Sticky: How to spot --Staff Impersonation--

[OMG its kirby]

i hope alot of people read this, because im tired of people telling you to donate because they got hacked, usually its your own fault because you were stupid enough to give away your password. so i hope people wont give away there password anymore.

[Dosatec]

helpful

[joey_101]

they are trying new techniques? interesting. good thing you warned us.

[Lord Death Vincent]

EvilFuzzyKitty

mad You are both really insensitive jerks. Some of these scams are really convincing and someone who is new to the site might not know better. And really, does anyone really deserve to be scammed?! Maybe it's you who deserves it for being so insensitive.

You're joking... right? I mean, literally. You think that half these people got scammed because of how CONVINCING that garbage is? These people got scammed because they were too lazy to simply spend a few minutes checking over information that should help them. And no one is saying that they deserve it; stop making us look like we're the bad guys. We just think that those people should have took to the time to read the rules; check out everything that tells them about scammers; and assure themselves safty. I mean; there are a BILLION things out there that shows who's an admin, mod, whatever, and who isn't. If the colored writing in their name isn't enough, or the quote under the name of what they do is also not enough, or any of the other information; then these are truly moronic people and should either spend their valuable, free time learning about Gaia's rules; or just not coming on if they don't want to be scammed; but don't want to read the rules. I don't know if they exactly deserve it under any personal feelings; but under viewing the situation of how idiotic they were I think they deserve it for not thinking clearly and not knowing things that they should already know.

I can understand that is isn't fair, nor in any way fun. I haven't got hacked yet, and have yet to actually fall victim of a good, repeat good, scam. But they should have at least known better. And I also feel that the scammers wouldn't just go for a new member. They attack those who have a lot of fancy, rather pleasant looking stuff on them. Why go after someone who has yet to afford expensive stuff; then people who actually can get this stuff.

Also; on another note. I understand that some of these items are not important in anyway. Yet, they are pixels. But some of these pixels was bought with real money; like some of my stuff. And that is what none of us want. To have our hard earned cash wasted because someone actually stole something that we bought with real money. stare

[HeavensLittleDevil]

prplluver123

The Admin

Staff Impersonators sometimes use phrases to scare users into giving out their information, claiming that "you have been reported for hacking", or that "you will be banned" if you do not co-operate and tell them your passwords. However Gaia has many warning signs around the site to remind you that Gaia Staff do not ask for this kind of information.

Please remember these kinds of messages are false!! Even if the sender looks like they have an official name, they may not be staff.

Safety Tips even states that Gaia Staff will never ask you for your personal information.

http://www.gaiaonline.com/info/index.php?info=safety

Quote:

Never Share Your Password
Your Gaia password should always be kept private. If somebody gets your password, they can do all sorts of bad things: they can lock you out of your account, steal your items, change your profile, pretend to be you, and cause lots of trouble. You should never give your password to anyone except your parents. Even giving your password to friends is a very bad idea! Gaia moderators and administrators will never ask you for your password by e-mail, by PM, or by any other means.


If anyone asks for your Gaia Online password, it's a scam! Don't share it!

Some PMs might even have images which say things like "Official Admin Message", or "Official Staff Message", these are also fake, as Admin does not use such images in her Messages. Gaia staff members do not use such images in their PMs either.


When replying to PM messages, you may notice this bright red warning above the box you type in. Again this tells you that Gaia Staff, moderators and administators, will never ask for your passwords.

If you should run into a PM asking for your "username and password", report it immediately!

lol the word reported is spelled wrong...it is sad people actually believe the scams

I quite agree, but some people are blissfully unaware that people actually do this. Or otherwise, aren't very knowledgeable of computers/the internet/people's greediness in general, to see it coming. I do take pitty on people who fall for this kind of thing, but I take pitty more on the people who think that they need to lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want.

~Lilly

[Renaissancegirl]

I received a private message like that, the only reason I knew it was fake is they used images from photobucket and the admin avi was in the bubble instead of the sender.

