Scams

**Scamming** is the act of stealing money, items, or accounts from another player through deception or trickery.

In Hypixel SkyBlock, there are multiple different types of scams to be wary of. These can be divided into three different categories:

* Types that take advantage of players
* Types that take advantage of gameplay mechanics
* Types related to phishing

There are limited types of scams that take advantage of game mechanics, while scams that take advantage of players are extremely common and have many different methods. Phishing scams are uncommon and may be difficult to detect. Once a scammer has access to the victim's account, they can then steal all the victim's SkyBlock items, wipe progress on the victim's account on all servers, and steal the victim's account itself.

Players can be reported for attempted or successful scamming. However, victims of scams will not have their items returned **under any circumstances**, even if Hypixel punishes the scammer. Thus, it's best to know how to prevent scams in the first place.

## Contents

* Tips to avoid getting scammed
* Player Scams
	+ Unbalanced Trades
	+ Regular Auctions
	+ BIN Auctions
	+ Crafting
	+ Borrowing/Loaning
	+ Item Switching Scam
	+ Backpack Scam
	+ Splash Scam
	+ Dungeon Carry Scam
	+ Non-Tradeable Item Scam
	+ Fake Enchanted Diamond Block Scam
* Scams abusing game mechanics
	+ Island Stealing (Co-op Insiding)
* Scams related to phishing
	+ Trojans
	+ Phishing Site scam
	+ Real-World Trading
	+ YouTube Phishing
	+ Password Phishing

## Tips to avoid getting scammed

Adhering to the following suggestions makes identifying and avoiding scams *significantly* easier.

* If a deal seems too good to be true, it is probably a scam.
	+ There is no such thing as "free coins" or "free items," as the giver would usually not give away these items for free.
	+ For example, with the quitting scam, a legitimate player would have simply given their items away rather than ask for bids or co-op invitations.
	+ Due to the recent ghost item block scam (see Fake Enchanted Diamond Block Scam), it is advised to accept payments in coins only.

* If someone asks to join your co-op profile, unless you completely trust them, don't bother. The /coopadd command will invite the recipient to join your current island and they can then steal your stored items.
	+ This can also happen with existing co-op mates suddenly destroying your island, taking your valuables, and then transferring them to one of their solo islands. For this reason, it is advised to start a coop only with people you know in real life.
* If the person requires you to give them valuable items while giving you back some other items after the current trade (such as two-time trades), it is probably a scam. If the transaction can be completed in one trade, there is no reason to complete the trade in two steps. Similarly, if the transaction involves 12 items or fewer per side, there is absolutely no reason to trade using backpacks.
* For items you are not willing to lose, it is advised at any point to not drop them or offer them in trust trades.
	+ As of the 0.7.6 update, coins can now be traded directly through the trade window.
* Keep account information secure. Enter your account information **only** into the official Minecraft website and launcher. Don't tell anyone else your password, recovery questions, or email address.
* All other mods and programs are used at your own risk. If you are not sure if a program can steal your information, you can decompile it and analyze its code; however, be careful not to accidentally run it!
	+ The ScamProtect mod was specifically designed to prevent trading with known scammers. This can be very helpful in most situations, but make sure to be aware and use common sense, as this will not prevent all dangers. As with all other mods, use at your own risk.
	+ The SkyBlock Addons mod contains features that can help avoid scams.
* Always carefully check the trade window and/or auction to verify which items are being traded or sold.
	+ Using a reputable SkyBlock resource pack from the Hypixel forums can help show different items should the scammer try to switch items, as most SkyBlock-only items will have a different texture.
	+ When in doubt, use the search function in the Auction House to check if the items are really being sold by the seller as claimed. If not, it is a scam. See item switching scam below for more details.
	+ Searching for Enchanted books behaves strangely as Roman numerals do not show up on the Auction House properly. SkyBlock Addons has an option to change Roman numerals to numbers (e.x. from VI to 6).
	+ Before buying an item off BIN, make sure it *is* the one you want.
* If someone asks you to bid on something from the auction house (e.x. a common item such as dirt), it is likely a scam, especially if it is overpriced.
* Be careful with transactions involving borrowing/loaning items, crafting, and/or collateral as scammers may try to take your collateral instead. When in doubt, cancel the transaction and get the items yourself.
* If you need a service such as getting something crafted or a Dungeon floor carry, either meet the requirements yourself or ask a close friend of yours to help you. Meeting the requirements yourself, however, is guaranteed to be safe.
	+ Using a SkyBlock stats viewer website such as sky.shiiyu.moe will show if the hired player has the desired requirements unlocked. (For crafting, this will show if they have the desired recipes, provided that their collections API is enabled. If their collections aren't shown, it's a possible red flag.) For slayer recipes and dungeon levels, the crafter's slayer and dungeon levels will always show.
		- If the crafter agrees to craft an item for you when they clearly do not have the recipe, it is a scam.
		- Similarly, if the dungeon runner agrees to carry a floor for you when they do not have the equipment and levels to do so, it is most likely a scam.
* Never click on any links someone sends to you, even if the link may look like it leads to a reputable website.
* Dealing with trades involving backpacks is ill-advised. This is because the items inside the backpack might look like the items you're trading for but aren't. If you have the latest SkyBlock Addons mod, you can press F while your cursor is over the Backpack; you can see the items in the backpack by hovering your cursor over them.
	+ A hidden update on May 27, 2020 revealed that backpacks can show their stored items' names even without using mods. However, this change was reverted but it is likely to return in an official update.
* Gambling is against Hypixel's rules, as gambles ran by players are typically stacked in the host's favor.
* You can look up a player's name on Hypixel's forums (if there is a thread with their name) or on SkyBlock Discord servers such as SkyBlockZ. Think twice before trading with that player if other people have called the "trader" out before for scamming.
	+ If possible, check for multiple sources before making a deal. While browsing through SkyBlock Discord servers and the forums may be useful, they may also have new scammers.
* Never give more than you are willing to lose.

