Scamming Help
16 years, 4 months & 19 days ago
8th Aug 2008 13:23 Ok, it's time someone taught people about scamming. First of all, there are fake login pages. If the url is not marapets.com, don't type in your info. It is a fake login page, and the scammer can get into your account. There are also cookie grabbers and keyloggers. Cookies are all your personal info, like your username and secret word. The scammer will get you to go to a site, and you will see a small blank window pop up. If this happens to you, log out, log back in, change your password, and log back out. Logging out deletes your cookies so the scammer can't grab them. Keyloggers are viruses that keep track of every key you type, including your user info, and send the data to the scammer. You can get them the same way you get cookie grabbers. I'm not sure how to delete them, but you can try the same way as cookie grabbers. Now I'll tell you how to make a good secret word. 1. Never use a word that has "meaning" for your Xword. Such as: don't have your Xword something like "titanic1" because Titanic is the name of a movie/Ship/meaning of Big or huge and has a meaning. Try not to use words like "icecream100"; the word ice cream has meaning. Do you get it? 2. Most programs for cracking your secret word use all words/with numbers 00-99 so it's a lot safer to have Symbols in your Xword. IT is suggested to use at least one weird symbol in your Xword. The more weird symbols (any number using the shift key with # 0-9) you have the safer you will be. It is ok to have numbers in your Xword but with just on e symbol, no one will ever be able to hack into your account with the special programs out there. 3. Having your Xword somewhere on your computer is also strongly suggested (save it in Notepad, Microsoft Word) so incase you forget it you can just look it up. 4. Don't have your Xword be the same Xword for other sites/email addresses. If a hacker were to figure out your word then they could also go into your email address and mess everything up. Make it different and don't have it something that is to easy to guess. 5. Frequently change your Xword. Don't keep it the same forever. The more you change your Xword the safer your account will be. Alright, now I'll tell you the most common scams.
Scam: Lending out an item and not getting it returned.
Prevent: If you have collateral, Stick to your collateral. Don't make any exception. If a user does not have what you are asking for just simply say "I'm Sorry, come back when you have enough". If you are lending for free, then be SUPER CAREFUL. It is very nice of you to lend for free but you must understand that there are consequences. Now I know that not everyone on Marapets will steal but when you lend for free you will always come across that one person and they will ruin it for the rest of the bunch. Make sure you have a good background check on this user first before you lend for free. It is not a 100% guarantee that it won't get stolen, but it could possibly prevent it a lot more.
Scam: You can get free MP and items if you give someone your word and other information. Some of them if not all of them are found outside of Marapets on other Marapets forums.
Prevent: These are ALL scams. An easy way to tell if it is a scam of not is if you are required to give out your Xword or any other kind of information. This includes ALL outside websites..whether it be MP or to get something free on your account or an advantage toward your pets..think of it this way:
If it involves you giving any more information then your Username and ONLYyour username then it is a scam don't fill out the special form that they ask..just report them immediately.
Scam:Change your Xword to something simple. In return you will get a fabulous prize and be the most famous person in Marada.
Prevent: This is a scam. Don't ever change your Xword because an email says so. All kinds of Scams happen like this. If you do give this user your information then you just gave access to a scammer to your account.
Scam: Having Someone Else get an medal/award for you on your account. You give them your Xword and then you never see your account again.
Prevent: You will probably never see your account again after that. Either 1) The Scammer stole your account or 2) The staff found out about it and froze your account (for cheating. you did not earn that medal/award yourself, someone else did it for you) so be on the lookout. There are ALOT of those out there.
Scam: The person makes a forum topic saying that if you post your Secret Word it shows up as ----- or ******* or in some way where you cant see it. Then they say "SEE ------- it works!
Prevent: Sometimes they might have other users come on and post ------- as well, then claim "Ya, it works". But it doesn't. Never post your Xword.
Scam: Buying a junk item from a shop and being promised to be sent an expensive item later
OR
saying to bid on a junk item with the collatoral that you have for an avatar item and then get blocked.
Prevent You will never get anything in return. What you are doing though is giving this user an AMAZING profit and we don't want that now do we.
and for the avatar items MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE BIDDING ON WHAT YOU WANT. not anything else..don't even "show" them you have collatoral. you can show them on the item that you want to borrow..they have the power to accept/reject the offer so it doesn't really affect them much.
Scam: You got a maramail from a user telling you that you scammed them and are going to get reported.
Prevent: Don't be scared. If you didn't do anything you are not in trouble. Even if they do report you, they don't have any proof and you can't get frozen if you don't have any proof.
Scam: You were at a public Computer and went on Marapets. Now you can't get into your account again.
Prevent: If you log on to Marapets on a public computer, make sure that you log out. Because if the next person that goes on does go on Marapets and sees that you are still logged in, I am sure that they will help themselves to your account.
Well, I hope this helped you! Maramail me if you have any questions!