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Some would say that buying and
selling online is unsafe. The top website for selling warcraft accounts
has 30,000+ posts in the scammer
forum. This does not mean that online trade is unsafe, it means
there are risks. The good news is that they are easily avoided and you
can learn how to trade safely online. This guide represents four years
of
experience and thousands of transactions.
The most important part
of fraud
deterrence is authentication.
VERIFICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Get their landline telephone number and call them on it so you know
it's good. 411.com will let you do a reverse search on a telephone
number to get the matching address. Now you know you aren't talking to
a disposable cellphone, and you also know that a utility company has
them
on file.
Calling script: "Hello,
May I please speak with Mr Sanders?" (Always ask for the name on the
payment you have received.) If a child has logged onto their parents
account for the purchase, they have probably not changed the name. If
the child does not know who is calling, they will hand the phone to
their parents without question.
"Mr, Sanders, this is Jane with the account for
sale - I'm calling to verify that you have made a paypal
purchase for product x, in the amount of Z." - If they have no idea
that they bought something, let them know that their paypal account,
email account, bank account and computer may be compromised and they
should run full virus scans, update passwords, and check with family
members.
3. If they don't have a landline that's listed, ask for their living
address. Send them a letter with a code that they must provide to you.
4. Obtain their IP address from an
email, to check their geographic location. (You can determine country
and city of the sending computer.)
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Outlook Express
instructions:
Select the message you want to investigate.
Right click.
Select Properties.
Select the Details tab at the top of the message window.
Look for the last block of text that looks like
Received from 67.133.144.53
That is their IP address. Save it for the next step.
It is necessary to keep the email because it also has other information
that is useful in a successful prosecution of internet fraud. If
defrauded, copy/paste the information you're looking at and send it to
paypal. It will help them know if it's the real user. If it's the real
user, they're busted! |
4. Go to dnsstuff.com or
network-tools.com - run a test to get their Information.
If you run the IP
address shown earlier, you get Mt Pleasant, Michigan. If the customer
says they're in Utah, but their IP address says New York, he or she is
lying.
Last resort, you can
also ask for a scan
of driver's license, or credit card (with numbers blurred) It's easier
to get someone's information online than it is to steal their wallet.
Some online banking institutions have been known to request a scan of a
utility bill made out to your name and address as proof of address.
NOTE: Buyers will pay you more if they can buy in confidence. That
requires THEM to verify YOU. If any buyer questions your legitimacy,
have them verify you by using the same methods. Don't put contact
information in your auction pages though... that can be used by gaming
companies.
The most important
part of fraud
deterrence is authentication. When you have someone's confirmed living
address, you can sue them. It is also important to confirm quality and
ownership of the asset before ever paying for it. It is common for
sellers to overstate the power and value of their account.
To verify ownership and quality, the most common requests (And BAD
practices) are for a
character profile link or for an ingame face to face meeting so that
the buyer can run the /inspect command to verify worn equipment. A lot
of buyers and sellers will have a chat session over an instant
messenger to develop a good feeling of trust between each other. This
is also the favorite method of scammers to gain your trust. Do not
trust someone because they had a chat session with you, and don't trust
the profile link either until you have verified ownership.
Sellers are reluctant to provide links to profiles such as a wow armory
profile because they fear reprisal from game companies. Ingame
inspections are difficult to schedule because you and the other
person may live in different timezones. The solution is to have them
send you (or a friend of yours) a mail message in the game. Doing so
provides their server and
name. Now you can go look them up in the public armory if your game has
one! All the benefits of a
face to face inspection with no scheduling conflicts.
It is highly beneficial to have a trusted third party involved in the
transaction. The third party holds the money from the buyer until
transfer of assets is confirmed. This protects both the buyer and the
seller. There are few providers of 'middleman' services. As more
accounts get traded on my website, I have started a verification and
escrow service to promote safe online trade, it is called Fraudsafe. In
the future Fraudsafe will be expanded to include a universal feedback
system that will be like ebay feedback, except usable anywhere online.
PAYPAL
If a person has low trading feedback history or you
can not verify them, do NOT
accept paypal. Have them pay you safely with moneybookers.com, USPS
money
order, or Western Union. Paypal can be reversed quickly and easily,
hackers and scammers love it! Be sure to verify them as well. The
majority of paypal fraud is from 'paypal verified' accounts.
