Contracts can be used a variety of different ways to mislead other players. Since a contract can have a description, as well as be named whatever you'd like when linking it, you can catch many players off guard.
There are 3 types of contracts you can use for scamming: Auction, Item Exchange, and Courier. Generally speaking, Auction and Item Exchange contracts can be used very similarly. The difference between the two is that an Auction contract is bid on with ISK, while an Item Exchange contract can be any amount of ISK and items traded for any other amount of ISK and items. A courier contract is used to get another player to securely haul goods for you for payment.
Because of the similarities between an Auction and an Item Exchange contract, most scams can be applied to both in similar ways. For simplicity, I will just be describing the various usages you can get out of an Item Exchange contract, and you can modify it to suit an Auction as needed.
1. Item Exchange
When you create a contract, there are two ways that players can find it. First, they can perform a search for a contract that fits their criteria. When scamming, it's generally unlikely that your contract is going to show up in normal searches, so it's not preferred. The easiest way to bring attention to your contract is by dragging it into a chat channel. The added benefit of this is that you can then modify the link text of the contract to whatever you'd like.
To do this, first, create the contract. Once it's created, the final contract will pop up. At the top of the contract window, there will be an icon as well as the contract's title. You can click and drag the icon and drop it into chat. Once it's in the chat, you can modify the display text of the contract however you'd like.
Using an Item Exchange contract to scam
There are endless options when it comes to creating an item exchange contract for scamming. Since you can write any description into a contract, as well as change the linked name in chat, it's not uncommon for a player to overlook the finer details of the contract.
For example, you can use an Item Exchange contract to make it appear that you're selling 2 PLEXes for 510 million ISK, when in reality, it's a single PLEX for 510 million ISK. The process is incredibly simple:
1. First, acquire a PLEX
In this case, having 1 PLEX is crucial to creating the contract.
2. Right click the PLEX and click "Create Contract"
You'll have to find the PLEX in your items list. This will bring up a step by step menu to set the contract up for the scam.
3. Set contract type to "Item Exchange" and leave the availability as public
We'll be using an Item Exchange contract, but it can just as easily be done with an Auction. Once you've confirmed the contract is a public Item Exchange, press next.
4. Make sure the PLEX is selected for the contract
You'll be brought to a page that allows you to select items for the contract. Since you right-clicked the PLEX to create the contract, it should already be selected. Press next.
5. Under "I Will Receive" enter 510,000,000
The amount of ISK you ask for is up to you. 510 million is a good number for current PLEX rates. It makes it seem like you're offering a large discount for buying the two PLEX together.
6. Expiration can be a short or long duration.
A long duration provides you the convenience of not having to place the contract repeatedly during the process of trying to sell it. Placing this contract will cost about 2% of the 510mil, as well as a 1% deposit which you'll receive back.
If you are continually having to set this contract back up, it will cost (at least until you sell it.) Alternatively, if you use a short duration contract, there is always the potential that a player might see the contract has very little time left, and make a hasty decision. This can work in your benefit, but again, it will cost you more initially.
7. Enter the description.
In this case, we want it to seem like we're selling two PLEX, when we only have one. An appropriate description might be "2x PLEX for 510m" This will further contribute to misleading any potential victims.
8. Finalize the contract and begin linking it in various channels.
Drag the contract into an active channel (such as Jita local), Add on any flavor text, "2x PLEX for cheap!", and wait for a bite. The more exposure your contract gets, the more likely it will succeed. Persistence is everything. The more time you have to invest toward spreading your contract around, the more likely it is you will succeed.
Another example involves using a similar named item to pose as another. For example, "Carbon" looks very similar to "Charon" at first glance. Remember when creating a contract like this, it's important to place multiple objects in the contract. The reason for this is because a contract with multiple items will not show individual icons.
If you were to just have a single unit of Carbon in the contract, it would be very apparent because of its icon. Multiple items in the contract creates a list, which will remove all icons entirely. Many people like to create their Carbon contracts with General Freight Containers in them--as if it's a convenience for the buyer.
Many other scams make use of the fact that players can potentially overlook long numbers. For example, you can advertise that you're selling 300,000 units of a mineral, when in reality, you're only selling 30,000 units. If advertised right, there is the potential that it will be overlooked.
Similarly, you can place an Item Exchange contract looking to buy something. Let's say you want to buy a Machariel, which is currently selling for around 700 million ISK. You can place an Item Exchange contract looking to buy one, but only offering 700,000 ISK. Anyone who overlooks this contract has the potential of selling you the ship for 1% of it's current value.
Remember that being creative with contracts will provide the most successful results. Contracts that are rehashed by many players are often easy to detect. The more original and complicated the contract is, the less likely it will be noticed immediately.
Using a Courier contract to scam
Courier contracts can also be used to scam unsuspecting players. A courier contract is used to get another player to haul goods for you from one place to another.
For example, you can use a Courier contract to send a player into deep 0.0 space to a player outpost that won't even allow them to dock. It's important to note that a player cannot see the contents of a Courier contract unless they first accept the courier contract and then try to contract the contents of the contract (this will show them a list of the contents.)
