Scamming is a problem how can we fix it?

[Drubiz]

Well congrats to me I have 5 rep and been scammed off of $160 and 2 yt channels and a discord all adding up to a total of about $450 or so not exact.

Scamming is the biggest issue on mc market and I wanna find a way to stop it.

Maybe have a middle man bot that is safe to use like playerup?
Maybe have staff moderate deals like selling channels ect?
Make it a requirement for people to have a profile picture?
When banning someone Ip ban them?

What do you all think.

 

[Maddy]

guilt trip

 

[HforHaven]

Although I haven't been on this site too long I've dealt with online marketplaces for years and the only time I got scammed was when I was first starting out for like $30. Just remember that if a deal is too good to be true it's probably a scam. A middleman would be a great idea, but not one maintained by MCM. I've seen plenty of free middleman services on this forum, so maybe try one of them out.

Edit: Apparently there have been trusted members who have scammed out of being middlemen on this forum. I've personally never used one and have had 100+ transactions where I only got "scammed" once (wasn't even a scam to be honest). As I previously said, just trust your instinct and you should be fine.

 

[Drubiz]

Although I haven't been on this site too long I've dealt with online marketplaces for years and the only time I got scammed was when I was first starting out for like $30. Just remember that if a deal is too good to be true it's probably a scam. A middleman would be a great idea, but not one maintained by MCM. I've seen plenty of free middleman services on this forum, so maybe try one of them out.

Some middle man especially the free ones are also fake, they will take money and Item of sale and run. Anyone whi is poinned is reliable and have sticky

 

[Maddy]

Some middle man especially the free ones are also fake, they will take money and Item of sale and run. Anyone whi is poinned is reliable and have sticky

Let me give you a sprinkle of reality. You will be scammed. Trusted middlemen like ImPrank and Doggy Fanpage have scammed out and there was no way to know that. 95% of the time, you won't be scammed by a middleman. There's a risk in every deal.

 

[Khafra]

Let me give you a sprinkle of reality. You will be scammed. Trusted middlemen like ImPrank and Doggy Fanpage have scammed out and there was no way to know that. 95% of the time, you won't be scammed by a middleman. There's a risk in every deal.

Solution: don't use MCM middlemen.

 

[LonelyTree]

Solution: don't use MCM middlemen.

Unless it's me

 

[cts]

Just be careful who you purchase from. If a deal or something is too good to be true, it probably is a scam. I've been on forums for years and only been scammed twice.

 

[Marisa]

I’m gonna be honest though, if you’ve been scammed that many times already I think you’ve made a lot of mistakes yourself that you could’ve easily prevented. I’ve only been scammed once on here and have made plenty of deals.

 

[Orochimaru]

Unless it's me

was about to say: My dude Lonely don't talk shiz[DOUBLEPOST=1571370336][/DOUBLEPOST]

I’m gonna be honest though, if you’ve been scammed that many times already I think you’ve made a lot of mistakes yourself that you could’ve easily prevented. I’ve only been scammed once on here and have made plenty of deals.

I've never been scammed on here

 

[Blood]

Don't go first
Use a competent and safe MM (Zyger and heartthrob are the best middlemen on this forum in my opinion)
Be skeptical of everyone
Know how to secure the product you're purchasing

There's nothing MCM can officially implement besides scam reports and punishments for scamming. Maybe the community can make a middleman Discord server where people can request help from others in the Discord if they have doubts during a deal, as well as providing a place to find middlemen. Maybe we could create an automatic escrow bot or something but there would have to be someone supervising all deals. Not sure if this would work, just an idea

 

[Orochimaru]

Don't go first
Use a competent and safe MM (Zyger and heartthrob are the best middlemen on this forum in my opinion)
Be skeptical of everyone
Know how to secure the product you're purchasing

There's nothing MCM can officially implement besides scam reports and punishments for scamming. Maybe the community can make a middleman Discord server where people can request help from others in the Discord if they have doubts during a deal, as well as providing a place to find middlemen. Maybe we could create an automatic escrow bot or something but there would have to be someone supervising all deals. Not sure if this would work, just an idea

someone has to go first

 

[Blood]

someone has to go first

yeah woke ppl dont go first

 

[roy]

Before you read this, note that the below reflects my beliefs and not that of the staff team or MC-Market as a whole.

