Scamming is the act of stealing money, items or accounts from another player through deception or trickery. It is strictly against the Rules of RuneScape and can be punishable by a mute or ban. Scamming is as old as RuneScape itself, and the wide range of scams range from simple and obvious to clever and complex. Most scams involve tricking a victim in one way or another, although occasionally scammers will exploit flaws in the trade system, or even glitches in the game, to steal players' items.

Players can be reported for attempted or successful scamming. However, victims of scamming will under no circumstances have their items returned to them, even if Jagex punishes the scammer.

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Quick tips to avoid scamming

Players who adhere to the following suggestions will find it much easier to spot scams and avoid being fooled by them.

If a deal seems too good to be true, it is probably a scam.

If the person requires you to give them valuable items while giving you back some other items after the current trade (2 time trades, eg. doubling), it is probably a scam.

For items you are not willing to lose, it is advised at any point to not: Drop them, bring them into the Wilderness or dangerous Clan Wars, or offer them in trust trades (including gambling).

Keep account information secure. Only enter your account information into the official RuneScape website and don't tell anyone else your password, recovery questions, or email address.

Always carefully check the trade window to verify which items are being traded.

If the person is obviously using a bot to advertise, it is more than likely a scam.

Buying from stores to sell back to someone who "bought the limit" is probably a scam, as one can use the G.E. price on the trade. If you want to help someone with that, check the store price and be sure not to sell if for less than that.

If someone asks you to buy something from the GE, that is not a common item - many summoning items, for example, are used for this - it is likely a scam, especially if it is overpriced. If someone is asking you to buy a summoning scroll for 2,100 gp when the med price is 70 and they want you to buy 100 of them, think twice.

Never give more than you are willing to lose.

Scams related to trust trading

A trust trade occurs when a victim gives a scammer money or an item, trusting that the scammer will then return the favour, either by providing a service or by giving the victim a greater amount of money or a more valuable item. Instead, however, the scammer simply takes the victim's money and leaves. Trust trades may also occur when scammers ask to borrow items that cannot be lent, such as the various spirit shields.

Any players who consider engaging in a trust trade should factor in the risk that the recipient will steal their item or money. Even a friend or clan member could decide to abuse a player's trust and scam them out of millions of coins.

EoC/OSRS gold transfer

Since the release of Old School RuneScape, a market has appeared for trading coins between OSRS and the main game. While Jagex has not implemented any system for transferring items between the games, players have begun trading coins in one version of the game for coins in the other. For example, player A would pay player B a sum of money in the main game, after which both players log into OSRS and B trades A another sum of money.

As this transaction relies on a trust trade, player B could simply take player A's payment and log out.

Rewarding Kindness

The rewarding kindness scam, or the "Kindness pays" scam is old yet extremely effective. The scammer will use new "burner" accounts equipped with an expensive rare item traded to it by their main account. The scammer will then repeatedly type things such as "Looking for someone kind to give me 1m, Kindness pays", or "Need 1m, rewarding kindness". The expensive item along with the statement "rewarding kindness" are used as a coersion tactic to get players to trade them money thinking that they will be rewarded. If the scammer receives the requested amount of money from a player, they will usually tell the player to private message them. At this point the scammer will use a script that was created to get the victim to trade more and more of their wealth away, while thinking that there is a large reward at the end. When the scammer has taken all of the victim's wealth, or if the victim becomes uncomfortable and asks for their wealth back, the scam ends and the scammer logs out.

Doubling money

The money-doubling scam is one of the most popular scams in RuneScape, and can often be seen being performed at populated areas such as the Grand Exchange, particularly on trading worlds. The scammer will offer the victim a deal: If the victim trades the scammer some money, the scammer will then trade the victim double the victim's amount. The doubling occurs in a separate trade; the money must first be given to the scammer. Doubling money, therefore, is a trust trade. After the scammer receives the victim's money, they will not trade you back and logout.

Over time this scam has evolved to appear more legitimate. For example, in order to establish credibility, the scammer will often double small amounts of money (such as 50,000 coins) before accepting a larger amount and logging out. Some players will simply take this smaller amount and leave; much to the dismay of the scammer. Note that doing this is not encouraged and may still leave you with less money, the scammer could still take your small initial bet. Some scammers may also have other players pretend to have their money doubled by the scammer, and stand around talking about the "legit" money doubler. However, the scammer will still log out when given a large amount by an unsuspecting player.

Variants: Adding certain percentages to your money.

Example of a transaction:

Player 1: Doubling money! 50k test!

Player 2 offers trade to player 1

Player 1 and Player 2 trade

Player 2 offers 50k

Both players accepted trade

Player 1 and Player 2 trade again

Player 1 offers 100k to player2

Player 2: Wow you are legit!

Player 1 and Player 2 trade

Player 2 offers 500k

Both players accepted trade

Player 1 leaves or logs off, leaving Player 2 behind

Note that any player who doubles money in one trade is not scamming. (Although equivalent to giving money for free) However, be wary of the rounding scam, just click 'w' scam and the price misrepresentation scam, which scammer will offer the items in place of 'doubled money'.

Suggested actions: Report the player with Scamming, don't try to give your money to doubler if they do it in two trades. "Testing" the doubler is a risky process even with small amount of money due to the fact that some people intentionally ask doublers for a test and take the doubled 'test money'.

Dungeon leeching scam

A scammer will offer to rush a Dungeoneering floor for a victim while the victim idles in the base room, in exchange for a hefty fee (usually at least 1 million coins). While there are players who legitimately offer this service, it is another form of trust trading, and is therefore easily abused for scamming purposes. The scammer will simply accept the victim's payment and then log out. This scam is rather popular on the most populated Dungeoneering worlds.

Example of a transaction:

Player 1: Offering Dung leeching service!

Player 1: You just have to afk and have your dung exp!

Player 2: Ok, you rush a dungeon for me, how much?

Player 1: 1m

Player 1 and Player 2 trade

Player 2 offers 1m

Player 1 and Player 2 both accepted trade, Player 1 leaves or logs off, leaving Player 2 behind

Suggested actions: Don't accept such service if you don't trust the service provider.

Trust game

In the trust game, a scammer claims that they will give money or a valuable item to whomever trusts the scammer the most, by giving the scammer a less expensive, but nonetheless valuable, sum of money or item. The scammer may also offer to return the victim's money or item after the trade is completed. The scammer will simply take the money or item and leave.

