You'd be surprised... (Destiny)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Friday, July 24, 2015, 17:26 (3647 days ago) @ Xenos

Extorting money out of people is easier than you think.

I've been paid to help people get things that they want in games (all within the ToS, of course), and I've seen people offer money and codes in exchange for help. It would be ridiculously easy to take advantage of at least a few of the countless kids on XBL by asking for their login info, codes, or CC#s, and exploiting them.

Heck, go to the LFG sites, and you'll see people offering "pro" services in exchange for money.

If you fish in a lake with hundreds of thousands of hungry fish, you're bound to get a few bites.

Everyone is misinterpreting what I'm saying. I'm FULLY aware of people extorting people online. But the guarantees are always too good to be true kind of offers. "Guaranteed Gjallahorn! $30!" (obviously an exaggerated example) might cause people to thrown down money because they are desperate (and don't understand how impossible that is). But the specific example of "Your choice of 3 nightfall drops $5." I just don't see drawing people's attention. It's not a guarantee of anything, and even if you don't think they are trying to scam you, you still would 99% of the time come out with something you didn't want. I KNOW some people would pay for it, but not even close to the degree of the examples everyone on here is throwing around (especially buying gold in WoW, that's almost 100% guaranteed).

Made a trade in Warframe once with a kid. I offered him a great deal for a super-expensive item, then casually tricked him into screwing himself over (he paid up front for the entire trade, while I initially gave him the cheap components of the trade). It was ridiculously easy, and I only did that to see if he actually would fall for it. Of course, I kept my word and gave him the expensive part because I'm not that evil, but he blindly trusted me. Didn't even stop to question the logic of the deal because I was real friendly and casual.

Now imagine doing that online. Join an LFG group (mostly kids on XBL in my experience), help them out, then offer one of them a wonderful deal ($10 for three nightfalls with my friend! Nine chances at exotics!). Heck, it doesn't even have to be kids. I've had adults in Warframe pay me Platinum to ferry them through missions. If you add a trade economy, it's ridiculously easy to exploit. I say that because I've seen that happen.