The benefit of this is that you can create a contract of just garbage, such as a few empty freighter containers, to increase the amount of cargo space needed. The person accepting the contract will not know they're hauling empty containers until after they accept the contract (and even then, they might not know they can re-contract the contents to see it.)
An example Courier contract:
1. Purchase a few "General Freight Containers"
These containers take up a lot of space, which will force the person who accepts the contract to use a freighter to haul it. 5 containers should be plenty.
2. Right click on your stack of containers and click "Create Contract"
Note that you do not have to assemble the containers. They can all remain stacked, and they will still take up space.
3. Set contract type to "Courier" and leave the availability as public
4. Make sure the freight containers are selected for the contract.
5. Decide where to ship to
This step can be approach various ways. For example, you can send a pilot to an outpost that is deep in the middle of nowhere, that won't even let them dock. An example station to ship to would be Romulans Prime. This station is located in Z-M5A1, in the Period Basis region. It would be very difficult for a pilot to complete the courier contract.
Alternatively, you could send them to an island high-sec such as a system like Larryn. If you set your destination to Larryn, you can see that the only way to get to this system is by passing through dangerous space. A pilot who is not paying attention might neglect to see that there's no safe way to get there.
6. Reward, Collateral, Days to complete
The reward and collateral should be appealing. Most Courier contracts reward the pilot very little. If you offer above the standards, it's likely that your contract will get a lot more attention. For example, you could offer a 20 million ISK reward, asking for 70 million ISK collateral. What this means is, when they fail to complete the contract, you get to keep their 70 million ISK collateral, and they keep the 5 freight containers.
The expiration time on the contract should be set very high. There's no downside to having a longer contract, and it saves you the time of having to constantly re-create it.
The "Days to complete" field should be set very low. 1 day is fine in almost every instance. The emphasis is on difficulty involved in completing the Courier contract. It's certainly possible that the person who has accepted the contract can eventually figure out some way to complete it, but you can limit that by restricting the amount of time they have. So, given less days to complete means less time to come up with the necessary resources or planning to complete the contract.
It's important to find a good balance between reward and collateral. On one hand, too much collateral might scare some players off, or they simply might not have enough ISK to cover it. In addition to that, if you offer too high of a reward, it might stand out too much, causing them to investigate the contract a little too thoroughly. You want to entice your victim, not alert them. Plus, if they do happen to complete the contract, you're paying them the full reward.
Remember that contracts are very open ended and you can apply these scams and many more using the same principles. The potential is endless.
You might be noticing that loan contracts aren't covered here. It wasn't a mistake. Loan contracts are not something you should ever use to scam with. View the Legality page in Chapter 1 for more information.
This page last updated: 2010.02.25
There are 3 types of contracts you can use for scamming: Auction, Item Exchange, and Courier. Generally speaking, Auction and Item Exchange contracts can be used very similarly. The difference between the two is that an Auction contract is bid on with ISK, while an Item Exchange contract can be any amount of ISK and items traded for any other amount of ISK and items. A courier contract is used to get another player to securely haul goods for you for payment.
Because of the similarities between an Auction and an Item Exchange contract, most scams can be applied to both in similar ways. For simplicity, I will just be describing the various usages you can get out of an Item Exchange contract, and you can modify it to suit an Auction as needed.
1. Item Exchange
When you create a contract, there are two ways that players can find it. First, they can perform a search for a contract that fits their criteria. When scamming, it's generally unlikely that your contract is going to show up in normal searches, so it's not preferred. The easiest way to bring attention to your contract is by dragging it into a chat channel. The added benefit of this is that you can then modify the link text of the contract to whatever you'd like.
To do this, first, create the contract. Once it's created, the final contract will pop up. At the top of the contract window, there will be an icon as well as the contract's title. You can click and drag the icon and drop it into chat. Once it's in the chat, you can modify the display text of the contract however you'd like.
Using an Item Exchange contract to scam
There are endless options when it comes to creating an item exchange contract for scamming. Since you can write any description into a contract, as well as change the linked name in chat, it's not uncommon for a player to overlook the finer details of the contract.
For example, you can use an Item Exchange contract to make it appear that you're selling 2 PLEXes for 510 million ISK, when in reality, it's a single PLEX for 510 million ISK. The process is incredibly simple:
1. First, acquire a PLEX
In this case, having 1 PLEX is crucial to creating the contract.
2. Right click the PLEX and click "Create Contract"
You'll have to find the PLEX in your items list. This will bring up a step by step menu to set the contract up for the scam.
3. Set contract type to "Item Exchange" and leave the availability as public
We'll be using an Item Exchange contract, but it can just as easily be done with an Auction. Once you've confirmed the contract is a public Item Exchange, press next.
4. Make sure the PLEX is selected for the contract
You'll be brought to a page that allows you to select items for the contract. Since you right-clicked the PLEX to create the contract, it should already be selected. Press next.
5. Under "I Will Receive" enter 510,000,000
The amount of ISK you ask for is up to you. 510 million is a good number for current PLEX rates. It makes it seem like you're offering a large discount for buying the two PLEX together.