[GS Sailor Star Swords]

This will help alot of people. Including me. >.<

[EvilFuzzyKitty]

RachaelAwesomeSocks

EvilFuzzyKitty

RachaelAwesomeSocks

EvilFuzzyKitty

Shadeblade13

EvilFuzzyKitty

mad You are both really insensitive jerks. Some of these scams are really convincing and someone who is new to the site might not know better. And really, does anyone really deserve to be scammed?! Maybe it's you who deserves it for being so insensitive.

No, any one new to the site thats stupid enough not to read the ToS and all that good stuff DESERVES to be scammed. I mean, if these people read half of the warnings and such Gaia puts out as it is, people wouldn't get scammed by atleast HALF as much. And no, NONE of those scams are convincing IN THE LEAST. You are made of fail. And not just the normal type of fail, EPIC fail. *facepalm*

So you actually want people to be scammed? That's what you are saying? So does that mean that you support the things that scammers do? You support illegal activity? You did say that they deserve to get scammed.
Some of the younger members of this site might actually be convinced by one of those scams. There are some really young gaians out there who might not actually know what a scam looks like, maybe because some little kids (and I'm saying some kids are like this, not all of them. I don't want a little munckin angry mob after me.) are noterious for not reading the rules very carefully. So you are saying that a little kid deserves to get things stolen from them? You are a really sensitive person aren't you?
I am made of fail? What are you, a five year old? That's really childish.

Oo, wow! Losing pixels is soooo important. /sarcasm
He and I never said that we supported scammers. We just made a point that people can be really stupid.
There's always the warning gaia puts around every corner of the site.
And you seriously are overreacting.

Oh and the fail part is phrase. You know, 4chan and ED?

Yeah I agree with you about the fact that people can be very stupid when it comes to falling for these scams but I don't think anyone deserves to be scammed. Think about it. Being scammed means losing all that gaia gold that they might have spent hours on the site earning and it means losing the items they may have bought on the cash shop with real money. Theft is theft whether it's pixels or an actual item being stolen. I agree that these people are very stupid and should've known better but come on. Do they really deserve to have all their stuff on gaia stolen just because they were being a little stupid and not paying attention?

In my opinion, stupidity deserves consequences. s**t happens.
I also have to wonder why anyone would spend money on pixels...
And many of the people stupid enough to get hacked aren't even the age the should be on this site. So they shouldn't be here anyways.

Yes, I am aware that I'm a callous person.

So if you were being stupid at some point in your life and something really bad happened to you, you would just say "oh well s**t happens" and walk it off?

Yes, very callous.

So what are 4chan and ED?

[GigglyGirl7]

there are people who will ask you in the towns or other meeting places if you want gold and then pm you and ask you for your username and password so they can give it to you it happened to me and when I answerd him he tryd to tell me that it was for the admins not him I reported him and I hope he gets banned

[Emmytater]

It seems that the hackers go after people who post on the Newbie threads... Or at least, thats the impersanation I got. I post there that I'm 'somewhat new' seeing as I returned to Gaia after a year, and BAM.
lo behold, a Hacker. Thank god I read all of those warnings. o.o

[Kumquat Pornography]

I'm glad that they posted this sticky, but I'm also kind of depressed.

Most of the clues are obvious, you'd think that people would be smarter than this.

Password = FOR YOU ONLY.

You'd think people wouldn't be so...

ignorant.

[Death Cab for Noobie]

I have like millions of mule accounts... wonder if they are hacked.. >_> lol

[foxlover200701]

One of my accounts, hotkitsune0193, was hacked into by Elaborate X. She was claiming to have free avatar items. This is a scam. Look out for Elaborate X.

[Daisy is teh Panda]

this happened to me 2 times neutral first it was the pm then i had a friend named denel77 i dont quite remember..... and after all those things i found the person who hacked me the first time i saw her profile and she wrote i got banned for botting and stuff and she said she wont stop crying

[Neji_Hyuga of the leaf]

i've got like more than 3 of those but i never replyed to it. i knew i was fake because i pay attendtion to messages from admin. i find this info very useful. i even helped to friends to report hacker pms. and their accounts are safe.