"Paypalverified"
doesn't help you if the account has been hacked. Shatteredcrystal.com
has a fraud rate less than 1% because they do REAL authentication on
every single customer.
Making a safer
paypal form for your auction page or website:
1. Configure your forms to require a shipping address. - use this line
of code.
<input name="no_shipping" value="2" type="hidden">
2. Log into paypal, click on profile, click on website payment
preferences, scroll down.
Locate 'Contact Telephone Number' - switch that to ON. - customers are
now asked to
provide a contact telephone number.
SAFE BUYING PRACTICES
Get an account to
account transfer. Click link for info. This is the safest method of
purchasing an account because you know you are getting full information
and the characters or account can not be recalled safely. Both accounts
will simply get banned. Crime doesn't pay, so there's no reason to try.
Paypal allows you to reverse payments for up to 20 days if you have a
dispute with the seller that you paid. They usually require them to
provide proof of delivery. Because of this, paypal is pretty safe. As a
buyer, you want to avoid sending a moneyorder because you receive no
buyer protection.
For the greatest security, use your credit card to fund a paypal
transaction. If the seller does not have a paypal box on their site and
wants you to log into paypal and pay them - Ask them to just log into
paypal THEMSELVES and send an invoice. Responding to invoices or paying
through a paypal form on a web page allows you to do the following...
PAY WITH YOUR CREDIT CARD! - Credit card companies can get your money
returned up to a full year later if you have a problem or dispute. It's
not as easy as filing a paypal dispute, but credit companies employ the
best lawyers to deter fraud. Not only will you get your money back, the
seller will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Here is what to look for to fund a paypal payment through a credit card
for enhanced protection:
SAFE SELLING PRACTICES
Many paypal disputes are won because the seller embedded clever
statements into the notes of their paypal money request.
"This nonrefundable payment is for a nonreturnable, intangible
commodity. (World of Warcraft account at
http://www.whatever.com/item453) Payor can not dispute this transaction
and waives all rights to do so." Identifying the goods is
beneficial to judgement becaue it shows exactly what is being sold. If
you are too general, then your payment notes work against you by making
you look like a con artist that thinks they have found a clever way to
steal people's money using Paypal. This will also prevent the buyer
from claiming that they paid for something else than what they really
paid for.
Because paypal requires shipping information for a seller to win a
dispute, it is recommendable to first send a buyer the login
information, but not the original owner information or access to the
administrative email account for the wow account. Send this information
via mail. (This also verifies their living address.) Ask your post
office clerk for identity verification and a signature. (Save the
receipts, etc.) It will cost a little bit more, but you will be giving
security to your sale. If they don't show ID to the postal carrier,
they don't get the letter. If they file a claim with Paypal, you have
delivery tracking. If Paypal fails and you go to court, you have
documents that show that something was shipped. Print out the
transaction details from Paypal as well.
Do not make changes to account information other than email address.
Game companies may review accounts that have information changed.
Ask your seller to leave the registration info alone. Game companies
may also review the accuracy of the information. Seymore Butts at
555-123-4567 is a bad idea. Change the password, leave the rest alone.
If the last user paid for their subscription with a credit card, it is
a bad idea to use your credit card because your name is different and
you want to keep a low profile. Using your credit card is usually safe,
but I do not recommend it. To
assist my customers with playing safely, I sell timecards.
If you need a gamecard to start a new account, use
shatteredcrystal.com
For tips on keeping your gaming accounts safe, watch all of the video
tutorials at rpgreseller.com
The information in this guide can help a lot of people, you can help a
lot of people by sharing it.
Digg it, link it, do what you can to get the word out on how to trade
safely online.
Another effective method of avoiding fraud is to use a payment system
that is safer than Paypal. If you have an online business and are
looking for a merchant account, I highly recommend Paysimple. What's
different about them is first, there's no chargebacks. Second, if you
want to ask your customers for their credit card information and type
it in yourself, you can. It doesn't get more secure than that. You see
their name, address, and know one of their credit cards. Still be sure
to get a telephone number to confirm the purchase.
They cost about the same as a regular merchant account, so this is for
businesses only. However, they are considering launching a free payment
solution for regular users soon. Imagine that, we might have a Paypal
killer. If you've been in this business, you've suffered losses from
fraud and you're just looking for a good solution. Here's one I can
recommend.
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