PokeMMO Avoiding Scams Guide

PokeMMO Avoiding Scams Guide by NaitDawg

There a are a lot of scumbag traders out there. Some of them will try to scam you for your lucky eggs, tm’s, shinys, competitives, or whatever else they could want. This is a guide to help all of you avoid scammers.

Important to know : Scamming is not against the rules, because scamming can not be kept track of by the staff. There are thousands of in-game transactions taking place daily, and the staff can not babysit players in this regard. The staff do not endorse scamming, but they certainly are nice people and discourage the act of scamming. The community, also, tends to ostracize scammers. People who are found to be scammers will suffer social ramifications.

Possible Scams :

(and how to avoid them!)

The “Switcharoo” : The trick is simple. The other trader puts the item or pokemon which you agreed to trading for in the trade box.The trade may not go through, or he may “disconnect” in the middle of trading. He may do this a few times, or even ask you to press “confirm trade” as fast as you can, or he will not trade you. When you open trade again he will switch out the pokemon or item with something else. It could be a different level 50 ursaring from the one you wanted, or the guy could switch out the lucky eggs for oran berries. He could also switch out a “lucky egg” for a “lucky punch”, as the name is similar, and a quick scan might not pick this up. This is one of the most common scams around.

How to avoid this scam : Simply, double check your trade. Check the ivs or items before you trade. Always make sure you are getting what you agreed to, when you press the confirm button.

The Fake Shiny : This scam is super easy to catch if you have spent any time trading. The scammer tells you that he wants to trade you his shiny seel, shiny paras, or any other shiny. This is usually done with shinys which look similar to the original pokemon. When you look at it in trade, the pokemon’s nickname has “shiny” in it. For example, a normal stantler would be named, “Shiny Stantler”. Shiny pokemon have different colors and have a glow around them in trade boxes, so this scam is very easy to spot, yet people use it often.

How to avoid this scam : Just, know that shinys have an orange glow around them in trade boxes. Also, they do not have “Shiny” in the name, unless it is nicknamed, or it is in battle.

The Perfect Competitive : The scammer tells you he has a ridiculously good untouched pokemon. It is usually a 1-time pokemon, such as an eevee, lapras, togepi, or porygon. He will tell you the ivs and the nature, and they will be ridiculously good, for example 29/31/29/31/30/31. He will often say that he JUST got it, and he wants to sell it immediately for a lucky egg or a shiny. When he puts it into trade chat, the ev’s will be changed by vitamins, yet unsuspecting victims will not check the ev page, because it is only level 25, or whatever level the 1-time pokemon is obtained at. People will check the ivs with an iv calculator, without checking the ev page, and the ivs will appear to be correct, and they will confirm the trade, only to discover the pokemon has been tampered with. The auto iv calculators are great deterrents of this scam.

How to avoid this scam : Double Check. Double Check. Oh wait, did I say, “Double Check” yet? Make sure the pokemon you receive has the correct ivs when you press the confirm button. Make sure that you check the EV page, or you use an automatic iv calculator.

The Two-Part Trade : The scammer will tell you he wants to trade you 10 lucky eggs for your shiny pokemon, or 10 tms for your competitive pokemon. The key is that he tells you he wants to trade you a number of items or pokemon which is greater than you can make in a single trade. He will insist that he will trade you the rest of his items after you have traded the first batch. When you trade your pokemon or item for his multiple, he will then log off or disappear, never to be seen from again. Never be part of a two-part trade with someone, unless you know them well and completely trust them. Always have a Community manager mediate the trade to prevent scamming.

How to avoid this scam : Ask a moderator to assist with the trade. They will take all the items and pokemon for you, and divvy them out as they are supposed to. Do not do two-part trades with strangers unless a moderator is helping you.

The Wrong TM : The scammer arranges a trade with you, in which he offers you various valuable tms. He may offer you Earthquake(TM26), Flamethrower(TM35), or any other TM which you may want. However, in the trade box he will simply put different tms on the pokemon, or put tms with similar numbers. For example, TM25 or TM36, instead of TM26. This is also, often done in large package deals, with competitives or shinys, so that the focus is not on the tms, and they are often not checked.

How to avoid this scam : Either memorize tm numbers, or use google. If you are trading tms, you better not be blindly pressing the confirm button, or else your “Sunny Day” will be gone, and replaced by a sad, sad rainy day.

The Middleman : This is one of the more intricate scams, and i’ve only seen this done two or three times. A person is spamming trade chat for an obviously bad, yet specific deal for shiny a pokemon. For example, “WTT Shiny Steelix for Shiny Ponyta” Another, different person is spamming trade chat asking for the exact pokemon he is trading away, and trading an incredibly rare or valuable shiny. For example, “WTT Shiny Growlithe for Shiny Steelix only!” Through this method, the two people trick you into trading away your valuable Shiny Ponyta for a less valuable Shiny Steelix, and then disappear when you message the second man for the trade.

How to avoid this scam : If a trade seems too good to be true and the evidence points towards a middleman scam, avoid it altogether. You could try getting the 3 parties to give their pokemon to a moderator, but they probably would have seen each other in trade chat already. In other words, if it seems to good to be true, just pass.

What a scam is not :

Trading away something you own for something of lesser value is NOT a scam. For example, trading a shiny growlithe for 1 lucky egg does not mean you got scammed; It means you made a bad trade. If both parties are truthfull about what they are trading and do not deceive the other, it is not a scam. I can not prepare you, in this guide, to understand trade values. If you require assistance on that front, feel free to pm me or any other experienced trader in the community who knows what things are worth.

Summarization : Always be smart when trading. You trade at your own risk, so double check and triple check all of your trades. Be sure that the pokemon are holding the correct items in the trade boxes, and make sure that all stats are correct. Don’t trade with shifty people who act funny and close the trade box and reopen it multiple times. Use common sense, and you’ll end up alright.

Thank you for reading. If anyone finds that more scams are around, please post or pm me about them, and i will be sure to add it