HOW TO NOT GET SCAMMED
A guide by Astrogen
Hey there guys! I've been active in hf for a couple of months now. I have purchased and sold stuff in the Hackforums marketplace, and everything went smooth. I have never been scammed yet as I have guidelines that I set for myself before I deal with someone.
Please take your time reading this as this has helped me stay away from bad experiences here in the marketplace. It will only take a couple of your minutes, so take time reading this before you lose your hard-earned money!
#1 | Background Check
There are several ways to do a background check for a user you're about to deal with. Here are the ways I do background checking.
a) Trust Scan (*Upgraded users only)
You can use the Trust Scan feature which will allow you to see certain data of a user including last password and email change. There are users who get their account compromised and once they get, the ones who compromised the accounts will start a deal with the intention of scamming you! So always check if the account just got its email/password changed.
b) Username and UID Search
Always search the user's username and UID before dealing with him. This will allow you to search if that user has a community alert or a deal dispute in the past.
Alternatively, you can go to his market profile and click the Legacy Disputes DB to see if he has. Some users have scammed in the past and will scam again. Doing this will let you know if he had scammed before or not. Also, not everyone with a search result is a scammer, always check the last page of the thread if it's marked as resolved or not. If marked as resolved, that user solved the dispute and have not scammed anyone.
#2 | Check what you See
There are users who create new accounts to scam. They may not have scammed anyone yet, but they will and you could be the first!
a) Green doesn't always mean good
You might see green colored numbers in a user's profile. These are popularity and b-rating. Spoiler (Click to View)
![[Image: mQU08n8.png]](https://i.imgur.com/mQU08n8.png)
Popularity is the one above the βytes while the B-rating is the one above the popularity. The difference between them is that anyone can receive popularity while the B-rating is only available if the user had a contract with someone then positively rated him. If I see green on his b-rating, should I trust him? Yes, and no. You have to verify first where that positive b-rating came from. Didn't you say they can only be obtained from contracts? Yes, they can only be obtained from contracts, but one can create a thread and provide vouch copies which are then contracted. The users didn't transfer or receive any money, he simply gave someone a copy of his product and get a green afterward! I call this, b-rating farming. You can check it from his market profile and review his recent contracts. Some may be private, but search for his thread and see if he just provided vouch copies for his thread and have not sold anything!
#3 | Ask for a middleman
Middlemen are those who sit in the middle of your deal. If you are buying an account from someone, you can ask a middleman for a safer deal. You will send the payment to the middleman and he will hold it for a while (some will take fees, some do not), then the seller will give you the product you bought. Once you get it and verify, the middleman will send the funds to the seller.
Hey! Can I ask you to be our middleman? No, I do not have experience being a middleman and I can't be one. There are several users here who can be your middleman. But, they are still users, HackForums does not have any official middleman so background check the middleman first before you make him one. The middleman can still run away with your money.
#4 | Open a Contract
The contract system is designed to minimize scamming and to effectively call out scammers. Here is an in-depth guide on how to use the contract system. Always open a contract and make sure it's an approved one before you give something to someone.
That is all and I hope I have helped you. Always keep in mind that everyone can scam regardless of doing the checks I mentioned above. Even me, if you send me billions of dollars, I could run away with it without saying goodbye. So keep in mind that everything you do in a marketplace, even in real life has a risk. I will update this thread if I have more guidelines in preventing getting scammed. Thank you and have a nice day! I will share this link to new users in the forum. You can share this as well to users who are about to go in a deal.
