Warning : Codestone Scam

[Qanda]

No, when it asks you to buy the item w/ either the yes or no option, it shows as 99,999nps I think, but as Qanda said, when buying a really cheap underpriced item, you won't bother to look at the price in the popup.

And Firefox screws it up, so people using it cant really fall for it.

Another reason to use Firefox.

Sierra, now if the owner changes the price of the item when your're buying it, you will not get the item but will instead be brought to a confirmation page asking you whether you are sure you want to buy it at the changed price or not. So it is safer now.

[Kaminski]

i never carry that much np on me anyway so i think i'm safe

Me too. If i were the scammers, i would properbly sell at 20k. Haha. Who brings 99,999 around ?

HAHAHA i never have less than 300k on hand. what if you ran into a good auction or a freezing potion late? or a shop with 3 ub's @ 99k. i've picked up 5 faerie pbs at 99999 because i had the $ on me. you need more nps! lol

[RayGirl]

People are advertising that they are having a codestone sell in their shop for 50NP. But thats not the truth, when you click to buy, it actually charges you 99,999 NP. It didn't happen to me, but it did happen to alot of people on the BD chat. Its something to watch out for.

I saw in the Avatar Chat someone who fell for the scam (they saw this girl's board about it, saying she has codestones she doesn't want in her shop for 50 np). She bought two of them before she noticed... she left Neopets and self froze because of it. I feel so bad for her... I only had 50 nps on hand at the time so I tested and noticed the error, but I guess this other person was so happy to see the board that she didn't see all the REPORTED and DON'T GO TO THIS SHOP posts... -sigh- This is why I hate scammers.

[Qanda]

I saw in the Avatar Chat someone who fell for the scam (they saw this girl's board about it, saying she has codestones she doesn't want in her shop for 50 np). She bought two of them before she noticed... she left Neopets and self froze because of it. I feel so bad for her... I only had 50 nps on hand at the time so I tested and noticed the error, but I guess this other person was so happy to see the board that she didn't see all the REPORTED and DON'T GO TO THIS SHOP posts... -sigh- This is why I hate scammers.

If she could afford holding 200k+ on hand then it probably is only a small fraction of her total wealth. Qutting over it is a little to drastic, IMO.

It only takes some common sense to evade most scams. For example, in the above, it would make sense that if there were other posts on that thread, the cheap codestones are probably gone already. Most people have themselves to blame for getting scammed.

[RayGirl]

I saw in the Avatar Chat someone who fell for the scam (they saw this girl's board about it, saying she has codestones she doesn't want in her shop for 50 np). She bought two of them before she noticed... she left Neopets and self froze because of it. I feel so bad for her... I only had 50 nps on hand at the time so I tested and noticed the error, but I guess this other person was so happy to see the board that she didn't see all the REPORTED and DON'T GO TO THIS SHOP posts... -sigh- This is why I hate scammers.

If she could afford holding 200k+ on hand then it probably is only a small fraction of her total wealth. Qutting over it is a little to drastic, IMO.

It only takes some common sense to evade most scams. For example, in the above, it would make sense that if there were other posts on that thread, the cheap codestones are probably gone already. Most people have themselves to blame for getting scammed.

She might have had all her NP on hand to go and buy something and she saw the board... anyway, I don't blame her. I mean, after earning for a long time 200k and then losing it... -shrug-

[jabond102]

It happened to me but with a volcanic rock, I buy 1 np items to attract people to my shop and it was 99,999 np. THANK GOD ALL I CARRY IS 10,000NP most at a time.

[Chakra_]

I saw in the Avatar Chat someone who fell for the scam (they saw this girl's board about it, saying she has codestones she doesn't want in her shop for 50 np). She bought two of them before she noticed... she left Neopets and self froze because of it. I feel so bad for her... I only had 50 nps on hand at the time so I tested and noticed the error, but I guess this other person was so happy to see the board that she didn't see all the REPORTED and DON'T GO TO THIS SHOP posts... -sigh- This is why I hate scammers.

