sell it for ridiculously large amounts of money, and log out or teleport before the player realizes that he/she has been scammed (Example: Rare black lobster = Burnt lobster).

Suggested Actions: Report the offending player for item scamming. This scam is relatively easy to avoid if you double check the guide price on the trade screen. However, if a player were to offer an item for a ridiculous price, it is NOT considered scamming unless the player explicitly states such an item is rare and/or unobtainable, But if they say rare drop, it is also not reportable. Little words are key.

Wilderness Luring
Wilderness Lure would be when a player would announce that they were doing a Player Killing video or a rich person video and encouraged the victim to bring anywhere between 1 to 3 of their most valuable items, telling them that they would never skull. The victim would be led into 23 or so wilderness where they could not teleport with the scammer and a friend of his to help. The scammer would then trade the victim a chinchompa (item), telling them to wield it and put on auto-retaliate and it would make a "cool explosion." Since chinchompas have an area effect, the explosion would hit the nearby friend and the victim would be skulled. At this point the scammers would team the victim, killing them, and causing them to lose their items. Other scams involved giving players 3 or 4 inexpensive items with a high Alchemy value, so that they will be kept on death above the player's other items, but due to the items kept on death update this does not work. The same thing happens with players luring each other into the unsafe clan wars portal.

Suggested actions: Although widely debated, luring IS considered scamming so report the scammer. Don't believe someone making a PKing video unless you have known the player in question for a while.

Show Inventory for Amount Scam
Some players will say that they are filling other people's inventories with a certain item, such as Amulets of glory or Sharks. They ask people to show what they have in their inventory so that the scammer knows how many items to give. Actually, the scammer ends up trading the item they are giving away for something much more valuable. In excitement of getting something for free the targeted player often forgets to take their items out of the trade and quickly clicks accept. This is always a scam, because there is a little box in the trading window which says how many free inventory spaces the other player has. Therefore showing the inventory is not needed to complete a trade like this.

Suggested action: Pay attention to what you are trading before you hit the accept button. As the number of free inventory spaces is displayed on the trade screen, careful players can easily avoid this scam. The wealth transfer is also displayed. If the questioned player doesn't return his/her victim's items, report him/her for item scamming.

Trade password for item scam
Some players will claim to give away the password to one of their accounts (including possibly the one they are scamming with) for a certain item they want. Due to an update, you can no-longer say your account's password, but there are many ways to evade this censor.

Suggested actions: Simply ignore them and report the player item scamming. Even though they are mentioning their password, they can't be reported for password scamming because they are not scamming for someone's password, only their items. Also, since they are offering their account (even though they would probably lie about or not even say their password), they can be reported for Account sharing/trading.

Surrogate Trader Scam
This scam involves a team of scammers, at least two, one of which is on the victims "Friend List". The friend will PM the player, asking them to see if they can find a supposedly rare item at the GE, offering to reimburse their victim after obtaining it. The seller who the player finds with the requested item offers it for sale at a very high price, either in cash or expensive items. As soon as the trade is made, the remote friend ignore lists the player and the trader logs out.

Suggested action: The best way of avoiding this scam is to avoid making the trade. However, the trader might be reportable for item scamming if he/she claimed the item was rare. If you have undeniable evidence that the remote friend was attempting to get you into the scam, the remote friend may also be reported.

Player House Scam
Some players will try to give you a rare or expensive item for something you might have. In the case of the Player House Scam, the scammer may ask that the player drop his or her items or put them on a table, claiming that they will also put something valuable on the table as well. As soon as the scammer sees their desired item(s), they will kick the victim from the house.

Suggested action: Make sure you report the player. Never drop anything you wish to keep inside of a player-owned house, including your own.

Trade Fast Scam
One player will be offering something good for a significantly lower price than normal. You will go through the first trade window but at the second window they decline and claims that "you must be faster" after doing this 2 or 3 times they will say: last chance. At that trade the scammer offers something that is similar but since the player is so fixed to do the trade quickly he/she may not notice.

Suggested action: Always check the second trade window carefully. Report the scammer for scamming.

