The world of online role-playing games is just as subject to dirty pool as anything else.  The number of MMORPG scams seems to be rising, and including methods that were unknown just a few years ago.  Although MMORPGs are usually relatively free from the kinds of “cheat codes” that are found so often in other video games, most of the problems that players experience have more to do with people capitalizing on good old-fashioned human nature.
 
The typical MMORPG scams play out more like a grifter’s game, jumping on the inexperience of a new player or the greed of a veteran player.  Often these scams revolve around a quick and easy acquisition of something that another player wants.  Even his reasons for wanting those things has undergone a tremendous change.
 
Let’s say you are new to the game and aren’t completely familiar with all its little idiosyncrasies and key entry rules.  A perfect example of this type of scam can be found in Lineage 2.  You meet someone and decide to trade for an item you’ve been wanting.  You complete the trade process and hit OK.  Instead of the trade going through, however, it gets canceled.  Being new, you assume that somehow you hit the wrong button or something.  The trade window pops up and you do it all over again and this time is works. 

The other player takes off and when you check out your inventory you find that what you thought you were getting isn’t there, but rather a lower level copy.  This is not an accident.  The other player assumed you wouldn’t look too closely at the item the second time around and so he slipped in an inferior item the second time.  Happens at garage sales around the country every weekend.
 
In this case, of course, you just lost one item in exchange for a junky one.  Other MMORPG scams can cost you more.    Beware any time you are asked for any log-in information.   Sometimes the request will appear as if it is coming from the game administrators themselves.  You’ll get a message claiming one of a thousand different reasons that your information is needed and all of them seem perfectly reasonable.  Of course, once you give that information away, you’ll lose a lot more than just a nice sword.   
 
With the rise of real world currency exchange for virtual world gold and items, MMORPG scams have moved into a whole new arena.  It used to be that people trying to get your log-in information were just trying to help their own characters along, but now many of those people are actually making money.  Any time you get a request for any confidential information about your account, consider that a red flag. 

Now that actual profit has entered the picture, many people are invading other players’ accounts and raiding their reserves not for their own use, but to sell to other players.  Real world cash is a far bigger draw for the scammer than virtual world gold and as such, it should only be expected that the number of MMORPG scams are going to be on the rise.