If she could afford holding 200k+ on hand then it probably is only a small fraction of her total wealth. Qutting over it is a little to drastic, IMO.

It only takes some common sense to evade most scams. For example, in the above, it would make sense that if there were other posts on that thread, the cheap codestones are probably gone already. Most people have themselves to blame for getting scammed.

She might have had all her NP on hand to go and buy something and she saw the board... anyway, I don't blame her. I mean, after earning for a long time 200k and then losing it... -shrug-

Hearing from u, it makes me sad too. Hard earnt 200k gone in a split second due to some foolish and harsh decisions. It is harsh but people gotta accept it. Hope these scammers will be frozen or something.

[Michelle]

I usually care all of my nps around... Once I remember this girl said that she was selling magical chomby plushies buyable in her shop so when she said to go get it i ran into my shop and actually had a chance to get it. So when i went to get it (It wasn't really a magical plushie) I had 50 items on me so i couldn't get it! So I almost wated 99,999 on a regualr plushie. Lucky me! Anyways Im gonna put all of my nps in the bank right now

[Morningstar]

Most people have themselves to blame for getting scammed.

I totally disagree with you. The person to blame is the scammer, not the victim. Not everyone who plays this game has the experience or maturity to avoid falling for a scam. And, until you have fallen for a scam or gained enough experience to know that there are scammers out there, it doesn't even occur to you that people would be so mean and nasty to cheat at a virtual game.

It only takes some common sense to evade most scams.

Also have to disagree. This scam mentioned in this thread seems particularly underhanded and hard to watch out for--not only does the shop wiz list the price at 50 nps, but the shop itself shows the price at 50 nps. Only when you get the grey box asking you if you want to pay 99,999 for it, do you realize you are being scammed. And, if you are tired, not paying attention, very young, very old, inexperienced, or foreign, you might not catch it.

And regarding the posts about whether or not to keep large sums of nps out, I have learned my lesson--but not because of scams, rather because of the "tax men." I got hit by the Tax Beast, Skarl, and Sloth in about 10 days time and lost about 200K to them. Now, I keep 100,000 out--small enough amount so that I won't cry too hard if those tax men hit me again, yet large enough to get that faerie PB priced in someone's shop for 99,999.

Last edited by Morningstar on Sun Mar 13, 2005 8:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Knives]

not only does the shop wiz list the price at 50 nps,

I don't believe it shows up on the shop wiz at 50nps, just in the shop.

[Morningstar]

not only does the shop wiz list the price at 50 nps,

I don't believe it shows up on the shop wiz at 50nps, just in the shop.

Ah, I am a bit more relieved hearing that.

But even so, it is still a really bad scam--because people rely on the price in the shop to be accurate. And expect to get some warning from Neopets if the price being charged doesn't match the price in the shop. What I mean is that it doesn't occur to a user that someone would actually be able to change a price in a shop. Until I read this thread, I had assumed that Neopets had taken some precautions to ensure that something like this could not happen--ever.

[Universal Senja]

I don't think its the price warning thing. They use some kind of code to make the codestone in the shop appear to be 50nps. But in reality it is 99,999nps. Thats how people are buying them without noticing.

are you saying that theres no warning box that comes up that the price has changed? and that they actually appear to be 50, and it says that they cost 50 in the shop, but youll be charged 99,999 for them?

if its like that, with no warning popup.. that is so scary........

SS:)

In this case, there's no warning page.

The warning page comes when you shop from the shop wizard. When you enter a shop from the shop wizard, you'll see something like the following on the web address:

buy_cost_neopoints=X

..where X is the cost of the item according to what you saw on the wizard.

In this case, the person advertised it on the Neoboards. I'm guessing everyone wouldn't take the time to search via the shop wiz for the item, so they access the shop via the userlookup where that quoted phrase isn't on the address.