What to do about my scammer sister (closed)

[Pinny Nickels]

If you have a legitimate suggestion or idea then please PM it to me. She gave them the account back a few days ago.

Kind of weird to be posting this here, but it's really bothering me. :/ (I would like to clarify that I am referring to something that happened on WoW)

My online friend of about five years scams people. She's been doing this since before I even met her, and I've accepted it and minded my own business. I could relate (although not necessarily agree with) her reasoning most of the time because she was hacking perverted jack asses who were always trying to get (under-aged) girls to send them n***s and s**t.

I know her well enough to know her tricks and when she's lying, but if she doesn't want me to know something I still pretend to believe her... it's usually no concern of mine. But this time she screwed over some good friends of mine (and I thought she was their friend too).
I think she knows me well enough to know that I didn't believe her when she started making up s**t about what happened. She had already blocked them on MSN, and I'm pretty sure she blocked me. Although she'll probably unblock me soon.

I mean... I know I can't help my friends who got scammed. I feel quilty... I don't want to tell them all she's a scammer, but I want them to get their money back or something. :/
I really just needed to vent... I don't anyone to know the answers.

Disclaimer: She does not do any actual hacking or anything illegal... she just tricks people and there's nothing they can do about it.  

[LorienLlewellyn]

So it sounds like your friend is taking real money, promising to give out n***s, then not giving out anything at all? And she thinks it's ok because they're old guys looking for pictures of underage girls?

Well, I might be able to relate if she was talking to like 30 year old guys and telling them she was 13 and they were trying to get n***s from her. Because then those guys would be creeps who are trying to commit a serious crime, and they'd probably deserve to get scammed a bit.

But if they're like 19 and she's like 17 or something, then she's not doing this for any moral reasons. She's scamming for the sake of scamming, and it would really need to stop. It actually might be illegal, and Blizzard probably wouldn't be too happy that she's using their game to scam people and possibly commit a crime. So if that is the case, then I would tell your friends the truth about her and report her to Blizzard.  

[Pinny Nickels]

Ranchi

To be honest; if I had a "friend" like that, I'd throw her to the moon.

It doesn't matter if what she is doing can't be helped, Blizzard got rules about how to behave, and scamming is on the naughty list. If you keep looking the other way, then you are her partner in crime. If you dont warn people, then it's your fault they get scammed. Think about it.

I know it's not the same topic, but after I found my boyfriend buying gold 2 times, I told him I'd report him, should I find him doing it a third time. I don't care whether he is sitting right next to me or not, he is still doing something that's not allowed, and I'd report him anytime, which he knows I will surely do.

Well he's probably still buying gold without telling you.

If I turned on her and started warning everyone then the people I warned would blab to her and she'd simply change her name and start over. She's been doing this since she was like ten (she's 18 now). She knows what she's doing.
I've warned a couple of people. I didn't realize she was scamming this time though... it just didn't occur to me.  

[Pinny Nickels]

LorienLlewellyn

So it sounds like your friend is taking real money, promising to give out n***s, then not giving out anything at all? And she thinks it's ok because they're old guys looking for pictures of underage girls?

Well, I might be able to relate if she was talking to like 30 year old guys and telling them she was 13 and they were trying to get n***s from her. Because then those guys would be creeps who are trying to commit a serious crime, and they'd probably deserve to get scammed a bit.

But if they're like 19 and she's like 17 or something, then she's not doing this for any moral reasons. She's scamming for the sake of scamming, and it would really need to stop. It actually might be illegal, and Blizzard probably wouldn't be too happy that she's using their game to scam people and possibly commit a crime. So if that is the case, then I would tell your friends the truth about her and report her to Blizzard.

Well it was usually for moral reasons, although she's older now... But I think the line has kind of blurred for her. She always has some sort of personal reason for scamming people but sometimes she does it over really small things.

It's not illegal. She knows how to keep herself out of trouble. None of the people she has scammed have ever been able to do anything about it no matter how much they tried or how angry they were. She tricks them into willingly giving her things.
Sometimes it's really money and sometimes it's game money.  

[Bacchant]

I think we would need more detail to be able to judge.

How exactly did she scam them? Were they soliciting nude pictures off her?

If thats the case then they seriously just need learn that their money is much better invested in some proper sites for that kind of material. Or you know, just the free stuff thats everywhere online.

I dont even see how they could bring up that conversation with you either, or how it could be your fault they got scammed.

"Yeah, I was thinking about buying some n***s off your friend there. Think I should go for her?"  

[Pinny Nickels]

No no, my friends that she scammed recently were not trying to get n***s of her or anything... they're actually a married couple.

I just meant that she normally only scams people who do s**t like that. I think she scammed my friends mostly because she's somewhat desperate for cash, and she justified it from a little tiff we had with them years ago.. I guess she didn't let it go like I did.

They bought her WoW account a while ago. They didn't change the security question. She took the account back and kept their money. Blizz said they can't do s**t about it... the only way to sort this out would be reasoning with her.  