Some scammers may use bots to spam a chat message claiming that whoever gives the scammer money will receive a valuable item, automatically accept any offered coins, and continue to spam the chat without giving anyone anything.

There is also another version of this scam where the scammer will host a stream and tell people to join. After people are watching the stream, the scammer's friend will trade the scammer a large amount of money. The scammer will then trade back the money plus a bonus. This will make people watching the stream trade their valuables and cash to the scammer hoping they will get more in return. But after the scammer receives the loot, they will instead trade their friend the loot + extra to trick people into believing they were trading back the person who gave it to them. This scam is obvious if you are watching the stream and carefully watch who they are trading.

Information for payment

A victim may request information about something from a scammer, who will offer the information in exchange for a fee. If the victim pays the scammer before the information is shared, the scammer will simply log off with the payment.

Several websites exist, such as this wiki, that can provide reliable and accurate information on any RuneScape-related subject. There is no need to risk a trust trade by paying another player for information.

Grand Exchange Limit Scam

A scammer will usually say "Can someone help me with the G.E limit?", then the scammer will ask you to buy an item but pay a ridiculous price which is more than its worth at market price. The scammer will also tell you that it doesn't sell for market, so place your offer for a much higher price, and will reward you for your "help". As soon as you buy the items on the Grand Exchange they will immediately log out, without buying the items back from you for the price. This scamming method is becoming a popular scam, and the scammer usually finds their potential, or targeted victims around the Grand Exchange Market area. Usually they will use items that are very little used like some summoning pouches or scrolls. Items that are traded (e.g battlestaff) a lot cannot be used for this.

Gem cutting scam

A scammer will offer to cut any gems for free; this scam is particularly performed with higher-level gems such as diamonds, dragonstones, and onyxes. Instead of cutting the gems and returning their cut versions, the scammer will simply leave. The popularity of this scam was drastically lowered with the introduction of the Assist System and the fact that cut gems have a lower sale value than their uncut versions.

Bone running scam

This scam is usually performed in world 31 (House Parties), where the scammer - once you join someone's house for a gilded altar - will offer to help you in carrying your bones from the bank to the house portal while you are training prayer, to save that time for you. Once you trade them the bones they will log out and set you on ignore.

To avoid this scam simply don't trade with them, instead take the time to run from bank to portal and back. It is time consuming but still better than be scammed for 1000 frost dragon bones. (Note: if "bone running" is done properly, it might not be a scam. You can keep all your bones noted in your inventory and keep trading 27 noted bones in exchange for the runner's 27 unnoted bones plus a fee. Although this is still technically a trust trade, the bone runner can only take one inventory worth of bones, so it is less risky. If you wish to hire a runner, always ask what their rules are.)

Drop/Price check scam

This scam takes use of glitches, which although instantly reportable for bug abuse may not deter a scammer. The common variation takes use of squares across the RuneScape map that do not permit a player to stay on them for an extended time, and will push a player in a certain direction if stepped on. The scammer will come up to the victim attempting to duplicate an item, show an interesting bug, or otherwise intrigue the recipient. They are then provided with the information of the bug allowing them to temporarily stand on the otherwise inaccessible square and are told to drop the item of interest. When the item is dropped, the bug is undone and the player is forced off the square. Unable to pick the item back up again, the victim loses the item to the scammer who telegrabs it.

Other variations include different ways of removing the victim from the location, from pushing them onto traps, kicking them from an instance controlled by the scammer, or having a partner kill them. The scammer may also trick the player into putting an expensive item in their Price Checker interface then giving them an item to separate the price checked item from the victim's access.

Another variant involves two scammers, the first will promise a bug where you drop items and they trade you a large sum of cash and a grand seed pod. You are told you must promise to click the grand seed pod after dropping your items on the ground and trading the scammer. The scammer will ask you to join group chat. A second person will tell you it's a scam, but that you can scam the scammer by not clicking the grand seed pod and just picking up your stuff and leaving with the scammer's money (this is the real part of the scam). However, the scammer will decline the trade and use group chat to teleport you away after you drop items. (The grand seed pod is actually used as a distraction)

To avoid the scam, simply do not drop an item when requested and do not risk wealth when following a player proposing impossible things. Also, do not join group chat with people promising such things.

Scams related to gambling

After the anti-gambling update on 18 March 2013, all player-run gambling games are officially against the Rules of RuneScape, and players who are hosting or playing these games may be reported. Additionally, the update disabled a number of popular gambling methods; however, a few can still be found in-game.

Also take in mind that a player who offers a gambling game, but doesn't do one can be eligible for a mute.

Aside from the issue of trust trades, players should keep in mind that gambling games are run by other players who are seeking to make a profit. A gambling game that has 50/50 odds for the player to win is not profitable for the host; with such odds, both player and host will tend to break even in the end. Therefore it is very common to find players hosting gambling games with odds that favour the host. In any game wherein the payout does not match the risk of loss, players will tend to lose over time and hosts will tend to win over time.

Plate game

This gambling game is notable for being available in free-to-play, whereas other games are members only. A host will take a bet, ask a player to guess "cheer" or "cry", and spin a spinning plate. There are two possible results: if the plate falls to the ground and breaks, the host will automatically perform the Cry emote. If the host does not break the plate, they will perform the Cheer emote. Payouts are given to players who correctly guess the outcome of spinning the plate.

Currently it is unclear whether or not a spinning plate has a 50/50 chance of breaking; it is also unclear which factors, if any, affect whether the plate breaks or not. In addition, the host may also perform a cry or cheer emote manually, in the emote tab. This allows the host to choose the outcome.

Goody bag

A host will have a number of items in their inventory of a wide variety of values, ranging from low-priced to expensive items. Each item has a number assigned to it which is determined by the inventory slot it is in. A player will place a bet, typically of a lesser value than the expensive items, and pick one of the numbers; the host will then give the player the item which corresponds to their chosen number.

Along with the fact that this game involves a trust trade when placing the bet, nothing stops a host from simply giving whichever item they feel like to the player. The players do not know which items correspond with which numbers, and it would be simple for a host to pay out a low-value item such as a cabbage and claim to be honest.

Some scammers may attempt to convince victims that they have an actual "goody bag" item that performs this function. This is false, as no such item exists. If this bag is offered 'free of charge' then this is a form of giveaway, but don't offer your money to the host.

