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==Contract Scams== | ==Contract Scams== | ||
===The Three-ships Trick=== | ===The Three-ships Trick=== | ||
The scammer will link a contact that is followed by a countdown before the next one is offered, usually in a set of three contacts offering the same faction ship. The player is openly enticed to take try and get a bargain by making a snap decision to buy before someone else does. | The scammer will link a contact that is followed by a countdown before the next one is offered, usually in a set of three contacts offering the same faction ship. The player is openly enticed to take try and get a bargain by making a snap decision to buy before someone else does. | ||
====What you see==== | |||
The Three-ships Trick is like the ''Hide the Lady'' trick, and is a basic contract scam that relies on the player making a quick decision to buy an opportunistic bargain and not see the additions of zeros to the contracts that follow. | The Three-ships Trick is like the ''Hide the Lady'' trick, and is a basic contract scam that relies on the player making a quick decision to buy an opportunistic bargain and not see the additions of zeros to the contracts that follow. | ||
====How it works==== | |||
The Three-ships Trick is another one of those scams that works on the mechanisms of greed and speed. | The Three-ships Trick is another one of those scams that works on the mechanisms of greed and speed. | ||
The first ship contact offers a (usually) faction ship that is at a considerably lower price than market value. The person who clicks on it and on see the extremely low price finds they are just too late, in truth the contract was deleted as soon as the link was made but before it was offered.<br> | The first ship contact offers a (usually) faction ship that is at a considerably lower price than market value. The person who clicks on it and on see the extremely low price finds they are just too late, in truth the contract was deleted as soon as the link was made but before it was offered.<br> | ||
The second contract ship offered will be the same ship, but just below the average market price, so the player who buys it will not have made much of a bargain.<br> | The second contract ship offered will be the same ship, but just below the average market price, so the player who buys it will not have made much of a bargain.<br> | ||
The third ship is the sting, having made two misses, a player not wanting to miss out again will race to click on that one, not noting the additional zeros that change the ship from for example 20 million to 200 million.<br> | The third ship is the sting, having made two misses, a player not wanting to miss out again will race to click on that one, not noting the additional zeros that change the ship from for example 20 million to 200 million.<br> | ||
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===Courier Contract Ganking=== | ===Courier Contract Ganking=== | ||
Though there are Courier contracts that have routes through low or null sec; these are easily avoided by changing the contract filters to not show those that have a route though those systems. What has evolved from this are contracts where the player is enticed with high reward payments in high-security-only routes, but the route travels through a 0.5 security system.<br> | Though there are Courier contracts that have routes through low or null sec; these are easily avoided by changing the contract filters to not show those that have a route though those systems. What has evolved from this are contracts where the player is enticed with high reward payments in high-security-only routes, but the route travels through a 0.5 security system.<br> | ||
==== | ====What you see==== | ||
The Courier Contract | The Courier Contract will pay more per jump than average, like ten to thirty million for delivering on a route only five or ten jumps away. The collateral will be far higher than the item is worth. | ||
====How it works==== | ====How it works==== | ||
The Courier Contract seems easy ISK with no risks as all of its route is in high security space, but the player and the delivery will never reach their destination | The Courier Contract seems easy ISK with no risks as all of its route is in high security space, but the player and the delivery will never reach their destination. | ||
<br> | <br> | ||
The contracts (yes there may be more than one) will | The contracts (yes there may be more than one) will:<br> | ||
*be a only be available for a day | |||
*be too big for a Frigate but small enough to fit in an Industrial (more easily ganked) and not realistic for a Freighter for such a short haul | |||
*have a delivery route will be through low trafficked systems and at least one 0.5 system (so the odd industrial passing through can be easily passive cargo scanned) | |||
*Concord in the designated 0.5 system will have been previously baited to the furthest distance from the gank gate, to delay their response even more | |||
<br> | <br> | ||
Once the victim | Once the victim hauler is identified, the attack ship will waiting for it to decloak from the 0.5 system gate and destroy it, typically with a gank. As the cargo has been destroyed the victim forfeits the collateral (and loses their ship and possibly their pod).<br> | ||
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===Double WTB contracts=== | ===Double WTB contracts=== | ||
It's a contract that looks like a buyer willing to pay over market prices for expensive items (often PLEX) but the contract is actually for multiples. | |||
====What it looks like==== | |||
It's a contract to buy items that seems to offer above-market rates. They are often linked to in local chat. | |||
====How it works==== | |||
This scam exploits the fact that a contract's title need not match its contents. The contract title says something like, "WTB PLEX for 890M ISK," when the going rate is 750M, for example. However, the terms of the contract actual state that the buyer will pay 890M ISK for ''two'' PLEX. These contracts are often linked to in local chat. | |||
Always take time to verify what a contract is asking for, and if you want a failsafe: only ever keep a single copy of an expensive mod (or PLEX) on hand when selling to WTB contracts.<br> | Always take time to verify what a contract is asking for, and if you want a failsafe: only ever keep a single copy of an expensive mod (or PLEX) on hand when selling to WTB contracts.<br> | ||
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===WTS/WTB contracts=== | ===Combined WTS/WTB contracts=== | ||
It's a contract that sells items for ISK ''and'' the item. | |||
====What it looks like==== | |||
It looks like a contract to sell an item for below market rates e.g. "WTS PLEX for 400M." They are often linked to in local chat. | |||
====How it works==== | |||
Again, this exploits the idea that a contract's title and its contents do not need to match. In our example, the actual contract sells the PLEX for 400M ''and'' one PLEX. So the seller gets 400M ''and'' their item back. This is not always easy to spot, as the item up for "sale" and the price you pay are next to each other at the top of the screen, but the item you give is further down the screen. | |||
Always take time to verify what a contract is asking for. | Always take time to verify what a contract is asking for. | ||