Hacking Software Scam
This is one form of the Double money scam. The scammer will tell the victim that he/she has downloaded a hacking program that can legitimately double any amount of cash or any item in your inventory at no loss to the scammer. This makes players think that the scammer is legitimate because he isn't giving any of his own money away. The victim will usually trade the scammer a small amount of gp first and he will double it to make himself seem even more legitimate. Eventually, the victim will offer a large amount of cash or a valuable item and the scammer will log off with the profits.

Suggested action: Report the scammer for scamming, NOT hacking, since he wasn't actually using a hacking program.

Items sold at higher prices by players
Note: This is not actually a scam, but it may seem like one, so this is just a tip to help players.

A player may be selling something for a certain price. Often, the price is high, ranging depending on the item's regular price. The seller may consider this as the normal price due to it's rarity or other circumstances such as the location of the trade. Overpricing is not uncommon amongst very wealthy players.

Suggested action: Check the price in the trade screen, if the trade is unbalanced in the other person's favour the difference will be listed in red. If the player's price is higher, use the Grand Exchange. If the price is lower, trade with the seller. You cannot report the seller no matter how high his prices are. It is unknown if there is an exception for very high prices, but since every trade has to be agreed upon and prices are listed clearly this is unlikely.

Player-run Gambling Games
With the return of free trade, a number of player-run games of chance have popped up. While some of the player hosting these games may appear to be genuine, there is no guarrantee that they will always play fairly, so think twice before playing these games.

If you do decide to play these games, you can limit your risk by asking the host if you may pay them after should you lose; however this does not protect you completely from being scammed. If you do lose, be fair and give the host their bet. They trusted you; it is only fair to keep your end of the bargain and pay your bet.

Flower Game
The Flower Game is a player-made game on Runescape which involves gambling. The host of the game will state the minimum bet and the multiplier for a winning bet. The player betting calls a colour of a flower (Yellow, Red, Blue, Orange, Purple, Rainbow, Purple-Multi, White, or Black), then the host plants a mithril seed. If the player's guess is correct, he or she wins a prize. If it is incorrect, the host keeps the bet.

Dice Game
In the Dice Game, a Dice Bag is purchased and dice are rolled. If the number is over a set number, the gamer wins. If it's below, the host wins. The player is generally rewarded with 2x or 3x their money. An alternative version of this game exists where the player must instead guess the result of dice roll (usually using the two ten-sided dice).

Seal Game
In the Seal Game, players bet on which number will appear on the 'backpack' of that appears when the host uses the Seal of Approval emote. An alternative version exists where the player's bet is multiplied by the number on the seal's backpack instead.

Password Scams
Password scamming is a more serious kind of scamming where a player steals another's password.

Miscellaneous
The following are not actually scams and are not reportable, but they are still considered against the spirit of the game.

Fake Skillcapes
Fake Skillcapes are non-existent items which some users use to scam others. For example, the cow skillcape was allegedly given to a player that killed 10,000 cows (some players additionally lied that the skillcape would come with a cow costume and an emote). This was actually a scam, to waste a player's time. Some scammers would also secretly record gullible players killing cows for upload to YouTube.

False Begging
A player may claim that he or she was hacked and wants free items. There is no way of knowing for sure if the player in question actually did get hacked, so it is not advised to give anything, as that will only encourage other beggars. Even if the player was not hacked, this is not reportable as it is not considered scamming.

Occasionally, a player may change their name to be similar to that of the friend of another and private message them. This is very ineffective and only inattentive people would fall for this one.

Item Lending Trick
Some players who want an item for a long period of time and not paying the correct amount of coins may try to offer the incorrect amount of coins.

For example, a player may ask if they can borrow an item for a few hours. After the victim puts up their item, the player will then put up the correct amount of money for that time, make a few quick switches, and then end with the correct amount of money for one hour.

Jagex doesn't regard this as a scam because you are not losing any items.

Antiquated Scams
Many other scams existed other than these, but a lot of them have been rendered obsolete or are very rare.