Fake dicing and horse games

Some players still do not know that Jagex has disabled the ability to gamble with the dice bag and toy horsey. Some scammers advertise dicing or the horsey game, accept bets from uninformed players, and then log out.

Outsourcing

Although Jagex has removed the dice bag from the game, some dicing clans and communities still exist. Instead of using the in-game dice formerly provided by the dice bag, these clans use bots of any sort (Like text chats, autotyper scripts, and websites) to perform the necessary rolls of the dice.

Because these dicing bots are controlled by the dicing hosts themselves, it is not possible to trust them to roll fairly. It is very easy for the bot's writers to adjust the random rolls of the dice in order to bias the roll in the hosts' favour. Even after somehow demonstrating an "impartiality" of the bot code, a host may alter it live to have the winner be the host or their friends.

Scams related to phishing

Phishing is the act of tricking a player into divulging their login details, particularly their username and password. Once a scammer has access to a victim's account, they can then steal all of the victim's items and money. Players should never enter their login details into any website except runescape.com, and should never tell anyone else their login details, in-game or otherwise. Note that scammers can run websites that appear to be the official RuneScape website; for this reason, it is important for players to carefully check the address bar at the top of the web browser to ensure that the website is, in fact, runescape.com.

Phishing site scam

There are multiple forms of the phishing site scam. All of them involve the scammer attempting to get the victim to enter their RuneScape account's login details into their website, which may or may not resemble the official RuneScape website. The scammer then logs into the victim's account and takes all of their items.

Scammers will often offer victims incentives to login to the fake website, such as membership in a clan, or being given a valuable item. Some scammers will also pose as Jagex staff and tell their victims in private messages that they are being considered for a position as a player moderator, which they will receive if they verify their account details on the (fake) website. Another way is scammers will send out fake emails telling players they have been banned, and need to log-in to appeal their ban. However, Jagex staff will never contact players in-game, and will instead use the Message Centre. Anyone who offers a position as a player moderator in-game should be reported for impersonating Jagex staff.

YouTube scam

Some scammers will stand at the Grand Exchange with Spam Bots and claim that if players search YouTube for a specific phrase or player name, they can watch videos that teach them how to easily make money or promise a giveaway of items. Instead, these videos attempt to phish victims' login details by telling them to log into a third-party website controlled by the scammers or find the username's details and use a password cracker to compromise the account. These third-party sites may resemble a site controlled by RuneScape. For example, the scammer may provide a link to a "post on the RuneScape forums" which is actually a third-party site disguised as the forums which then prompts you for a password.

Some scammers also stand at the Grand Exchange telling you that you can be in a YouTube video they're making when you follow them. If you follow them they will take you to a dangerous place like the Clan Wars red portal and eventually kill you when you're in the dangerous zone. Always lookout if there is a second person following the person who has invited you. They will act like they are also participating in the video but will eventually help the other person kill you and eventually get a part of the loot.

Password phishing

A scammer will attempt to get a victim to say their password aloud. One possible way to do this is to say "Look, Jagex changed it to where you can't say your password backwards anymore! See, mine is ********." However, the asterisks are actual asterisks; while RuneScape does censor passwords in chat, it will not censor variations of passwords, such as passwords said backwards. The scammer will then log into the victim's account and take all their items.

Another variant of this scam is to tell players to change their password to something specific, then log out in order to receive free items. This will simply result in the scammer logging into the victim's account and stealing their valuables.

This scam will not work on members who have set a character name at least 28 days prior, as such players must use their original account names to log in. Also, this scam will not work on free players who have their accounts created after the 24th of November 2010, as such players must use their e-mail address to log in. Therefore, this scam may have lost popularity.

Membership scams

Sometimes scammers will log into free-to-play worlds and start offering to buy membership for anyone who gives the scammer their password. Rather than upgrading the victims' accounts, the scammers will simply steal all their items. Scammers may also offer membership in exchange for coins or valuable items, with which they will simply run away. This is a form of trust trading.

Furthermore, there are websites that claim to upgrade players' accounts to members status for a smaller fee than what Jagex charges. These sites will simply take the victim's fee, then log into their account and take their in-game items as well.

If you wish to purchase membership with your in-game wealth, the safest way to do so is by purchasing a Bond on the Grand Exchange.

Real-world trading

Aside from violating the Rules of RuneScape and risking a permanent ban, players who engage in real-world trading may find themselves at risk of having their accounts compromised. A RWT website may request the victim's email address in order to verify the transaction; using the email address, they will then attempt to guess the victim's recovery questions in order to get their gold back and take all of the victim's items.

Macroing

Similarly to real-world trading, players who use macroing software may have their accounts compromised. A website may offer "undetectable" macroing software that is "guaranteed to work", but actually contains a keylogger, which records any keys the victim presses on their keyboard (such as when logging into RuneScape) and sends them to the website's owners. The owners then use the login information to break into the victim's account.

Warning emails

Players may be sent a warning purporting to be from Jagex, stating that their RuneScape account has been credited with an infraction. It will provide a link that claims to lead to the section of the RuneScape website that will show this offence and allow them to appeal. Needless to say, this link is fake and should not be followed, however convincing the email looks. A few things to watch out for:

The addressee of the email; any real email from Jagex will use your current display name to address you, however a scammer will not know this.

The email address the email is sent from; if the email has come via another address, it's not legitimate.

The offence you've been accused of; if you know you have not botted, been involved in RWT/advertised a gold site and you're being accused of it, then chances are it's a scam.

you have not botted, been involved in RWT/advertised a gold site and you're being accused of it, then chances are it's a scam. Look for the domain at the end of the email; Jagex uses the domain "@email.runescape.com" OR "@e.runescape.com" to send email, any other domain is fake (such as "@jagex.com, @runescape.com, etc).

Hover your mouse over any link in the mail and look in your left bottom corner of the screen. The link you are hovering on will display the real site you are going to visit. This sometimes is still close from the real link Jagex would use, so be careful.

If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of the email, then you can check your account status without following the link in it. Go to the main RuneScape website in another tab, either via your bookmark or the URL, log in there and check the account status section of account settings.

