Trust Scams

Trust Scams in Entropia Universe are scams that involve placing ‘trust’ in another person’s avatar through the ‘lending’ of peds (project entropia dollars), or items that have a ped value or market value in peds (Note that in Entropia Universe the PED is tied to the US Dollar in a 10:1 ratio, so PEDs have real world value) trusting that the other avatar will give you back the peds or item or something equivalent in the future. The scam part of this is when that other avatar does not give you back anything or gives you back something that is worth less, or less desirable than what you ‘trusted’ that they were going to give you. Trust scams exist in Entropia Universe since some participants want to partner with others in game for joint ventures, but there is no valid way for joint ownership of items to exist in game except through special systems such as shared deed system used in Calypso Land Deeds, Arkadia Underground Deeds, etc.

According to Mindark Support Mindark cannot do anything about trust scams since they see all trades in game as valid, even if they are trust scams.


Internet Archive Link

Below are a few examples of trust scams that have been revealed in community forums and websites over the years:

8/19/2014 0x0f Trust Scam Thread on PCF
Internet Archive Link

Ernestas/Cherry Lady/Justifier/Monica/Goldy?
I’ve heard it through the grapevine that ErnestJ, Cherry Lady, Justifier, Monica and Goldy may be one in the same individual and that that individual may be performing various scams in Entropia Universe including but not limited to ‘trust scams’??? I myself do not have first hand knowledge of these scams, only second hand knowledge that I’ve heard via PMs, and regularly reading forums and other websites related to Entropia Universe over the years… Below appear to be some of the relevant links to information on this rumor…
http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?196542-A-newbie-story-behind-a-scam&p=2545742&viewfull=1#post2545742
Description/Summary:
Parlog’s 9/2/2010 posting on Planetcalypsoforum (PCF) about Monica aka J.J.J. (Justifier)
Internet Archive Link

http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?234950-Dreadnought-shooting-down-friendly-ship&p=3028397&viewfull=1#post3028397
Description/Summary:
In Post #5 of Planetcalypsoforum thread Dreadnought shooting down friendly ship Goldy admits to shooting down the mothersip that the thread is about.
Internet Archive Link

http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?234950-Dreadnought-shooting-down-friendly-ship&p=3034795&viewfull=1#post3034795
Description/Summary:
In Post #373 of the PCF thread Dreadnought shooting down friendly ship ErnestJ admits to being Goldy by stating:

I did not allow anyone to publish my photos. So I guess it is a violation of forum rules…

Internet Archive Link

http://web.archive.org/web/20100916040237/http://93.190.89.160/cherry.php
Description/Summary:
Internet Archive Copy of the now dead webpage that once existed at http://93.190.89.160/cherry.php that is entitled The whole story about Cherry Lady / Justifier / Monica
Internet Archive Link

 

http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?267603-taxi-goblin-goldy&p=3311355&viewfull=1#post3311355
Description/Summary:
“taxi goblin goldy” thread on PCF dated 11/13/2014 in which EMW accuses Gaius Julia Caesar and Little Cookie Girl of being two of Taxi Goblin Goldy’s alts.
Internet Archive Link

 

According to a reliable source this individual’s scammer’s Entropia Avatar names and names on various forums and social networks such as youtube, Skype, facebook, etc. appears to have potentially been the following names the past:

Justifier Justifier Justifier
Monica
Cherry Cherry Lady
Chery Lady
Candy Sugar Girl
Monica Belluci
lynx lynx lynx
maryo taxi gold
Taxi Goblin Goldy
goblin.goldy1
VanLot Ernestj Cinzano
Ernestas Ernestj Jevsejevas
maxas_veza
ernestjev
Ernislovas
and possibly born2be1st

and that mothership pilots that were associated with this individual’s mothership before goldy sold his/her ship may have been:

Cute Monika Blond and Super Troll Hater

Description/Summary:
In post #68 of Planetcalypsoforum Thread EU and MacBook Monica reveals his/her Skype name as maxas_veza
Internet Archive Link

http://youtu.be/E1r8n6U98cM?list=UUkC8Vjwr6Atv711_GYpulbw
Description/Summary:
Youtube Video uploaded by ernestjev
Internet Archive Link

http://www.hackforums.net/printthread.php?tid=132455
Description/Summary:
Hack forum discussion on keyloggers by Ernislovas
Internet Archive Link
/
http://www.hackforums.net/printthread.php?tid=494523
Description/Summary:
Hack forum post by Ernislovas revealing skype and gmail account info. Skype name is maxa_veza
Internet Archive Link

Please do NOT use info here to cyberbully this individual as it appears possible that the hackforum account info is tied to a hacked account so gmail and skype info revealed there may be incorrect… See http://allyouarefree.blogspot.com/2013/08/free-hackforumnet-user-id-password-list_31.html for more info (found link on accident via google search)

http://web.archive.org/web/20130204052428/http://warp.ms/
Description/Summary:
Internet Archive Link to http://warp.ms/ that indicates contact info as

For more information please contact Taxi Goblin Goldy, in game, or through Skype at : goblin.goldy1
and if for any reason you cannot contact him through these channels, contact : Chad Wizardo Gareau, in game. If he is not online try contacting him via Skype : chad.gareau

Internet Archive Link

http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?231632-Incorrect-Assmption-on-my-part-!&p=2991879&viewfull=1#post2991879
Description/Summary:
9/3/2012 Thread entitled Incorrect Assmption on my part !by Sakuba on PCF outlining the attack of the EFA Ship Bismarck by Pirate Ernestj
Internet Archive Link to page 1
Internet Archive Link to page 4

http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?155643-Black-Hawk-s-quot-15-Experiment-quot-By-Cherry-Cherry-Lady&p=1949545&viewfull=1#post1949545
Description/Summary:
Black Hawk’s “15$ Experiment” – By Cherry Cherry Lady on PCF
Internet Archive Link

Kill Stealing is a problem in Entropia Universe..

