Hi guys,
Before I begin, I would just like to say that yes I have been a bit of a leecher (until now) but the only reason that is, is because I've felt I've never had anything really worth while to contribute to the forum.
I'm still not sure if this post is worthwhile, but I want to give back in any way I can. I'm not introducing anything new, or trying to take credit for anybody elses work, I'm just going to share with you my experiences of using the C.O.D scam.
I've been using it on my main account for awhile now and I've never been caught as of yet, but I am very careful and going to explain to you how.
Firstly, for those of you not familiar with the trick, go here: [turns out I can't link to other posts yet! :P I was refering to Szharz recent post] It has recently been renewed with some nice new tips and tricks, thanks Szharz
And please before anyone flames me about its already been posted etc etc, I know it has and I am not trying to take credit, I am just offering my suggestions and tips which have worked for to help you not get caught. I'm trying to give back!
***
Ok, so now my contribution. Which is essentially the same as the guide above, but with some personal touches I add, which have helped me to not ever get caught.
[Preliminary Work]
Well firstly, you need to have something which you want to scam sell, and of course the higher in demand, the better, as more people will whisper you to buy it. I have found primals to be very good for using with this trick, Primal Fire in particular as it is always in high demand.
So go to the AH and buy yourself a Primal Fire (usually 20-25g on my server).
Now set up an alt char, Night Elf is usually best as the nearest town is Darnassus - and Darn is great for making excuses of why sending C.O.D is better, or even having the buyer suggest C.O.D, which is always great
Get your alt to Darnassus.
Important note: It is a good idea to use illegal chars in your name to confuse people later. Holding Alt and pressing numbers 136-142 gives some useful illegal characters, such as ê î Ä etc. But I make this subtle, I only use one illegal char in my name, to not overcomplicate the name and make it look suspicious. Also, the person might mistake that char for a normal text char when trying to recall your name later. I find the î (Alt+140) is good for this, it looks close to a normal 'i' in-game.
[Phishing]
Now that you have that sorted, send your Primal Fire your new alt and start advertising in the trade window. Now, don't spam the trade window and seem desperate, do it slowly, maybe every 5 mins a new message, but I usually get whispers on my first advertisement.
I usually say I want to sell a stack of 10 of them. However, don't post any price. Wait for an interested buyer to message you and ask how much. When they ask, tell them to offer. After they offer, reply back with a bit of a higher price. My attempts usually go like this:
[Buyer]: how much?
[Me]: offer
[Buyer]: 160g
[Me]: 200
[Buyer]: nah
[Me]: 180g, last offer
[Buyer]: deal
Or something like that. This is an important step and it's a good idea to haggle with them as long as you can, it helps them develop some rapport and a small amount of trust with you. Think about, someone who is trying to get more money out of you and haggling for the item is less suspicious that someone who is trying to sell you something at a much lower price than normal, no?
[Casing]
Now you have a potential sucker and this is where it get serious. At this point, what I do is add the person to my Friends list to see what level they are and check them out on the Armory to see what kind of equipment they have, what guild they're in etc, any information you can about them. Why you say? It's called 'casing'
You need to try and figure out what type of person the victim is. If it looks like they're a serious player and will take no shit, you're probably better off backing away from the scam as they will most likely try hunt you down/go to GMs. You want to find n00bs, casual players, easy-going people or just some clueless kids. This is the most important and indeed the trickiest part. Best way to go about it is talking to them as much as you can and getting an idea of how composed they sound. Ask them why they need the item, have they been looking for it for long, where they're from, anything! Just keep 'em talking and let them reveal themselves.
So do whatever background work you can, and make your own judgement as to whether it's good to go ahead or not.
[The kill]
So you've decided to go ahead with it? Good! I hope it pays off! Now only one part is left, to send the item C.O.D. In my experience, I've found this works the most when you're casual about it. Don't immediately say you need to send it C.O.D only and make a big fuss about it. Take it easy.
Ask the player where they are (hopefully they'll be in SW or IF or Shatt). Tell them you're in Darn, and in a bit of a hurry so you'll C.O.D it to them). This has worked most of the time for me. If they invite you to a party, don't accept!! Chances are, if you've been quick enough about the whole thing, they haven't added you to their friends list yet, and dunno what level you are. So if they see you're level 1, alarm bells might go off. But don't decline the invite either, just asking them where they are or that you're going to C.O.D cause you're in a hurry. The invite will expire after like 1 min anyway.
Once they've agreed to C.O.D, send it and then log out. Log onto your main and add this char as a friend, to see what town they're in etc. If they are in a city, chances are they've read their mail and took the bait. Wait 5 mins and log back into your char and take the money. If they're off at the BG or something, keep an eye on them in your friends list on your main char, until they get back to town, then go collect.
Once it's done, get your money and mail it to you main, and hey presto! It's done
[The Clean-up]
Now it's time to clean-up. The guide i linked to above suggests deleting the char you scammed with, then exiting WoW and going to the WTF directory in your WoW dir and deleting the character folder there, as well as deleting all the files in the Cache directory. I think this is a good idea, not sure if it will help any if Blizz actually do go and investigate this, as there will always be info on the victems side and also the Blizz servers, but is worth the shot. Delete the character anyway!
A big tip in all this is to try and make the deal as fast as possible too. It can be hard when trying to figure the other person out, but if you pull it off fastly, it means the victim most likely never added you to friends list and will have little or no trace of your name (hopefully). I've gotten lucky quite a few times where the victems have logged out for a little while after I C.O.D'd the item, meaning when they return and accept the item, they'll have no trace of my name at all! And then the illegal characters in the name is great when they're frantically trying to remember it
Anyway, those are my suggestions and tips, use at your own risk. I haven't been caught yet but that's not to say I ever will! Be careful and cautious, and you'll minimize your chances of ever getting caught.
Hope this helps somebody.
C.O.D Scam - Tips and Tricks to not get caught