Scams related to player killing

Because players who are killed in the Wilderness drop all their items upon death, it is common for scammers to attempt to lure unsuspecting victims into the Wilderness, wherein they can be killed by the scammers. Scammers may also trick a player into thinking that their item(s) are safe in the Wilderness, when they are actually lost upon death for one reason or another.

Note that these scams may also apply to the dangerous Free-For-All Clan Wars battlefield, wherein no items are kept on death except one item if Protect Item is activated.

Clan Wars, specifically Red Portal luring, is one of the most popular methods of scamming. It is a lure having to do with the dangerous portal at Clan Wars. The lure involves a victim, the lurer or talker, and the killer; a second lurer is sometimes involved thus making a victim, two lurers, and the killer. A player with no armour (the lurer) asks someone with relatively expensive armour (the victim) to come into the dangerous portal to kill them. After the lurer says that to the soon-to-be victim, they private message the killer that the victim is attacking them. Then, the killer rushes in and freezes the victim with ice spells followed by various stunning abilities like Impact and Destroy to finish the victim off. The lurer and killer then grab the victim's armour and carried items. Legitimate players won't ask to be killed in the dangerous Red Portal. [source needed]

Also in the dangerous Red Portal, lurers can lure players by persuading the victim and trading the victim some Telegrab runes and drop an amount of money, which is usually around 10,000 since it looks like millions when dropped, in the dangerous zone. First, the lurer shows that it is safe to obtain the money by dropping a low amount of coins or a cheap item there and lets the victim tele-grab it, or said lurer has the victim demonstrate this in the safe White Portal. Afterwards, the lurer claims that they will drop a large amount of money or an item with high value. Instead of dropping the money or item near the portal, however, the lurer drops it behind a tree at the edge of the arena on the east or west side. Next, the unsuspecting victim tele-grabs the money or item, but because it's behind the tree, they will automatically run into the dangerous zone, tele-grab and get killed upon entering the dangerous zone. The killer typically uses magic after the victim is frozen or stunned. Therefore, the player would lose all of their carried items and armour upon death.

After an update, examining a stack of coins on the ground will show the exact number of coins there are, diminishing the effectiveness of the scam.

Purple portal scam

There is also another type of lure commonly found in the Purple portal section of Clan Wars. In this type of lure, there's almost always an ancient mage or ranger with some wealth and good gear and most importantly, a low-level lurer. Like the aforementioned Red portal lure, you'll be befriended and persuaded by this lurer into Clan Wars with the intention of anti-luring someone, which will turn out to be the lurer's friend in the end. Your so-called friend will challenge the second lurer and send you to your ultimate doom. You'll face some high-level mages who use Ice Barrage and/or other freezing spells and stun abilities to quickly kill you in seconds with no food or Prayer. They'll get all your carried wealth and split it among them.

The Peach Lure

This lure was named after the person who created it. It takes place in the purple portal, and involves the use of clone, or 'dupe' accounts (accounts with almost identical looking names) in order to deceive victims. The backbone of this lure is relying on the victim believing that they are safe upon entering the purple portal, as once a game starts players have 2 minutes before combat can begin. This illusion is sold with clone account names. The victim is told that they are anti luring, and only have to step into the purple portal right at the beginning to show that they have their expensive item(s). Keep in mind that the first 2 minutes are safe, and a player can enter for a few seconds and exit once again via the portal. The victim thinks that they will enter, show their rare items, and then exit and bank them to ensure that they are not lured. However, the victim joins the friends chat of a clone account thinking it is the same person in front of them. For instance, let's suppose Lurer A is named Hal2O9. When you type that name in to join their friends chat, you actually join Hal209, because it is natural to assume that its 209 rather than 2-the capital letter 'o'-9. So, the victim thinks that the person they are with (Hal2o9) is the same as the friends chat they have joined (Hal209). The victim watches the fake Hal in front of them challenge the person that is supposed to get anti-lured. They both join into a clan wars game, and the victim naturally supposes that the game has just started, and that they have 2 whole minutes to enter briefly, show off their item and leave before any danger can occur. The trick of this lure is that the Hal's friend chat that you are actually in (Hal209) has already started a game long before, and a team is waiting right at the entrance to kill the player instantly upon entering. So from the victims eyes, they watch the Hal2O9 start a game, and goes to enter that game, but instead enters another game where the 2 minute timer has already expired, and is killed instantly.

Protect Item scam

A scammer will approach a victim who owns a valuable item and ask to fight them in the Wilderness. The scammer will recommend that the victim bank every item except the valuable item, and use the Protect Item prayer or curse to keep their sole item safe. After the victim attacks the scammer, the scammer will initiate some form of prayer drain, such as Smite, or Soul Split, to drain the victim's prayer points and deactivate Protect Item. The scammer will then kill the victim and take their item.

Redemption variation

The scammer may also ask the victim to activate the Redemption prayer along with Protect Item. However, once the victim's life points are reduced to 10% of maximum, Redemption will activate, heal the victim, and drain all their prayer points, deactivating Protect Item.

Suggested action: Never turn Redemption on.

World-switching variation

The scammer may ask the victim to hop worlds together, citing an excuse such as lag or a lack of people in the area. Upon logging back in, the victim's Protect Item prayer or curse will be turned off, and the scammer will attempt to kill the victim as quickly as possible before the victim can reactivate Protect Item.

It is also possible to quick-hop to a high-risk world from within the wilderness, so even 1 itemers with quick reactions are at risk.

Suggested action: Don't hop world if you think you are not fast enough to active Protect Item after you hopped worlds (or at all without checking the type of world being hopped to).

Lava titan lure

A scammer equips a particular set of items that cause their character to glitch, such as a floating cape or stretching head. The scammer claims to victims that the glitch can be replicated by equipping a single item, summoning a lava titan, and using its teleport function. This produces no such glitch; the titan teleports the victim to the entrance of the Lava Maze, in deep Wilderness, where the scammer's accomplices wait to kill the victim and collect their items. High-level players wearing expensive equipment are the most common targets for this lure, as 83 Summoning is required to summon a lava titan. However, on 15 March 2011, a warning message is given when trying to teleport with the lava titan.

Item Lending scam

A scammer will offer to lend an item to a victim, then fight them in the Wilderness. Once the victim is killed, the lent item will be kept over any of the victim's other item(s).

Suggested action: Never accept item lending in wilderness unless you can keep your item after you are lent one item.

