The Cheating Scene-Teach People About What Goes On or Not?

[mikeperetz]

There are many forms of cheating that go on in Neopets... from the HSTs cluttered with impossible scores to the many accounts that have been compromised. The question is, should people be informed about these?

 

I feel that it is important to at least briefly educate people about what goes on because it can greatly improve their caution/account safety. If they know to look out for suspicious accounts selling items or to constantly log into their email, etc. I feel they can have a much safer experience.

[Angeló]

of course , we have to spread awareness ...

 

don't forget auto buyers , auto adopters , offsite black markets , CG'ers ... etc

[Cornflakes]

Knowledge = power.

 

I would love to know more about how cheaters operate. !!

[FutureTXTurkey]

You are so helpful Mike...I really apriciate all your tips, as I'm sure does everyone else.

Do you work with computers for a living...are you *gasp* :shiftyeyes_anim: TNT? LOL.

Either way, it's great to have you on board here at TDN.

 

My best tip is just to make sure that you have a genuinely secure password. Make sure it's truly random and complex.

I know a lot of scammers can still get around this, but a strong combination of letters, numbers, and symbols is your first line of defense.

[geoterza]

I think people should know. I've been playing shapeshifter like mad and am almost at level 20. Then I searched for some tips about it and most of what I found is that people write programs that will solve it for them. That really annoys me since I've spent quite a bit of time getting to where I did. I probably wouldn't have put so much work into it if I'd known what the high scores people are doing on that particular game since a trophy was my goal.

[Piticent]

maybe. it depends on what person. lets not encourage little 10-year-old Billy to be the next al-Qaeda XD

[rachiee]

I say yes, but like Piticent said, it all depends on who you're teaching it to. If you taught it to someone with no common sense whatsoever, they might be inspired to create a hack/cheat program of their own (that is, if they knew how). If you taught it to someone with common sense, they'd learn not to cheat/hack/scam/etc and educate others on how to avoid falling into scams and cheating, as well as learning (and teaching) about how to be more aware of one's account's security and safety.

If someone isn't taught about the "dark side" of Neopets, they're probably more likely to fall victim to scams and cheating. :/

[behati]

^I agree. Knowledge can lead to corruption and this is a pretty simple example of it. People SHOULD know what can happen to their accounts and what to look out for, but they should not know HOW it is done. It is fairly easy for me to spot a fake/illegal account and to stay away from them, but people who don't may end up helping these illegit players benefit from their warez. Like the person above said, teachers should not inspire others to cheat, but to promote legitimate usage of the website.

[geoterza]

@ behati: so how do you spot a fake/illegal account? I wouldn't know what to look for.

[behati]

You should look out for accounts that just gives you this blank feeling. Usually these accounts sell high priced items but if you look at their info, it has little to no games.played, about 80 avatars (that's the number of easy one click or refresh avatars), shop doesn't exist or is empty, default neoboard avatars, pets are poorly named and unhappy (probably neglected), uncustomised, no site trophies despite the account's age or a really new account, nothing is customized etc. Those are accounts you want to be careful about. If there is any reason for you to think; "gee what an odd account to be selling such an expensive item.." be very cautious especially with too good to be true deals.

 

You just don't want to risk losing an account you've had for a long time for a cheap or easy deal. That's how a lot of legit players were iced recently. MSPPs were duped and those looking for a cheap deal got caught in their mess.

[Alynniae]

i think that TNT has to stop pretending that there is nothing, and when you find out there is 'something', they say you had to ask if there was... <_<

i mean, i've learned about CG on this forum, and i'm glad i've learned that, what if i've never found out?! :mellow:

[behati]

TNT tries to hide everything, but for those of us who know better I think they should give us updates on what to watch out for. Countless innocent neopians have no idea and end up getting their accounts iced because they don't read the neoboards or they don't read any kind of news about stuff like this. They go into a deal thinking, "I'm getting the better end of it" but everyone else who has been reading these things know it's not safe to be doing such a deal or it's way too good to be true. Sure you can eventually be unfrozen if it's obvious that you were just caught in the middle, but if you want to take 3-6 months of downtime just for a cheap deal then okay. I'm not even sure if your account ends up getting wiped when it's returned to you or not. I mean a simple warning like "be careful of too good to be true deals, someone is duping" or "watch out for elevated prices on draik potions because the bidders might be tainted" is good enough. We don't really need to know how it was done, just a beware and don't do those kinds of trades for a few days is good.

 

When in doubt about a fishy account or deal, you can always ask around TDN if the account looks suspicious or not just by describing their lookup.

[kmccauley1991]

i think we should be educated on what to look out for and how scammers operate, however they shouldn't tell everyone how scammers do what they do, then it will be an even bigger problem.

[Redluck]

if you don't know about scams how can you avoid being a victim of one.

 

I still remember the first time I was scammed. -never again gonna fall for that-

 

 

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[DeadGein]

No information or knowledge should be secret. People need to know what is going on, how it is happening, and what measures are being taken to prevent such things. Be warned of the dangers using such exploits, and 3rd party software, as well as have it explained the damaging impact this has on the economy of the game. From their, it is their personal decision if they want to risk losing their account over trying such things.

[The Meepit Commando]

You should look out for accounts that just gives you this blank feeling. Usually these accounts sell high priced items but if you look at their info, it has little to no games.played, about 80 avatars (that's the number of easy one click or refresh avatars), shop doesn't exist or is empty, default neoboard avatars, pets are poorly named and unhappy (probably neglected), uncustomised, no site trophies despite the account's age or a really new account, nothing is customized etc. Those are accounts you want to be careful about. If there is any reason for you to think; "gee what an odd account to be selling such an expensive item.." be very cautious especially with too good to be true deals.

Also to add on this make sure this is not someones side account, because the persons main account could be insanely rich and that is just one of his.her newer sides.