Notice for the community regarding impersonators

[Capaldi]

Hello.
Way too many new members or members who are not active fall victim to scams led by those impersonating others in the MC-Market community.

I feel like if there was a notice, such as editing the welcome message, would lead to less people being scammed by impersonators.

The welcome message could include:

• what impersonators are
• how to efficiently confirm on-site
• how to detect fake characters
• to confirm on-site before dealing off-site

This goes for a notice in general for those who are already registered on MC-Market. Perhaps those who have not been online for x months, have less than x posts, etc would receive this notice. The criteria would be up for debate, as I am not sure.

Only those who are super active and have been on MC-Market for months know what impersonators are and how to combat them but not everyone knows that.

For those who may be unaware of how impersonators scam, here are the two most notable ones:
1. Read Landon's thread back in 2017: https://www.mc-market.org/threads/270293

2. Fake Characters. If you are unaware of what fake characters are, here is an example:

Members who do not have any knowledge of fake characters wouldn't look at Brаnо#0001 and think anything unusual about it. They'd just see it as normal text. That is until they copy-paste Brаnо#0001 into this website: https://characterchecker.com/

Fake Characters: Brаnо#0001
Real Characters: Brano#0001

 

[Sky.]

Yeah this would curb the amount of scams in total. Maybe the forums most susceptible to scams and impersonations should have a little notice at the top of them. Like investments and loans.

 

[Innings]

Whenever I read this two things came to mind:

1. Users are who are just trying to see what this marketplace is about may be hesitant because a warning like that makes us sound toxic

2. If a user gets scammed by an impersonator it's most likely because they didn't take the necessary steps to research the user they were going to deal with or confirm on site, so who's to say they would take the time to read through a welcome message especially if its lengthy.

 

[Capaldi]

Whenever I read this two things came to mind:

1. Users are who are just trying to see what this marketplace is about may be hesitant because a warning like that makes us sound toxic

2. If a user gets scammed by an impersonator it's most likely because they didn't take the necessary steps to research the user they were going to deal with or confirm on site, so who's to say they would take the time to read through a welcome message especially if its lengthy.

1. Okay but it's the cold-hard truth. Would you rather them be informed so they know beforehand or would you prefer they find out the hard way by getting scammed by an impersonator?

2. Fake characters are a thing. I'd recommend using characterchecker but it is not fully working at the moment.
But this > Brаnо#0001 < has a fake character in it. You wouldn't know just by looking at it. If you used a website like characterchecker (not working atm!) then it would tell you there was a fake character and which one (or ones). However, this Brano#0001 was Brano's Discord.

Many people fall for these impersonators because they use tactics like fake characters or doing something like this: https://www.mc-market.org/threads/270293

Usually from what I've seen, people impersonate using fake characters so if you see Brano#0001 listed on Brano's profile, you wouldn't really think twice about if Brаnо#0001 has any fake characters. You'd just believe it.

I am using Brano as an example as I talked to a couple of people in June about this impersonator. I almost fell for it too when one of them said that was not a fake Brano because I had completely forgotten about fake characters.

If people choose to ignore a welcome message with vital details, that is on them. But since there is nothing indicating what impersonators are, how to combat them, etc they are not all at fault.

Do you ever read each Wall of Text that automatically gets sent into your Inbox on any forum you subscribe to?

I haven't read it in many years but there was nothing indicating on what impersonators are or how to combat them unless by chance that was added since I've last read it.

Personally, I don't read the Wiki since I am already pretty knowledgeable about MC-Market because I've been here for years.

 

[babaooo]

2. Fake characters are a thing. I'd recommend using characterchecker but it is not fully working at the moment.
But this > Brаnо#0001 < has a fake character in it. You wouldn't know just by looking at it. If you used a website like characterchecker (not working atm!) then it would tell you there was a fake character and which one (or ones). However, this Brano#0001 was Brano's Discord.

imagine using brano in the first place ?? :rofl::rofl::rofl:
either way seems like a decent idea to make users aware of this common scam, because it is the harsh truth.

 

[Landon]

I don’t think a specific warning about impersonators is the best way to go about it. I really wish the MCM Wiki was more prevalent and shown to users. Could have an article about impersonators, their methods, how to prevent it, etc. And a bunch of other useful information that is already in the Wiki that no new users know about.

 

[Mick]

I'd really like for us to eventually write up a series of wiki articles outlining how to safely transact with users. One about middlemen, one about trading etiquette, one about impersonators and common scams, etc.

Would be really helpful to be able to provide that documentation to our new folk, and I'll move this to pending until we do. Thank you ma'am.

 

[Mick]

This has already been implemented, we just never got around to marking this suggestion as accepted.

Thank you very much for the suggestion! I'll move the thread now.