The OSRS Newbie Guide to Avoiding Scams

How to guard yourself against getting tricked

In any MMO you may play, there’s always the possibility of running into people who want to get the good stuff the “easy way”. Oftentimes, they trick others out of their hard-earned currency such as OSRS gold or even ask to duplicate or do something impossible to your item just so they can steal it. That includes tinting, upgrading, or enhancing your equipment. One specific example in Old School RuneScape is asking for raw materials that they’ll refine for you.

To protect yourself from these unscrupulous characters, here are some tips to consider.

If It Seems Too Good To Be True, It Is

Many scammers rely on the promise of a great deal while asking almost nothing in return. Examples include:

  • Duplicating your item
  • Upgrade/enchant/enhance it
  • Tint or recolor your item
  • Refining your raw materials (most commonly done with cutting gems)

While the middle two may be possible for other games, it isn’t in Old School RuneScape. Be aware of what’s actually possible to do in the game! Awareness makes you less likely to fall for this kind of scam. Now, the last one is possible and legal, but you might wonder why it’s included.

Some players might ask for your rare materials ostensibly to refine them. However, they might not have the right skill level for doing that. You can check this by looking up their name on the high-scores list. If they don’t have the levels, they’re likely to just scam you of the mats. You may ask for collateral for some insurance in this kind of trade.

Knowing Is Half The Battle

Know the Prices of Items. Many scam methods rely on newbies not knowing the price of items to steal gold or the item from unwitting victims. Scammers might overprice an item while advertising that they sell below the market value. Beginners would think they’re getting good prices when the items are actually worth much less from the Grand Exchange.

GE prices are usually considered the item’s market price, so check prices often using the market price tracker or value calculator. Always be suspicious of players selling outside of the GE. Some might actually be legitimate trades, though those are unlikely.

Never Trust ‘Trust Trades’ and Always Check the Trade Window Before Accepting

Despite the word appearing in the name, you should never trust these kinds of trades. They are the easiest to fall for. Even your clan friend might decide to do this to you! Methods that fall under this category include:

  • 10% Money Scam
  • Offering to do a service (gem cutting, producing an item from your materials)
  • Offering information
  • Rounding Money
  • OSRS gold to RS3 gold trading

They’ll likely just run off/teleport or log out once they get your items or Old School RuneScape gold. For the first, the scammer says they’ll ‘give you 10% of the stack you show me’. You open up a trade and show your stack, the other party shows the ten percent of your stack. You accept the trade, but forget that your stack is still in the window. You get a tenth of your stack and the scammer gets the rest.

For the second method, asking for collateral will deter scammers so remember to do so. The third method is quite redundant since you can just search up whatever you need on the internet. Lastly, the fourth works like the 10% scam, where a player offers to round your stack into a million. Say you give them a stack of 900k gold. They offer 100k to get a million, and you accept the trade, forgetting that your stack is still on the window. You lose 800k gold to the scammer and they run off.

Always check the trade window, and pay attention to the warning that appears.

For the Old School RS to RS3 gold trading, it’s a service to trade a certain amount of OSRS gold to get the same amount of RS3 gold. This is a service some player-to-player marketplaces (where you can buy or sell OSRS gold) offer. You can also obviously see why it’s quite easy to get scammed with this kind of trade.

Never Drop Your Items When Asked

Scammers can exploit glitches that prevent you from picking up what you’ve dropped. Usually, this happens in the Wilderness. Sometimes they lure you out into an instanced location (to ‘prevent interruptions’) for a ‘giveaway’ where they ask you to drop your items. They stall to ‘confirm’ the dropped items, and then suddenly kick you out of the instance. That leaves them free to pick everything left behind!

Otherwise, they’ll say they can duplicate a dropped item. They’ll give you some items including some teleport runes. Then, they’ll say that if you trade the items back in the same order the glitch triggers and clones your item. They’ll suddenly cancel the second trade, most likely making you activate a teleport. That leaves the scammer free to pick up your dropped item.

Just don’t. Don’t drop your items when someone asks.

Pay Attention to Locations

Anyone who offers to meet up someplace else to trade could have deceptive intentions. Locations like the Wilderness, Draymore Village, Entrana, and Brimhaven are the worst offenders.

First, the Wilderness is a PvP area. A friend or alternate account of the scammer can just attack and kill you to get at your items. They even have strategies to get at your protected items. Second, Draymore Village has hostile jail guards that can kill lower-leveled characters. Scammers can lure newbies into these guards and loot in the aftermath. Third, Entrana has an exit that leads to the Wilderness. Also, it’s the location for a few other scamming methods. The last one, Brimhaven, is where aggressive tribesmen live. The same goes for Draymore, lower-leveled characters don’t survive encounters with them.

Read up on locations and what you can expect in them. Avoid areas you can’t survive in. Generally, be suspicious of those who want to meet up somewhere else.

Conclusions

While this article might turn you off of trading altogether, you should be safe as long as you keep these tips these tips in mind. Not everyone is out to deceive and lie to others. Don’t be afraid to make friends and trade with them. Just be cautious and careful of where and what you’re trading. The safety of your items and OSRS gold is in your hands. As an added warning, be careful when you buy OSRS gold. That’s another avenue of attack by scammers. Be vigilant and cautious.

Don’t let the minority keep you from enjoying the game! Have fun on your adventure in Gielinor!

Featured Snippet

Tips on how to avoid getting scammed:

  • If it’s too good to be true, it is
  • Know the prices of items
  • Never trust ‘trust trades’ and always check the trade window
  • Never drop your items when asked
  • Pay attention to locations