http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=444299&page=1

Okay. So Im tired of reading people whining about the scams and seeing the scammers in Jita and everything.

So here is a guide for those who dont have the intelligence to spot a contract scam.

What Kind of Contract do I look out for
Free-Form. If you dont already know. There are also other types of scams, but I will expand on that as I gain more knowledge

How do I lose money because of this?
Because they put an amount into the "Collateral" category.

But what does Collateral do?
It deducts that amount of ISK from your wallet. Upon failure of the Contract, the 'Scammer' recieves that ISK

But scams are impossible with the new contract system!
WRONG! Any creative scammer can make a Contract look legit.

What are the obvious signs?
Usually the most obvious is it being a 'Free-Form' contract. The second takes more attention. In the details of the contract, look for 'Location'. If your buying an Item and the 'Location' is empty. Reject.

But I see the items in the description!
The Descriptions cannot be trusted. Intelligent scammers will add 'System - Moon - Station' titles into their descripts, and beneath will have a fake inventory of what your purchasing.

For example:
Jita VI - Moon 4 - Caldari Construction Company
1x Corvus
4x Arbalest Siege Launchers
,etc

This can appear VERY legit to many people, and will cause you to fall victim to this scammer.

But it has links to the item!
Dont believe links. Lets take a imaginary scammer "Scammer McScamScam". He puts in the descript "Scammer McScamScam's Navy Issue Raven" This makes it appear as it has been assembled, but clicking on the link does not take you to "Scammer McScamScam's Navy Issue Raven". It will take you to 'Navy Issue Raven' show info.

The seller is in a player corp. Isnt he afraid of bringing war to it?
Usually alot of the scammers are alts in NPC corps, which also should set off klaxons (alarms). But some alts have corp history and this will bring you into a false sense of security.

I fell victim to a scam!!! What can I do
As far as I know, this is all ingame mechanics and is not petitionable, but I have yet to know if it is legal or not. But I would love ISD to let me know.

Hey! I just found an awesome deal on minerals! Should I get it!
NO. Do not accept unknown contracts on the market for minerals. Mineral contract scams are appearing more and more often, and now are a second way of income for scammers besides Free Form contracts.

If there are so many scammers. Why trust contracts at all?
Because there are rules in place. Make sure only to accept Contracts from inside your alliance or corporation (hehe. if your corpmate scams you, Blow him up and pod him back to the stone age!!!) AND AND accept Contracts from people you make deals with upon the forums.

Forum deals are BINDING, and if you are scammed from a Forum deal, CCP will enforce the terms of the deal. But this applies to FORUM CONTRACT DEALs only. Also EVEmails between you and the seller, clarifying what your buying, for how much, and where it will be located. (This also applies to buying GTC ingame/on the forums)







Notice the red circles. They are the main points of interest.

Notice how when I clicked on the name of the item, it gave me the show info of a 'Pilgrim' and not MY personal pilgrim (ingame, it shows usually as ShowInfo:XXXXX;XXXXXX)