[LDownTo]

Penny Nickels

They bought her WoW account a while ago. They didn't change the security question. She took the account back and kept their money. Blizz said they can't do s**t about it... the only way to sort this out would be reasoning with her.

That was dumb, but yeah, hope they learned not to be buying WoW accounts since that's against the ToS to begin with.

I'd just suggest you avoid her and warn friends of making deals with her because she has an iffy history.  

[Pinny Nickels]

LDownTo

Penny Nickels

They bought her WoW account a while ago. They didn't change the security question. She took the account back and kept their money. Blizz said they can't do s**t about it... the only way to sort this out would be reasoning with her.

That was dumb, but yeah, hope they learned not to be buying WoW accounts since that's against the ToS to begin with.

I'd just suggest you avoid her and warn friends of making deals with her because she has an iffy history.

I think they bought it because they were friends with her and she was trying to sell her account anyway... they wanted her to be able to come back if she wished.
They even told her she could have it back whenever she wanted, but then she just took it back without saying anything and blocked them.  

[Taiyono Seishin]

To me it sounds like no matter what is suggested to help with this problem of your "friend" scamming other people your just going to defend this person. So it even worth anyone's time trying to help you if your not going to do anything about it?

What your friend is doing is against Blizzard ToS and she should be ISP banned. Maybe even illegal if she is stealing other peoples money.

Like someone had said already if you know about this and are not saying anything your are just a partner in crime. If she goes down you'll go down and in time she will go down. The people that bought her account could possibly trace the money through their bank to see who it went to. Heck your friend could just say you were in on everything when she does get caught.

I guess its really your choice if you wish to be an accomplice in what this person is doing. Don't ask for help about a scammer if your just going to defend her to those that do try to help.  

[Pinny Nickels]

Taiyono Seishin

To me it sounds like no matter what is suggested to help with this problem of your "friend" scamming other people your just going to defend this person. So it even worth anyone's time trying to help you if your not going to do anything about it?

What your friend is doing is against Blizzard ToS and she should be ISP banned. Maybe even illegal if she is stealing other peoples money.

Like someone had said already if you know about this and are not saying anything your are just a partner in crime. If she goes down you'll go down and in time she will go down. The people that bought her account could possibly trace the money through their bank to see who it went to. Heck your friend could just say you were in on everything when she does get caught.

I guess its really your choice if you wish to be an accomplice in what this person is doing. Don't ask for help about a scammer if your just going to defend her to those that do try to help.

She is not stealing anyone's money or breaking any rules. I know good and well that we can't do anything to get her in trouble. She is not a hacker, she is a scammer. She tricks people into willingly doing things.
Selling your account is against the rules, but reporting her for that would be reporting both parties... and regardless there is no way to prove she actually sold the account; she could just make it look like they hacked her.

The point of this thread was not to find a legal solution, because there is not one... and most people don't have enough experience with this sort of thing to understand that.

They didn't even give her solid cash. They bought another game and gave her the serial code. She's been doing this since elementary school... seriously, she knows what she's doing.

I'm not defending her and I had no idea she was scamming them... I would have warned them if I did know in advance.

But anyway, this isn't going anywhere... I mostly just wanted to vent. So this is the end of the thread as far as I'm concerned.  

[Taiyono Seishin]

Whatever you say, princess. Go on looking the other way until you get into a legal situation that you can't get out of because of this so called friend of yours.

Quote:

The point of this thread was not to find a legal solution, because there is not one... and most people don't have enough experience with this sort of thing to understand that.

Just shows real ignorance.  

[Pinny Nickels]

Taiyono Seishin

Whatever you say, princess. Go on looking the other way until you get into a legal situation that you can't get out of because of this so called friend of yours.

Quote:

The point of this thread was not to find a legal solution, because there is not one... and most people don't have enough experience with this sort of thing to understand that.

Just shows real ignorance.

Some very angry people have threatened that sort of thing to me... yet they couldn't do anything about it.
You don't have experience with stuff like that... I don't say it to offend you; it's actually a good thing. But you really just don't know the reality of it unless you yourself are a scammer or if you've been close friends with one.

What am I ignorant of? I think there is some fine print in the ToS that you don't understand. Name a rule that my friend actually broke that would be beneficial to report.  

[Wee Little]

Even if she gave the accounts back, I'd report her. Whats stopping her from doing the same to you? Sounds like she's not against it, seeing as she lies straight to your face.

Did she give them their crap back WITH the account? Or did she take it? Hacker's will gladly give accounts back... after they've gotten what they want.

Even if you don't have 100% proof. Just sending a report to a GM saying " My real life friend (charnamehere) is always bragging about how she hacks peoples accounts, and I think she hacked a few of my friend's (inserttheircharnameshere) accounts." Simple as that. I've worked with MMOs before...

I'm not sure about Blizzard or how they work, but the one I used to work for could track which accounts sign onto which IPs. If they found multiple accounts signed onto 1 IP, it was enough to suspect hacking.