Anyone familiar with MMOs knows that scamming players out of money and in-game assets is an all too common practice. Typical MMO scams usually revolve around the sale of virtual goods–gold, equipment, even entire accounts–which are notoriously difficult transactions to enforce. As a result, most MMOs outright forbid the sale of in-game assets and accounts in their EULAs.
What many people may not know is how quickly these small scams add up and how often they lead to more complex cons. Below is a 30-minute interview with a former “professional” scammer. He discusses the techniques he used to rip off EVE Online and World of Warcraft players and how fraudulent account sales eventually turned into more elaborate scams, including identity theft and old-fashioned grifting.
Patrick, the scammer being interviewed, claimed that he easily made between $10,000-20,000 in his first year of scamming, but he worked with other individuals pulling in over $100,000 a year. I highly recommend giving the interview a listen (you can play it in the background, as I can’t think of a good reason to actually watch an interview over the telephone) in order to understand the types of scams occurring online. While we tend to focus on IP and licensing issues on Laws of Play, Patrick’s interview highlights the increasing importance of criminal law to the average gamer.