Maybe have a middle man bot that is safe to use like playerup?

Not only is this difficult to do, but it also implies MC-Market endorses or insures deals and or trades between users. We offer users a platform for trading and sales, we do not insure your deals. It is up to your own personal discretion to decide who to deal with. Of course, there will always be situations where trusted users catch us off guard by exit scamming, however, there will almost always be some form of indication that the user may be attempting a scam.

Maybe have staff moderate deals like selling channels ect?

Not only is this a huge usage of resources, it also places MC-Market into the "line of fire" if someone does pull off a scam. Instead of the community revolting and saying we need to hire more Scam Resolvers, we will hear how we need to get staff better capable of detecting a scam. Again, MCM does not insure deals, therefore asking staff to moderate deals causes for one more liability, not to mention the astronomical amount of time and additional staff members we would need to always keep a trusted moderator online to watch over deals.

Make it a requirement for people to have a profile picture?

This returns to my aforementioned point about personal discretion, which I will address in a moment.

When banning someone Ip ban them?

We do not IP Ban users as it would not be fair for other users using the same internet, either at a University or even a sibling. Rest assured, we do closely watch for ban evaders and they are normally found within a reasonable amount of time. Speaking of evaders, feel free to contact even a Chat Moderator about an evader, CMs do have the capacity to restrict the user's account until a moderator is available to ban them.
---

On the topic of personal discretion, I recommend you take the below into consideration:
- How active is the user, especially in recent times? Do they have an established service? Something significant to lose? This system of having something to lose is even used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to determine whether someone is granted entry into the United States under visitor status. They have to prove they have something to lose in their resident country in order to enter the U.S. and gain visitor status. Apply this concept to MC-Market. Does the user have a well-profitable service they offer here? Has the service been doing well?

- Review the user's reputation history and post history. Have they taken out any loans recently? Another good tool here is to ask around in Shoutbox, it is always possible the user had previously begged for loans in SB or was generally acting suspicious in chat.

- For loans, leave a neutral reputation on their profile until the loan is paid back in full. Something simple such as this may not be able to save you money, however, it will likely prevent them from getting other scams off on other users.

- Think about how the user is handling the situation. Talk with them a little bit. Are they pushing to get the deal completed? Are they uncommunicative? Impatient? Individuals committing crimes or immoral acts will ordinarily be impatient or seemingly jaded. They will be quick to get the deal completed and any bit of stalling or poking for supplementary information will aggravate them and cause them to be defensive. Now, I obviously am not telling you to annoy the living hell out of the user, however, small talk is far from annoying. Simple things such as randomly mentioning something going on, asking about their day, or inquiring into the deal a bit is not something a legitimate seller/buyer would be getting annoyed by. To reiterate, do not make it discernible that you are delaying or stalling. Be affable, but avoid coming off as blatantly apprehensive. For example, if you are selling them a rank account on Hypixel, probe a into their Hypixel activities, their preferred gamemode, etc.

Ultimately, there is no fool proof method of forestalling a scammer. However, being aware of the user you are dealing with and staying vigilant will lower the risk you are taking in deals considerably.

As a final disclaimer, the above information is not endorsed by the MC-Market Staff Team nor by myself as an unassailable method of preventing scams, however, I can personally reassure you that following the above tips will at minimum decrease the possibility of being scammed, especially by exit scammers.

 

[Violet]

Anyone will scam out for the right amount. This issue will never be solved lmao.

 

[Franix]

Theres no way to fix scamming. Theres things that can be done to minimize scamming, but stopping it completely is impossible.

 

[Ty]

MCM can't stop it, just use ur brain honestly.

I've used mcm since Dec. 2016, been doing deals and shit since mid 2017 and I have never been scammed.

 

[User]

Scamming will never be stopped. It can be slowed or hindered, but clearly, both staff members and users have no interest in doing anything about it.