6. Expiration can be a short or long duration.
A long duration provides you the convenience of not having to place the contract repeatedly during the process of trying to sell it. Placing this contract will cost about 2% of the 510mil, as well as a 1% deposit which you'll receive back.
If you are continually having to set this contract back up, it will cost (at least until you sell it.) Alternatively, if you use a short duration contract, there is always the potential that a player might see the contract has very little time left, and make a hasty decision. This can work in your benefit, but again, it will cost you more initially.
7. Enter the description.
In this case, we want it to seem like we're selling two PLEX, when we only have one. An appropriate description might be "2x PLEX for 510m" This will further contribute to misleading any potential victims.
8. Finalize the contract and begin linking it in various channels.
Drag the contract into an active channel (such as Jita local), Add on any flavor text, "2x PLEX for cheap!", and wait for a bite. The more exposure your contract gets, the more likely it will succeed. Persistence is everything. The more time you have to invest toward spreading your contract around, the more likely it is you will succeed.
Another example involves using a similar named item to pose as another. For example, "Carbon" looks very similar to "Charon" at first glance. Remember when creating a contract like this, it's important to place multiple objects in the contract. The reason for this is because a contract with multiple items will not show individual icons.
If you were to just have a single unit of Carbon in the contract, it would be very apparent because of its icon. Multiple items in the contract creates a list, which will remove all icons entirely. Many people like to create their Carbon contracts with General Freight Containers in them--as if it's a convenience for the buyer.
Many other scams make use of the fact that players can potentially overlook long numbers. For example, you can advertise that you're selling 300,000 units of a mineral, when in reality, you're only selling 30,000 units. If advertised right, there is the potential that it will be overlooked.
Similarly, you can place an Item Exchange contract looking to buy something. Let's say you want to buy a Machariel, which is currently selling for around 700 million ISK. You can place an Item Exchange contract looking to buy one, but only offering 700,000 ISK. Anyone who overlooks this contract has the potential of selling you the ship for 1% of it's current value.
Remember that being creative with contracts will provide the most successful results. Contracts that are rehashed by many players are often easy to detect. The more original and complicated the contract is, the less likely it will be noticed immediately.
Using a Courier contract to scam
Courier contracts can also be used to scam unsuspecting players. A courier contract is used to get another player to haul goods for you from one place to another.
For example, you can use a Courier contract to send a player into deep 0.0 space to a player outpost that won't even allow them to dock. It's important to note that a player cannot see the contents of a Courier contract unless they first accept the courier contract and then try to contract the contents of the contract (this will show them a list of the contents.)
The benefit of this is that you can create a contract of just garbage, such as a few empty freighter containers, to increase the amount of cargo space needed. The person accepting the contract will not know they're hauling empty containers until after they accept the contract (and even then, they might not know they can re-contract the contents to see it.)
An example Courier contract:
1. Purchase a few "General Freight Containers"
These containers take up a lot of space, which will force the person who accepts the contract to use a freighter to haul it. 5 containers should be plenty.
2. Right click on your stack of containers and click "Create Contract"
Note that you do not have to assemble the containers. They can all remain stacked, and they will still take up space.
3. Set contract type to "Courier" and leave the availability as public
4. Make sure the freight containers are selected for the contract.
5. Decide where to ship to
This step can be approach various ways. For example, you can send a pilot to an outpost that is deep in the middle of nowhere, that won't even let them dock. An example station to ship to would be Romulans Prime. This station is located in Z-M5A1, in the Period Basis region. It would be very difficult for a pilot to complete the courier contract.
Alternatively, you could send them to an island high-sec such as a system like Larryn. If you set your destination to Larryn, you can see that the only way to get to this system is by passing through dangerous space. A pilot who is not paying attention might neglect to see that there's no safe way to get there.
6. Reward, Collateral, Days to complete
The reward and collateral should be appealing. Most Courier contracts reward the pilot very little. If you offer above the standards, it's likely that your contract will get a lot more attention. For example, you could offer a 20 million ISK reward, asking for 70 million ISK collateral. What this means is, when they fail to complete the contract, you get to keep their 70 million ISK collateral, and they keep the 5 freight containers.
The expiration time on the contract should be set very high. There's no downside to having a longer contract, and it saves you the time of having to constantly re-create it.
The "Days to complete" field should be set very low. 1 day is fine in almost every instance. The emphasis is on difficulty involved in completing the Courier contract. It's certainly possible that the person who has accepted the contract can eventually figure out some way to complete it, but you can limit that by restricting the amount of time they have. So, given less days to complete means less time to come up with the necessary resources or planning to complete the contract.
It's important to find a good balance between reward and collateral. On one hand, too much collateral might scare some players off, or they simply might not have enough ISK to cover it. In addition to that, if you offer too high of a reward, it might stand out too much, causing them to investigate the contract a little too thoroughly. You want to entice your victim, not alert them. Plus, if they do happen to complete the contract, you're paying them the full reward.
Remember that contracts are very open ended and you can apply these scams and many more using the same principles. The potential is endless.
You might be noticing that loan contracts aren't covered here. It wasn't a mistake. Loan contracts are not something you should ever use to scam with. View the Legality page in Chapter 1 for more information.
This page last updated: 2010.02.25