Wilderness drop party scam

A scammer will announce a drop party at Daemonheim, then lead everyone south to the Wilderness gate. The scammer will drop an item on the other side of the gate, in the Wilderness, and then kill anyone who enters the Wilderness to take it. The scammer may cast Ice barrage to prevent victims from running also Teleblock to prevent victims from teleporting out.

This scam may also occur in the vicinity of the Wilderness wall.

Suggested action: If you really want to take part in this type of drop party, bank everything before you do so.

Wilderness trading scam

This scam entails luring the victim into deep Wilderness like the Deserted Keep and persuading the victim to purchase a rare for a cheap price. As soon as the victim withdraws their money from the money pouch, they will be unable to put it back and will subsequently get killed for it.

Suggested action: Always venture into the Wilderness with nothing, and never ever withdraw money and/or engage in any trades there. If it's too good to be true, then it isn't!

Tele-group Ice Plateau scam

This scam involves the use of Tele-group Ice Plateau to transport an unsuspecting player into the deep Wilderness, wherein they can be killed by the scammer and any accomplices for their items. Although the spell has a confirmation screen warning players that they are about to teleport into the Wilderness, scammers may attempt to get players to accept the teleport anyway. A scammer may offer a teleport to another location, such as Catherby, and instead cast Tele-group Ice Plateau in the hope that the victim won't notice. A scammer may also enter a populated area such as the Grand Exchange and claim to be hosting a drop party, or giving away valuable items. The scammer will attract a large crowd of players, then cast Tele-group Ice Plateau, telling the crowd that whoever accepts the fastest will receive valuable items.

Suggested action: Never turn Accept aid on unless you are in a dungeoneering party with others or during a boss fight. Also, check the location CAREFULLY before accepting teleport.

Wilderness Tele Tab scam

This scam involves the use of Ancient Magicks tele tablets to teleport an unsuspecting player into the Wilderness, wherein they can be killed by the scammer or any accomplices for their items. The scammer will confront the player and ask them to buy an item from a shop in a remote location, or make up another excuse, to trade them a tele tab either to Dareeyak, Carrallanger, Annakarl, or Ghorrock; all leading to Wilderness. When the player unsuspectingly teleports to wilderness, either the scammer, or an accomplice will kill the player.

Since the requirement to craft Ancient teleport tablets is 300 Deathmatch points, it is not a popular scam.

Suggested action: If any player trades you a teleport tablet, make sure it doesn't lead into any dangerous places before teleporting.

Fake Daily Challenge: "Teleother to Falador X times" scam

It is also a common sight to see someone asking for a help with a daily challenge, for example a Teleother to Falador 17 times. When you agree on helping the scammer, they will teleport you for almost the needed amount of times and when you are reaching the goal, they might start talking about weather or something like that and when you are unsuspecting and have agreed a teleportation for a dozen times, you might start losing focus on what you are actually doing and this is the time when the scammer will try to teleport you to the wilderness. So if you are helping anyone, be careful on where you are being teleported.

There are no Daily Challenges that require a player to Teleother to Falador (or any other location). Therefore anyone asking you to participate in Teleother to Falador (or any other location) to help them with their Daily Challenge, is actually trying to scam you.

Daemonheim Triple Agent Scam

This scam involves the use of the wilderness, Daemonheim, and trust. A player (the triple agent) will tell the victim that they are doing an anti-scam, to essentially scam a scammer. The player will tell the victim they are luring the scammer to them. The scammer will have the victim teleport to Daemonheim and bank everything but one or two valuables. Then they will take them to the Daemonheim wilderness gate. The scammer will invite the victim to a Dungeoneering party, the triple agent says this is so they can see the victim drop items. The triple agent will say they have a method of stealing items from the scammer, who will drop them. The scammer will ask the victim to drop the valuables on the safe side, and then they will drop their items in the wild. The triple agent leads the victim to believe that their items are not at risk since they are on the safe side and can be quickly picked up. This is untrue. The trick of the scam is that the scammer has a friend on the safe side. The triple agent will say they are lying in wait to grab the victim's items, but they are not. When the victim drops their items, the scammer's friend starts a dungeon. And the victim is taken to a dungeon. The scammer and triple agent then are free to pick up their items.

This scam may have lost popularity since Jagex changed the ring of kinship, the 'inspect' action cannot be done outside a dungeon.

Duel Arena Duelling Options Scam

This scam involves your opponent in the duel arena changing the rules before fighting just before you hit accept. For example, you are going to duel with the scammer and your bet is a valuable item. You agree that no food will be used during the fight, but just before you hit the 'accept' button the scammer unticks the 'No Food' option. Of course, the scammer brought food with them and will easily defeat you since you (most likely) didn't bring food yourself. You can avoid this scam by checking the second confirmation screen carefully, just like trade scams. This scam isn't right anymore you can't quick change an option anymore. It will warn you.

The Chaos Tunnel Lure

If you are seen entering the chaos tunnels, a scammer will contact you under pretense of owing you some money and to meet them in Edgevile.

If you return on foot, you will be rushed upon exiting the Chaos Tunnels and entering the wilderness. If you otherwise teleport to the lodestone, the scammer will log off, prompting you to return to your business in the Chaos Tunnels upon which you will get rushed before entering the Chaos Tunnels.

Scams related to misuse of the trade window

While the trade window contains a number of protections to prevent scamming, such as a confirmation screen and a wealth tracker that determines how balanced a trade is, scammers have nonetheless found ways to circumvent these protections and scam players out of money or items.

Money rounding scam

A scammer will offer to round someone's collection of coins up to the nearest million coins in one trade. The victim will offer an amount (for example, 850,000 coins) in trade and the scammer will offer the remainder (in this case, 150,000 coins). However, because this is being done in one trade, the victim will give the scammer 850,000 coins and will receive 150,000 coins in return, resulting in a loss of 700,000 coins for the victim.

This scam can be easily avoided by paying attention to the bottom of the trade window, which will always display the net value of the trade.

Inventory lending scam

A scammer would approach a victim who owns a valuable item, such as Bandos tassets. The scammer would offer to give the victim their own Bandos tassets if the victim lent the scammer their tassets until logout. The scammer would accept on the first screen, but decline on the second, hoping that the victim would not notice the "Other player declined trade." message. If fooled, the victim would believe that they now owned the scammer's tassets, and that their tassets were lent to the scammer. The scammer would then request that the victim trade return "their" tassets to them in trade—in fact, the victim would be giving their own tassets to the scammer, and the scammer would run off with both tassets.

