Hi! My name is Valerie and I love wheeling and dealing in the trading post, I've made a lot of money and found some great deals there and you can too! However, Neopia is a tough town, and scammers love to work the trading post. I've put up this page to help those new to the Trading Post learn how to protect themselves from getting scammed. Here you will find screenshots of common scams as well as an intro to how they work. The Trading Post is a great way to make money or find a great deal on an item you want, but remember these few rules of thumb:

1. ALWAYS TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS. IF IT SOUNDS SHIFTY, IT PROBABLY IS.

2. NEVER TRADE OUTSIDE OF THE TRADING POST!

3. BE SURE YOU KNOW THE VALUE OF WHAT YOU ARE BIDDING ON.

4. DO NOT VISIT OFFSITE WEBSITES OR LINKS THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW!

5. IF YOU SEE AN OBVIOUS SCAM....REPORT IT! :) WITHOUT THE HELP OF CARING NEOPIANS WATCHING OUT FOR OTHERS, THESE GUYS WILL CONTINUE SCAMMING. THE ONLY WAY TO STOP SCAMS IS TO STOP THE SCAMMER.

COMMON SCAMS YOU MIGHT SEE IN THE TRADING POST

THE "BAIT AND SWITCH" SCAM

This scam is called the "bait and switch" What's baiting and switching? That's when someone offers something at a good price (in this guys case, a Pustravaganza Scratchcard), then closes the lot. They then Neomail you saying (for example) "3 people all bid the same and I can't decide who should get it, please go and bid again....the first person wins!" People are usually in a hurry and don't notice when the scammer replaces the valuable item for one that's NOT valuable, but looks very much like the valuable item. In this guys case, he uses REAL Pustravaganza cards, and then does the switch with a FAKE one. Take a look here: I caught him in the act with a screenshot while he was busy running two at once....I used to see him every day, and I reported him, but unfortunately Neo can't do anything about these guys unless they get caught in the act. A few days after I sent them my screenshot he was finally iced. :) The sad part is, he had a 32 month old account, and he had gotten away with scamming Neopians for a very long time. :(

THE "BID HIGH ON THIS JUNK" SCAM

How it works: They put something up of little to no value, and claim if you bid very high on it they'll give you a very valuable item. Forget it, they'll snag the first overpriced bid and you'll never get what they promise. Don't fall for it! Only bid according to the item you see, not what they promise.

THE "OMG! IT'S SOOOO VALUABLE!" SCAM

Sometimes these are scammers, sometimes just newbies who don't know what the item is worth. This one is obviously a scammer, I love how they try to tell you that the eyeshadow made of pure gold. LOL! Always check the wizard for values of buyable items, and for unbuyables (over 100k) check auctions and other trades for that item to get a feel on price before bidding. Trust your own judgements of value, not what the seller is trying to convince you it's worth.

THE SPAM SCAM Note: names in these screenshots removed to protect the innocent.

IF you see one of these, don't post them again. You will not get the item that's promised...but you might get a frozen account for spamming instead! This is usually a cruel joke intended to make fun of gullible newbies and see if they'll "fall for it" and repost the message. POSTING MESSAGES LIKE THESE IN TRADES OR IN CHAT WILL GET YOUR ACCOUNT FROZEN AND DO NOT WORK! DON'T DO IT!

For more info on spam scam and chain messages, I highly recommend this page:

_{Chain Messages DON'T WORK!}

THE "I'M QUITTING NEO" SCAM

Ya know..íf people were quitting, they wouldn't care how many neopoints they got for an item, right? Again, only bid on what you see.....NOT what is promised!

THE "WOW! I FOUND A HIDDEN PLACE!" SCAM

If someone said they found a hidden place that gives out freebies (which doesn't involve jelly...LOL) you can count it as a scam. They'll try to "sell" you the information. Guess what you'll really get in return? All you'll pay for is a quick lesson on how to get robbed. :/

THE "THIS ITEM DOES SOMETHING SPECIAL!" SCAM

This one comes up a lot. First of all, crackers and bumper stockings do not give out extra rare prizes, just junk mainly. Items like lucky dice will not make you win dice-a-roo every time either. Know what you are bidding on.

THE "I HAVE A HIDDEN TOWER ITEM FOR CHEAP!" SCAM

While many hidden tower items are available in the trades for a nice discount, a lot of junk/low value items are pushed off by scammers who claim they are much more valuable. This blade? Never was in Hidden Tower, and worth under 2,000 np.

THE "LOOK ALIKE" SCAM

Related to the bait and switch scam, but without the switching, the look alike scam is where the scammer uses an item that somewhat resembles in name or appearance to a high value item. Here you see a rubber duck. I don't know why people try to pass them off as battle ducks, they look nothing like them, but hey...*shrug* Rubber Ducks are not unbuyables, nor are they battle weapons. Quack on that. ;) U-bends are also tried to be passed off as U-bends of Great Justice very often in the Trading Post.

THE "SHOP SCAM

Oh yeah, lovely. Sure, they'll give you the codestones.....maybe. But why should they once they have your money after you bought overpriced junk when they can use those codestones over again to fool someone else? And yes...I do mean JUNK. At the time this trade was posted, this person had a bunch of 10k and 50k omelettes and snowballs in their shop.

THE "I'M SO RICH I'LL JUST GIVE YOU MONEY!

Don't fall for suckers like this. This guy with a one week old account could have at least tried to *sound* believeable, instead he overexaggerated his "wealth" a bit, don't ya think? LOL. To give you an idea how these folks are, I neomailed the scammer from the screenshot pretending to be a noob to see how he runs his little hustle. Here's what was said:

I HAVE ANOTHER ACCOUNT ALSO i have a brother who gets from neopets since he is like a division manager for neopets they give him like 200million a day.

How this one works, they try to convince you they know someone on staff or they have a "neopoint generator" cheat/hack program that they'll use to give you money if you give them your account name *and* "secret word". Guess what folks, there is no money. They only money these "wealthy neopians" get is from your account once you hand them control of it and they get the chance to take your stuff.

THE SITE SCAM

Note: Link written in image removed by me to protect the curious.

NEVER visit any sites people might post in trades, neomail or on the Neoboards that don't begin with Neopets.com. Visiting off-site pages are a quick way to run into trouble. You could easily stumble into a cookie-grabber program which could give the website owner a way to get into your account. DON'T do it!

MORE TO COME........

Handy code for those who asked for Jubi's Button that's displayed in my shop:

<center> <a href="http://petpages.neopets.com/~JubiNumo"> <img src="http://queenofallevil.homestead.com/files/jubianibutton.gif"></a> </center>

Thanks again to all the wonderful people who sent me mails about my petpage! :) And special thanks to those who have linked to Jubi's Scam Busters. I appreciate all the kind words you have said. It's the moral support from good folks like you that keep me going. Have a safe day in Neopia, and thanks for stopping by our little corner! ;)

---Val (and JubiNumo of course!) ;)

OTHER REALLY HELPFUL PETPAGES WHICH JUBI LIKES:

My dear friend ilikemangopie has a wonderful page for newbies, visit 1oVe1y43's petpage and take a peek and some great things she's written to help you along your way in Neopia. :)

A great starting page full of tons of info is found at neopetsndex! If you are new or old to neo, I highly suggest paying a visit! :) Just click the spiffy button below!

-blocked-the_sage has a wonderful page about general scams and hustles scammers try to pull, and can teach you many different ways to keep your account safe! Visit scapper16's petpage to read all about it!

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