Eve online scam $170,000 in real money

Glavinsolo

Platinum Member
Sep 2, 2004
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http://mmorpg.qj.net/Biggest-scam-in-EVE-Online-history/pg/49/aid/62826

Most EVE Online players probably heard about the GHSC infiltration incident, when a group of agents worked for one of the most successful corporations in the game, spending over a year undercover to gain the trust of the members, who eventually granted them access to the corp hangars. What followed was one of the most incredible heists in MMORPG history, as the group stole over 30 billion ISK from the corporation as well as destroying the leader's ships and escape pods.

The community uproar was big and sparked one of the most interesting debates in regard to MMOs: In a fully open-ended game, with a player-driven economy and politics, should the developers step in and intervene when extreme things like this happen? Make no mistake, as cool as it sounds for outsiders and while the victims weren't innocents either, the work of GHSC ruined the efforts of many gamers who spent hundreds and thousands of hours in EVE trying to build up wealth and technology.

Now the community has barely had time to calm down and here it is, the next incident that easily surpasses the numbers GHSC achieved with their heist. It's the story of a guy named "cally", who ran a corporation, a player-operated bank called "Eve Intergalactic Bank". Over the course of four months, hundreds of players deposited money in his bank, which offered interest, loans and insurance like every other ordinary bank. Except for the fact that one day, cally decided to grab all the money that was deposited and fly off to space with an alleged total sum of 790 billion Isk. In real life, this would translate to $170,000 - quite possibly the biggest MMO scam ever conducted.

Not only that, he also took the time to record a video in which he confesses his crimes, makes fun of the community, and reveals that he is a pirate, who once held the highest bounty in the game.

No doubt this event will once again make the rounds on mainstream gaming sites as well, and it's time for your opinion on this. Do you think scams like this one make the game more compelling and more realistic? Or is it just a punch in the face for all the gamers just wanting to have fun, an unnecessary display of ego by someone who perhaps isn't successful in real life? We're very interested in your comments.
 

Cabages

Platinum Member
Jan 1, 2006
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Im bored, I think im gonna watch the confession video, might be good for a laugh...
 

brxndxn

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2001
8,475
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That sounds hardcore.. Good stuff..

I played a freakin' sh1t ton of Shadowbane.. an mmorpg where you pvp almost always, build cities, tear enemy cities down, etc. The first thing you did when you wanted to take huge guilds down is get characters in your guild infiltrating into their guilds. You gotta have spies to form a good offense.. Sometimes you could take a guild down just by gaining the trust of the guild and having city assets 'friended' to the spies and the spies could assume control without even having to siege... or it would allow a vantage point for a successful siege (ie.. a guild friends a spy to a house in the city).

There's nothing wrong with spies and dishonest people in mmorpgs. They're open-ended enough that they can emulate real-life and the player base can punish them..

unless of course you're playing a totally pussy-@ss game like WoW where you can't have open pvp and the player base cannot continually punish the crap out of a person with a bad reputation.
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,920
46
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Originally posted by: brxndxn
That sounds hardcore.. Good stuff..

I played a freakin' sh1t ton of Shadowbane.. an mmorpg where you pvp almost always, build cities, tear enemy cities down, etc. The first thing you did when you wanted to take huge guilds down is get characters in your guild infiltrating into their guilds. You gotta have spies to form a good offense.. Sometimes you could take a guild down just by gaining the trust of the guild and having city assets 'friended' to the spies and the spies could assume control without even having to siege... or it would allow a vantage point for a successful siege (ie.. a guild friends a spy to a house in the city).

There's nothing wrong with spies and dishonest people in mmorpgs. They're open-ended enough that they can emulate real-life and the player base can punish them..

unless of course you're playing a totally pussy-@ss game like WoW where you can't have open pvp and the player base cannot continually punish the crap out of a person with a bad reputation.

What you describe doesn't sound like it emulates real life. In real life there are ways to identify spies. How do you identify a spy in an online game? All communication between the spy and his teamates can occur outside of the game, so there's no way to catch the guy. Or am I totally off-base (I don't play MMOs)?
 

ForumMaster

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2005
7,792
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in cases like this, i think the creators of the game should restore the game from a backup they hopefullly have. if not, they'll lose a lot of money as ppl get annoyed and leave the game.
 

Iron Addict

Senior member
Jul 5, 2006
340
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That guy did everyone a favor. He gaves their lives back and return them back to their family, friends, work, and rare sex.

Wouldn't it be possible for the server operator to track the IP of the scammer?
 

fustercluck

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2002
7,402
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71
People just gave this "Cally" guy their money because he opened a bank in the game? Did people think he was part of the staff or something? That part confuses me. Interesting though. Soon, MMORPGs will be governed :confused:
 

Kyanzes

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2005
1,082
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Haha, that's nice. Heck, I didn't know ISK was worth that much... I've suspended my account with over a billion ISK in my pocket and another billion in stuff. You say I've left $500 woth money in the game, huh? Hah, I'll surely go back and sell it :D Like the old days of Jedi-selling in SWG, hehe, too bad they've ruind that. Well, I remember the older heist the article mentions, it caused quite an uproarr but hey, it's an MMO.
 

Zee

Diamond Member
Nov 27, 1999
5,171
3
76
banks should be fdic insured. like in real life. these people who lost their money should have an online gov't insure upto 250000 equivalent.
 

Kalmah

Diamond Member
Oct 2, 2003
3,692
1
76
I don't understand... so he traded in-game money for real money? (ebay sale?) Who the hell forks out $170,000 of real money for fake game money?

I don't play these mmopOMFGBBQ games.

I don't get it.
 

Born2bwire

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2005
9,840
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Originally posted by: Kalmah
I don't understand... so he traded in-game money for real money? (ebay sale?) Who the hell forks out $170,000 of real money for fake game money?

I don't play these mmopOMFGBBQ games.

I don't get it.

No he didn't. He just stole a crapload of pretend money. Actually, the last I heard is he put a bounty out on himself and is using the money to give himself an ueber fleet. Introduces an interesting game dynamic.
 

BobDaMenkey

Diamond Member
Jan 27, 2005
3,057
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Nay sayers, saying people will get annoyed and leave, and that the money should be refunded ect:

CCP(The Devs) have stated continously that there will be NO intervention in the event of a scam unless it involves a Game Time Card, or a character transfer, or someone's account getting hacked. Any in game trade that doesn't go the right way for you, irregardless of reason, will not be responded to by the GMs. Scamming is a part of the game community as much as trust is.

And I thought the idea of a bank in EvE was stupid because you didn't need it anyway. Let alone one that was controlled by a player that can make off with all my money. I have no sympathy for those that got 'scammed'. They may as well have walked up to a random bum on the street and given the bum their money expecting to be able to find him later and 'withdraw' it.
 

Kalmah

Diamond Member
Oct 2, 2003
3,692
1
76
How is a scam like this innovative or so infamous? It seems like doing this would be on everybodies minds that runs a bank in a game like this...?

I've seen better scams on diablo.

I still don't get it. If it's this easy, why hasn't it happened before? And why do people use these banks knowing that it's this easy?

 

shabby

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,782
45
91
Hahah now thats funney, how can someone running a bank in an online game ever be trusted? Unless the bank is setup by the developer these dumbasses got exactly what they deserved.
Good for him, except wtf did he actually gain? A bigger e-penis? We all have those on the interweb.
 

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
44,296
16
81
Originally posted by: Kalmah
And why do people use these banks knowing that it's this easy?

For the same reason that people fall for Nigerian scams in real life.