In response to this scam, on 4 January 2012, Jagex made the "Other player declined trade!" message easier to read in the chat box.

Some scammers have continued to use this scam even after the update, by requiring that the victim join their friends chat and set the chat interface to friends chat only. This filters out all game messages, including the "Other player declined trade!" message.

Item dropping/teleport trading scam

A scammer approaches a victim with a valuable item and persuades them to drop it on the floor, claiming knowledge of a glitch that will duplicate the item, or otherwise benefit the victim. Once the item is dropped, the scammer trades the victim a number of seemingly random items, including some teletabs. The scammer claims that if the victim trades back the items in the exact order in which they were given, the glitch will occur. The two will trade again, and the victim will begin offering the items. Once the victim begins offering teleport items, the scammer will decline the trade, hoping that the victim accidentally left-clicks a teletab and activates it, teleporting away. The scammer is then free to pick up the victim's item once it appears for them on the ground.

This scam may also be used without the element of a dropped item - for example, "if you trade these items back in this exact order, I'll give you 5M". While the victim won't lose any money or items in this instance, it will still teleport them away, to their annoyance.

Note that in RuneScape 3 using the new interface, your inventory will appear right next to the trading window when you start trading, almost always in a different spot than your "real" inventory is, making the scam fairly obsolete. Players should still be wary, though.

Spirit shard scam

A scammer will ask the victim to purchase a large quantity of spirit shards from an in-game Summoning shop for 25 coins each, then sell them to them. However, the Grand Exchange value of a spirit shard is almost always below 25 coins, typically 23 or 24. The scammer will buy the shards for their market price, instead of 25 coins each, and the trade window will report that the trade is even. The victim will lose 1 or 2 coins per spirit shard in this manner. (The scammer then sells the shards at the pet shop.)

It is easy to avoid this scam, as all players can easily purchase a near-unlimited number of spirit shards from Summoning shops. Therefore there is no legitimate need for a player to ask another player to buy them spirit shards.

Rapid trading scam

A scammer will offer a victim a trade that is either fair or beneficial for the victim, such as replacing one set of armour with a more expensive set. However, the scammer will claim that their game is lagging and the trade needs to be performed quickly. The scammer will offer an expensive armour set, but then decline the trade and blame it on lag. In the next trade window, the scammer will offer an inexpensive armour set, such as iron, hoping that the victim is too excited about getting a good deal to carefully check the trade window. The end result is that the victim is scammed out of their armour set. This is related to Item-switching scam.

Example of transaction (The words in () are explanation, they aren't said out):

Player 1: Selling 100 torstol seeds for 10m!(~50% cheaper price since 1 Torstol seed is ~200k each)

Player 2: I will buy!

Player 1 and Player 2 trade

Player 1 offers 100 torstol seeds

Player 2 offers 10m

Player 1 declined trade, usually 1 to 3 seconds after player 2 offered the coins(10m in this case)

Player 1: OMG my client, too laggy! You must perform the trade more quickly!

Player 1 and Player 2 trade again

Player 1 offers 100 Torstol seeds

Player 2 offers 10m

Player 1 declined trade again

Player 1: As I said, my client is very laggy!

Player 1 and Player 2 trade again

Player 1 offers 100 Guam seeds(Guam seed is usually <10 gp each, they look the same as Torstol seed)

Player 2 offers 10m(From now on, Player 2 will accept the trade as soon as possible, they aren't aware of the item switching done by player 1)

Both players accepted trade, Player 1 then logs off, leaving Player 2 with 100 Guam seeds

Just click "W" scam

The scammer will ask the victim to test an alleged glitch (usually involving an exploit that doubles any items in the trade screen), by telling the victim to offer coins and valuable items in the trade window. The scammer will then ask the victim to accept once and keep clicking on the "W" in "Wealth transfer" in the first trade window. The key to this scam is the fact that the "W" in "Wealth transfer" is in the same spot as the "Accept" button in the second trade window. The scammer hopes that the victim will click the "W" as fast as possible, and accidentally click "Accept" on the second trade screen, inadvertently giving the scammer all of their valuables.

Inventory showing scam

A scammer may offer a free valuable item to the victim if they show their inventory to the scammer. The scammer will then press Accept and hope that the victim accepts as well; the victim will transfer their inventory of items to the scammer in exchange for one valuable item. Scammers will decline the trade if the item they offer is worth more than the victim's inventory.

A common variant of this scam involves the scammer exclaiming "Quitting rs, will give 10 percent of what you show", in the hopes that you trade a large amount of wealth for 10 percent of it. The scammer will decline if the victim removes the money from the trade.

Price misrepresentation

A scammer may offer to sell an item to a player at a price that does not reflect its true value. This is one of the oldest scams in the game; as far back as RuneScape Classic, scammers were attempting to sell players "rare black lobsters" that were in fact burnt lobsters. In this example, the scammers were inflating the item's price far beyond its true price. In another example, scammers may attempt to sell an item that is rapidly falling in value for one reason or another for the GE market price. This scam is VERY COMMON after the release of Player-owned Ports, the tradeable item from that minigame is falling rapidly in price.

With the release of the Grand Exchange, this scam is more difficult to pull off, as each item's value can quickly be assessed in-game, on the RuneScape website, or on the Grand Exchange Market Watch.

Related to the above scam, one item whose price is inflated is weapon poison (2 dose), which is very expensive for its actual value, so don't accept anybody offering this item.

In 2013, after the release of Vorago, the tectonic armour was being considered a viral scam across World 2 grand exchange. Its set was 450,000,000 market price, though it began to crash by 36% every two weeks due to its non-repairable state, leaving the entire sets value at 90,000,000 coins after a period of time. Thus giving the advantage for scammers to purchase with their tectonic sets for higher price items.

Item-switching scam

Related to the rapid trading scam, a scammer will offer to trade a valuable item, such as a set of Dharok's Barrows equipment. However, the scammer will decline the trade and blame it on lag or a mis-click, then send another trade request. This time, the scammer will offer a much less valuable but similar-looking item in the trade window, such as a set of bronze armour, hoping the victim doesn't notice. The victim pays the price of Dharok's set for a set of bronze armour.

This scam can be avoided by carefully checking both the first and second trade windows to see exactly which items are being traded.

