All I got was a few lousy pixels….
Like any good scam, someone profits. Previously, you might not have been aware of the full story behind Neopian scams. You might think some hacking kid broke into your account for some pixels…you would be wrong. They cookie grabbed your account so they could make some quick cash. I’ll break it down how it happens.
Sites that sell neopoints and accounts for cash hire young scammers to pull in the NP flow. They don’t sell anything legitimately earned, they will cookie grab your account and take what they want out of it. They aren’t even interested in playing neopets.
After they have managed to compile a list of users accounts, they can split up and sell off a portion of the account list off to willing buyers (everyone loves to profit). Those buyers go into the accounts, sometimes even weeks after the person has been compromised to obtain the NP and items. (This is why it is important to change your passwords often).
Once the NP has been racked up, they report back to their employer (a neopoints selling site). The scammers get paid for doing their duty, and providing the funds for the site. The employer (owner of the site) then has willing buyers to purchase the NP and put it back into the market. The site claims to be very open with it’s buyers, and tells them the risks involved in purchasing the NP. They claim adults with busy schedules and no time to play the games will buy the NP so they can enjoy the site. They also claim to have famous stars as clients that will pay for the NP. (Yes, even stars can be scum that don’t care if you lost a few of your hard earned points, just so they can play around on neopets for a few hours).
This is not a new scam though. This scam has been in the works for years. It’s entirely against the neopets terms and conditions, but neopets legal does not step in. They take a quiet backseat in all of this, since they have been well aware of these sites existence, yet they have done nothing to prevent it. Maybe because neopets isn’t the only gaming site to endure scammers. There is a gaming site that sells off accounts to many internet games including neopets.
So what can Neopians do to reduce the risk?
Boycott NP selling sites and any site that supports them. If they can’t make a profit out of your stolen accounts, then they don’t have a big need to steal them. If the users stop putting money in the hands of the hackers and scammers, then they would not think it that profitable to scam neopets users. It’s up to the users though, Neopets legal will not be taking a stand against internet gaming scammers.
They make a few thousand bucks off of you, and all you got was some pixels. Welcome to the world of internet gaming scams.