In Entropia Universe Hunting and Looting what you hunt is one of the main 3 professions tied to loot pools. The other main “professions” are mining and crafting.

In order to hunt a creature (MOB) in Entropia Universe you must have a weapon, use the weapon on the creature you want to kill enough to get its health level down to zero. After that you have a certain amount of time to loot the dead creatures body before it disappears. When you loot the body you will either receive what the creature was carrying, or get a system message that the creature was not carrying any loot.

The way that Hunting currently works is that any avatar can cause damage to any mob at any time if they have a weapon that has enough Trade Terminal (TT) value left on it that it can be decayed. At the current time most hunting equipment in game can be decayed down to 3% of its maximum value before the item in question needs to be repaired (Previously some Skill Increase Bonus (SIB) Unlimited items only decayed to 50%, but Mindark changed that so that those items now decay down to 3% before needing repair). Unlimited items can repaired at a Repair Terminal with PEDs (Project Entropia Dollars) or PECs (Project Entropia Cents) depending on what the maximim TT value of the item in question is and how much it will cost to repair it as you can repair most items only part of the way instead of all of the way, even though they may not necessarily function as well at lower TT values according to some theories. There are 100 PECs in every PED, and 10 PEDs is equivalent roughly to 1 US Dollar so when items are decayed in hunting REAL MONEY is being spent. The monetary values on items’ TT Values are put in to the game when participants of Entropia Universe deposit money in to the system via one of several types of deposit methods such as Credit Cards, Paypal, etc.

In order to ‘claim’ the loot of a mob as your own in such a way that other avatars cannot loot the mob you killed you currently need to damage the MOB by at least 50% of the MOB’s Health, or at least do enough damage that is closer to 50% of the health than others have done before it died if multiple avatars are trying to kill the same mob (some Mobs that have high amounts of health take a long time to kill, especially large event Mobs such as EOMON which have thousands of health points that have to be destroyed before they are killed). If you only do 49% damage or less and someone else does more damage than you did to the MOB before it died, the other avatar that damaged the mob may be able to claim the mob’s loot instead of you. The act of doing damage to mobs that other avatars are hunting in order to outdo the other avatar on damage so that you can claim the MOBs loot is called “Kill Stealing” because in involves killing the mob with more damage than the other avatar and then stealing the dead MOB’s loot.

There have been many Kill Steals done throughout the history of Entropia Universe, both big and small. Big Events such as the yearly Migration Season that brings out the EOMON is one type of Event in which that type of activity happens a lot. Because of that, threads in forums and websites complaining about kill stealing happen almost like clockwork when big events enter the game.

In a recent post by Hardwrath on Entropiaplanets and Planetcalypsoforum, in which Hardwrath points out an example of Kill Stealing that occurred on a MOB he was hunting that was looted by Saoirse, Hardwrath suggests that the newly implemented in game friend list and chat system be used to send offline messages to all members of a society, or at least the society leaders, that Kill Stealers are in so that the individual in question may be kicked out of the society.

In that post Hardwrath points out that “When you take advantage of game mechanics in order to gain/save financially at the expense of other players, it is in fact an exploit.” Whether Mindark agrees or disagrees with that opinion, the way that the hunting system is currently set up allows Kill Stealing to happen quite regularly.

It could be argued that asking members of a society to take actions to kick a member of their society out of the society is a form of harassment that causes grief to other participants, which is potentially a violation of the Terms of Use for Entropia Universe.

c. You cannot interfere with any other Participants ability to use and enjoy the Entropia Universe.

I do agree with Hardwrath that Kill Stealing is a bit of an annoyance in game, however, as things are currently set up there appears to be not much that can be done about it because the system is provided “as is”.

NO FURTHER WARRANTY. THE ENTROPIA UNIVERSE IS PROVIDED TO YOU “AS IS”. THE ENTROPIA UNIVERSE IS NOT WARRANTED BY MINDARK TO BE UNINTERUPTED, COMPLETE, ACCURATE OR ERROR OR BUG FREE.

Since Kill Stealing is potentially a form of cheating or exploit, I have added a new category under the Cheating and Exploiting parent category and will use a future post to showcase various places online that this long-standing issue has been brought up by the Entropia Universe Community, much as I am doing with the ALT Avatar examples, so that the community, general population, and any of the developers reading this blog may be able to find the past examples quickly, realize that this is an ongoing issue, and take action to deal with this problem in the future…

Since Mindark has allowed Kill Stealing to exist in game for many, many years, the fact that nothing has been done to keep it from happening causes us to question if Mindark is upholding it’s promise that, “Both Planet Partners and the participants on the planets should always feel safe in their endeavors in Entropia Universe.”