This scam has historically been popular with multiple item combinations, such as:

More examples may be found here.

"Turning 1M into 11M" scam

In this scam, a scammer will offer to turn a victim's pile of 1 million coins into 11 million coins in one trade. Instead, the scammer will offer 111K coins. This scam is difficult to fall for as the trade window will warn the victim that they are giving away 889,000 coins in wealth.

Also, in this case, 11M will be shown in green text, 111K will be shown in white text.

Miscellaneous scams

Interview Scam

While this is a rare scam that is hard to pull off, it can be very costly and hard to detect. One person, generally mid-level, will ask you for an in-game interview to make a video or answer questions. While this person is supposedly recording, their partner will walk up and start bugging you to be in the video. The person who is interviewing you will begin world hopping or teleporting to lose this annoying player, and ask you to follow them. Eventually, they will teleport you to the wilderness or a dangerous game, and say that you should have the second person follow you. You will lead them into the wilderness, with the intention to kill them or teleport, and they will both attack you, killing you and taking your items.

Drop to double scam

A scammer will tell a victim that if they drop an item in a certain place and leaves it for a while, it will duplicate, and the victim will receive two of them. They will often say that it can only be done once a week or once a month to create an incentive to drop an expensive item, or say that it only works for an expensive item. The scammer will then spam the victim with Teleother menus in order to prevent the victim from picking up their item; once the item appears to other players, the scammer will pick it up, or have an accomplice pick it up.

This scam will not work on players who keep Accept Aid turned off. However, there is always a risk when dropping expensive items, as lag, or loss of connection may prevent the victim from retrieving their item in time.

Quitting/giving away account scam

A scammer will claim that they are quitting the game and giving away their account, in the hopes that the victim will transfer all their items and money to their new, higher-level account. If the victim doesn't bother to change the new account's password, recovery questions, and email address, the scammer will change the account's password and steal all of the victim's transferred items.

It is against the RuneScape rules to receive or purchase an account from another player.

Armour trimming

One of the oldest scams still in existence, the armour trimming scam involves a scammer offering to trim a victim's suit of armour for free, most often rune armour. Players cannot trim armour, and anyone offering to trim armour should be reported for item scamming. Trimmed armour is only available as a reward from Treasure Trails or from trading with other players.

Team scamming

Two scammers will work together for this scam. One will be selling an item for a high price, higher than its market value, and another will claim to be buying the same item for an even higher price. An unsuspecting victim will buy the item from the first scammer at an inflated price, hoping to sell it to the second scammer for a profit. However, after the victim buys the item, both scammers will leave, resulting in a loss for the victim.

Alt+F4/Ctrl+W/F5 scam

A scammer will tell a victim that if they drop their items and presses a specific keyboard shortcut, the items will duplicate. The keyboard shortcut is usually one that closes the browser window (in the case of Alt+F4 or Ctrl+W) or refreshes the page (in the case of F5). While the victim is attempting to log back in, the scammer will pick up the victim's items.

Players can avoid this scam by not executing keyboard shortcuts with which they are unfamiliar, although most browsers display a confirmation box when attempting to refresh or exit from the window.

However, the confirmation box won't be shown if you are using the Legacy desktop client of RS.

Fake drop party scam

Although fairly uncommon, a scammer may claim to be trying to start a drop party, and encourage victims to drop their items. The scammer will then simply take the victims' items and leave.

Player-owned house kicking scam

A scammer may bring a victim into their player-owned house and ask to conduct a trade by placing items on a table. Because placing an item on the table is equivalent to dropping it, the scammer will be able to kick the victim from their house, lock the entrance portal, and take the item.

This scam may have lost popularity since players are given a warning before they drop items in others' player-owned house.

Silent scam

Although rarely seen, this scam is difficult to report. Scammers will hang out in populated areas and try to find people who want to have their money doubled (see the doubling money scam). The scammer will trade the victim, take their money, and log out. The victim will be unable to report the scammer because the modern report system requires players to right-click on other players with "Right-click Reporting" enabled, or to right-click on a message that player has said in chat. If a "silent scammer" has not sent any messages and logs out immediately after the trade, they cannot be reported.

Grand Exchange trading scam

A scammer asks a victim to buy them a certain number of a certain item in the Grand Exchange at a price above the item's market value; the scammer promises to compensate the victim for the extra coins paid for the items. However, the scammer is selling the same items on the Grand Exchange for their market value, and they profit when the victim buys them. The scammer then logs out, leaving the victim with a loss.

This scam is difficult to perform except in particularly specialised markets, as the items the victim buys may not be the same items that the scammer is selling.

Duel Arena trading scam

A scammer will simply spot someone with an expensive armour set or weapons and will ask them to help the scammer train in the duel arena in exchange of an amount of money like 1m or 2m. The scammer will then ask the victim to remove their armour and will trade them the amount and then decline the trade. They will then ask the player to show their inventory in the trade to see how many inventory spaces they have to give them food. The scammer will then trade the player back and show the money they promised to the player, then they will wait for the player to put all of their items in the trade and the scammer will then put the food in and accept the trade hoping the other player didn't notice that the scammer got all of their stuff inside the trade.

Helping For Free Scam

The scammer will say things like "99 smithing assistance" etc, and when someone offers them to help them they will mostly want the victim to help them create something expensive like a rune platebody. When the victim trades the scammer, the scammer will offer coins in 2 trades but once the scammer gets the rune platebody, they will teleport or log out leaving the victim with cash wasted. This can be avoided if wanting to make the offer in 1 trade or simply not giving the scammer what they want.

Discontinued scams

Due to a number of updates, some scams have been rendered obsolete or difficult/impossible to execute.

Dice game

In the dice game, a dice bag was used to roll dice (usually percentile dice), with the resulting number being broadcast to the host's friends chat. If the number rolled was over a set number, the player won; if it was below, the host won. The player was generally rewarded with 2x their money for a winning roll; however, the odds of winning were frequently 45% or lower. Some dicing clans became very rich due to the game being stacked in their favour. Although Jagex removed the ability to roll dice on 15 November 2011, the dicing game is still occasionally played on IRC (see above).

Some hosts would scam their players by switching dice before rolling; for example, a host would switch to a twenty-sided dice instead of percentile dice, which would always roll 20 or below. The house would always win in this manner, as players needed to roll above a given number (such as 55) in order to win.

