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In online gaming, almost everyone wants cool items—rare skins, special camos, exclusive characters, you name it. Because of that, I’ve seen a ton of scammers try to take advantage of players by pretending to sell “leveled-up” accounts or items that they don’t actually have. I’ve run into this a few times myself in the games I play, and it’s honestly crazy how many people fall for it.
The purpose of these scams is pretty simple: the scammer wants fast money with basically no work. They usually post fake screenshots of an account that isn’t theirs, or they copy pictures from someone else’s profile and act like it belongs to them. Some even make fake reviews or messages to try and make it seem legit. Most of the time they ask you to pay using things like CashApp, PayPal “Friends & Family,” or even gift cards. Once you send the money, they disappear, block you, or give you a login that doesn’t even work.
Looking back, there are a few ways I—and other players—could tell the difference between a real offer and a scam. For one, most games don’t even allow account selling, so that alone is a red flag. Also, if the screenshots look too perfect or the deal seems way too cheap, it’s probably fake. Scammers also never want to use secure payment methods, because they don’t want anyone getting their money back. Lastly, trusting your gut matters—if something feels off, it usually is.
Hopefully, by sharing this, someone else can avoid getting tricked the way so many players do online.