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Warnings about some common scams:
cookie GRABBERS are now the #1 means of losing your account!! If ANYONE tells you to go to an off-neo URL, or if there's a link to an off-neo site in a shop or petpage, then TAKE PRECAUTIONS if you do! Even if it's someone you trust, THEY could have lost their acct and it could be the hacker telling you to go there! Two ways I *think* to protect yourself are to log OUT from Neopets before going to any off-neo site or use a different browser (one that ISN'T logged into Neo) to go there. I personally use Internet Explorer for neo, but use Netscape to go to any off-neo site I see posted and/or am told to go to by someone on the site.
Price-switching is another common scam. Someone will put a commonly searched for item in their shop very cheap, then change it almost immediately with the hopes that someone will see the low price in the shop wizard, but not pay attention when they get to the person's shop. (I paid 32,000 for a codestone recently because of this.)
HELPFUL HINT: Use the PIN function wherever you possibly can.
Person will advertise they are quitting or some other excuse for "putting items worth 150k‡ in my shop for 99,999". They'll SAY they put something there, when you go there, the shop will be empty. They'll say they just put another one in there. Again, empty shop. Then they'll say they're putting yet another item in for 99k, hoping that you'll try to buy it very fast without knowing its worth and it will turn out to be only worth 1k or so. (Person on Apr. 4th did it with a mecha icy cone)
This was an amusing one: using the threat of reporting you in order to blackmail you into giving them something. I'll just paste exactly what the scammer sent me:
From none (natz712)
Sent 25/3/2003 04:15pm
Subject none
Folder Inbox
Message Body : You are the lucky winner and I will give you a baby paint brush.
Cool I have never won anything thanks garet_jaxx. When will I get the paint brush? if you are lying thats a scam and I will report you so this better be true or you will be frozen. Wheres my baby paint brush?
(Should go without saying that I did NOT neomail them first)
Do NOT buy "rare item codes" from ppl on the site!!!! They are codes that can only be used once, so often ppl will use them, then sell you a worthless code.
NEVER loan items out unless you're willing to take the chance on not seeing them again.
From the Neopian Times, yr3 week 2:Can I have a contest in my guild?
I am afraid we cannot allow any contests anywhere on Neopets. There is no way to make sure that the contests are legitimate. The majority of contest winners are just friends of the shop owner, or fake accounts. We know a few people did award prizes to real winners, but there is no way for us to check this so we have no choice but to ban them completely.
From the Neopian Times, yr3, week 4:What do you mean by 'No Contests'?
It means no contests, lotteries, raffles, competitions, caption contests, mystery pic contests, anything where a user has to do something to have a chance of winning. Honest give-aways in the Money Tree are fine, but any form of competition is not permitted.
Translation: Enter any contest at your own risk...they are banned for a reason!
There are no codes, hacks, cheats, etc. to get neopoints! If any DO work, chances are they are illegal and will result in you being frozen if you use them. Just play the game honestly!
NEVER trade items or neopoints (buying from their shop) for information...it's either fake information, free elsewhere, or a pyramid scam.
New scam has you reply to a neomail with your secret word in it to "give you" neopoints. NEVER give your secret word to ANYONE, no matter how they try to disguise it, they'll STEAL your account!
In the Trading Post, if someone claims they'll send you something like a faerie p/b, fish negg, maps, etc. if you bid on their lot, ask yourself: WHY DON'T THEY JUST PUT THE ITEMS IN THE LOT?
HTML is just a simple text file: people do NOT need your secret word to do HTML for you!
In the Trading Post people will often lie about how much things are worth, ALWAYS check the shop wizard (or auctions if the item is too expensive) or even post a Price Check board in Trading/Auctions or Battledome Chat for prices of the EXACT name of the item. Often, people can alert you if something is falsely inflated or not.
There are no shortcuts. Think about it, if people REALLY knew all these secrets like hidden tower items for 1np, icetravaganza scratchcards every time, how to get 1,000,000 nps, etc., then why do they want your items or neopoints?
NEVER change your secret word or email address to something someone else tells you, THEY'LL STEAL YOUR ACCOUNT! If you change your email address, they can just write Neopets and say they "lost" the secret word and Neopets will send YOUR secret word to the email account they had you change it to!
Along those lines, change your secret word to your account every so often!! This way if someone HAS gotten your secret word and is just waiting until you get richer, they won't have it anymore! ;)
If you get a login page and it doesn't say http://www.neopets.com/ at the beginning of your address (or location) bar IT'S A SCAM TO GET YOUR SECRET WORD! Always check every time you get a login screen to make sure it says http://www.neopets.com/ at the start. If in doubt, go directly to http://www.neopets.com/login.html to enter it.
I'm surprised at how many people try this in the Trading Post, but Fish Eggs do NOT turn into Fish Neggs. Fortune-telling fish do NOT lay Fish Neggs either!!
Another common scam is to put a black background in their shop (or hide the name and price of the item another way) and then claim an item is something it isn't. Again, MAKE SURE to check the popup window for the price AND item name BEFORE hitting OK!
Neopets stresses this, but it bears repeating: NEVER put your secret word ANYWHERE but a http://www.neopets.com/ address. If you do, you'll just be giving your account to someone!
I still see this in the Trading Post: People claiming to be giving away their accounts to the highest bidder. If people were REALLY going to give their accounts away, then why are they trying to get your items or neopoints since they won't need them?
Wish Sticks do NOT grant you wishes.
There is no "code" for the million at Coltzan's Shrine!
If you get a neomail saying you won a prize and need to fill out information to receive it and it is signed "Sincerely, theneopetsteam" DON'T BELIEVE IT! Neopets never asks for your secret word and if they were part of neopets, the USERNAME would be theneopetsteam, not the signature.
Check out the Wall of Shame for other scams
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