Horsey game

Just like dicing, the host would advertise their "horsey game" with text such as " HNC game!!! X3!!!! ".

HNC stands for the beginning of the letters of the possible outcomes while playing with the horsey. The victim would place a bet, then choose a letter in order to choose one of the possible phrases. Once the host has a bet placed, they would then play with the horsey, randomly saying one of three phrases:

"Hi-ho Silver, and away!"

"Neighhh! Giddy-up horsey!"

"Come on Dobbin, we can win the race!"

If the player guessed which of the phrases would appear, they earned 3x their bet.

On 13 January 2012, Jagex updated the toy horsey to only say "Just say neigh to gambling!" when it is played with.

Gnomeball scam/lure

A scammer would find a player with an item with a very high market value, but a very low High Level Alchemy value. Such items include partyhats, Santa hats, and halloween masks. The scammer would ask the victim to come to the Wilderness or dangerous Clan Wars with their valuable item, and to activate Protect Item to make them feel safe. The scammer and victim would then fight, and once the victim was low on health, the scammer would throw a gnomeball at the victim, who would catch it and automatically wield it. This was possible even when Accept Aid was turned off. Because the gnomeball's alchemy value would be higher than the victim's expensive item, the victim would keep the gnomeball on death and lose the valuable item.

An update on 19 April 2011 changed the system by which items are kept on death. As items are now kept on death according to their market prices instead of their alchemy values, this scam is completely obsolete.

Flower game

It is no longer possible for someone to scam with this because the seeds will always grow into a white flower.

A host will accept a bet, ask the player to guess a colour, and plant a mithril seed to grow flowers. The host offers a payout to players who correctly guess the colour(s) of the flowers that grow. The colours are red, blue, yellow, orange, purple, mixed (pastel colours), mixed (red/blue/yellow), black, and white. However, black and white flowers are many times more rare than the other seven colours. Various hosts have various policies for black and white flowers; some hosts may automatically award the player a winning payout, some may plant another seed, and some may count it as a win for the house.

According to data found on the flowers article, there is roughly a 1 in 7 chance for a given flower to grow into a specific colour. Therefore, in order for a flower game to be considered fair, the host should offer at least a x7 payout (or seven times the player's bet) to offset the large chance of guessing wrong. Some hosts, however, will offer as low as a x2 payout (or double the player's bet). Even if the host does not run off with bets, this can be considered a scam as the odds are stacked immensely in the host's favour, and against the player.

Hot/cold/frosty

A popular variant of the flower game is the hot/cold game (sometimes abbreviated as h/c). It is similar to the flower game, except that players are asked to guess whether the flowers' colour will be "hot" (red, orange, or yellow) or "cold" (blue, purple, or the pastel mix of colours). Most hosts offer a x2 payout for correctly guessing the flowers' colour group.

Despite appearances, hot/cold games are often rigged in favour of the host. In addition to the three "hot" colours and the three "cold" colours, there is a seventh common flower: the mixed flower consisting of red/blue/yellow flowers. Although the host may state or imply that the player has a 50/50 chance of winning the game, many hosts will simply count a mixed flower as a house win. Therefore, when playing hot/cold, there is a 3/7 (or approximately 42.8%) chance that a player will correctly guess the flowers' colour group, and a 4/7 (or approximately 57.2%) chance that a player will guess the incorrect group or that the red/blue/yellow mixed flower will appear. When the risk of losing is greater than the potential payout, players will tend to lose money when playing hot/cold.

In the case of a frosty gamble, the host has predetermined the type of flower required to receive the reward (Cold flowers). Since cold flowers have been estimated to come up less than 50% of the time (Est. 41%), a gamble for twice the money paid is a scam.

A.B.C./Flower Poker

Games where you have to get closest letter pertaining to the first letter of placed flower closest to the letter a. The order of flower colours is: Black, Blue, Orange, Pastel, Purple, Rainbow, Red, White and Yellow. Most hosts will try to confuse you between Pastel - Red being that most people aren't 100% familiar with their abcs and will trust what the host actually states. Also they could log out and scam you; then, you're left with nothing!

Special

This version of the flower game has the host offer an item reward for which the player is asked pays a lesser amount of coins. Should the player guess the colour/type/etc. of flower correctly, they will receive the item. Like other gambling scams, if the guess is wrong the payment is lost.

The game can easily be rigged, as (assuming a 47/53 chance of winning) the host may ask players to put down more than 1/2 of the item's average cost. A host could just as easily offer specials on items that are falling in price, thus using the game to both profit and get rid of a depreciating item.

Random emote game

It is no longer possible for someone to scam with this, because the emotes have been changed to a single graphic with no variation. This game can be performed with one of a few different emotes, particularly the Seal of Approval, the emote for the classic cape, and the use of an easter ring, wherein a player turns into one of several different-coloured easter eggs. Players are asked to guess the outcome of the emote; in the case of Seal of Approval, players must guess the number on the seal's back, which ranges from one to six; in the case of the classic cape, players must guess whether an axe, a metal bar, or an arrow will appear over the host's head; in the case of the easter egg, there are several different colours of eggs that can result from the transformation.

These games may be considered fair if and only if the host offers a payout that meets the risk of losing. For example, an emote game played with the classic cape would have to offer a x3 payout or better in order to be considered a fair game.

Dungeoneering skillcape variant

The emote game can also be played with a Dungeoneering Cape of Accomplishment. Its emote randomly transforms the wearer into a warrior, ranger, or mage. However, the transformation chosen is affected by the wearer's bonuses to the three attack styles, and scammers can equip items in the ring slot (which do not appear on players' avatars) in order to influence the transformation. (For example, Explorer's ring for magic bonus, Archer ring for ranged bonus, Warrior ring for melee bonus) Since the introduction of the player examine option this scam can be prevented by checking the armour of the wearer (unless if the host has turned on privacy mode).

Middleman gambling/partner

In order to prevent "distrust" between gamblers, the self-proclaimed trustworthy host would stand as a middleman, storing the investment of two playing characters. The winner of the gamble would receive the two payments, minus a 10% cut chosen by the host, allowing them to profit even in the most honest circumstances.

Note: The host could just as easily take the two payments and leave, or one player may actually be a partner of the host taking the invested wealth 50% of the time plus 5% from the host's cut.