## Player Scams

### Unbalanced Trades

This is a scenario where the scammer attempts to trade oblivious players a less worthy item for something with higher worth, such as asking for a Runaan's Bow and then offering an Ender Bow for it.

It is recommended that you carefully check all the details about the item before trading, especially their name and rarity. If you're not sure, check the individual page of whichever item you're receiving first to make sure you got all the correct information. This is related to the item switching scam.

Example of a transaction (words in parentheses are explanation; these are not said out. Words in *italics*denote an action):

*Scammer sees a victim holding a clean Aspect of the Dragons.*

Scammer: Victim, I want to buy your Aspect of the Dragons and I'll offer you clean Old Dragon Boots for it. I'm offering more than what your sword is worth. (A clean Aspect of the Dragons is worth about 1 mil in the Auction House while Old Dragon Boots is worth about 100k.)

Victim: Sure, I'll take the offer.

*The scammer and the victim trade.*

*The victim later finds out that he traded away his sword that's worth 1 mil when he received an item worth 100k.*

More sophisticated variants of this scam includes trading for obscure items without a set price. Examples include high level pets (especially if it has candy uses), items with expensive enchants (such as dragon hunter and items with t6-t7 enchants), and rare items. When trading with these items, it is recommended to check the auction house for similar items' prices. Note that this is not necessarily a scam if the victim agrees to the trade and receives exactly what is promised.

### Regular Auctions

Players advertise a worthless item on their auction, with the promise that the auction winner would supposedly get a high-tier item. Upon receiving the payment, the scammer takes off with the money.

The quitting scam is another variant of an auction scam. The scammer will claim that they are quitting and the winner of their auction receives the scammer's items. When the victim bids on the scammer's items, the scammer takes off after receiving the payment.

Example of a transaction:

Scammer: Whoever bids the highest on my Dirt gets a free set of Shadow Assassin Armor!

*The victim bids on the item (usually for a price that is millions of times the NPC sale value) and the victim wins the Auction.*

*The victim tries to find the scammer to "receive" the armor, but the scammer logs off, leaving the victim behind.*

Special note: most people that promise such things are scammers.

### BIN Auctions

The BIN auction scam is a new variant of the regular auction scam. Some scammers pretend that they "accidentally" put something rare for a low price as a BIN and they go around lobbies asking for help. The victim sees that the item is going below market price and decides to buy it by going into the scammer's auctions but realizes only after buying that it's a cheaper item.

Example of a transaction:

Scammer: OMG HELP!! I accidentally put superior boots on my AH as BIN for 3 million (under market price); how do I get it back??!?!?!

*The victim sees the scammer's message in chat and goes to their auction to buy the item because it's under market value.*

*Victim realizes that they received strong dragon boots and lost millions of coins.*

*The scammer takes off with the coins, leaving the victim behind.*

Another variant of BIN auction scamming involves the use of Recombobulator 3000s. Common examples of this are talismans (such as a recombobulated Treasure Ring), expensive dungeon armor pieces (such as a recombobulated non-top quality Zombie Knight Chestplate), Griffin Upgrade Stone (recombobulated epic ones don't upgrade the griffin to legendary), and several others. An extremely cheap item, such as a legendary griffin upgrade stone for 30M, is probably recombobulated.

### Crafting

When a player has the items to craft something (such as a Pigman or Leaping Sword), they usually ask in the lobby if other players have friends or guild members with the recipe. This is not recommended especially with items that require other expensive or rare items to craft, as someone can agree to help but steal your materials.

Example of a transaction:

Victim: Hey, I have the materials to craft a Sea Creature Artifact, but I don't have the recipe unlocked. Can someone help?

Scammer: Sure! Give me the materials and I'll make it! (A Sea Creature Artifact requires 66 Enchanted Sponges and 23 Sponges in total to craft including the costs of the Ring and the Talisman, or 2663 Sponges (41.6 stacks). This is about 777k coins if all the materials are bought through Bazaar.)

*The victim gives the materials to the scammer.*

*The scammer takes off with the materials, leaving the victim behind.*

Another variant of this scam is the essence trading scam. Similar to the traditional crafting scam, the scammer claims to be buying or selling essence. The victim will approach the scammer to buy the latter's essence or sell the former's essence, only for the scammer to take off with the victim's items or collateral respectively.

Example of a transaction:

Scammer (Public Channel): Selling ANY Essence /P ME!!!

Scammer (After victim joins the party): Hey victim, I'm selling any kind of essence.

Victim: OK, I want you to help me upgrading my Tier IX Perfect Chestplate to 5-star. I will pay 17m for the upgrade; any collateral?

Scammer: OK, but that seems like it is an unpopular item on ah, I would like to give an AOTD as collateral.

Victim: Sounds acceptable.

*The victim gives his Tier IX Perfect Chestplate to the scammer. Scammer gives 1 AOTD as collateral.*

*The scammer takes off with the Chestplate, leaving the victim behind.*

### Borrowing/Loaning

A player will ask to borrow an item from another person for a quest but then leave with the item without returning it. Sometimes a player will provide collateral and promise to return the borrowed item, but leave with the item after giving the (less valuable) collateral to the loaner. The reverse can also apply with the loaner scamming the borrower.

Example 1, with the scammer posing as a borrower:

Victim: Are you sure you will return my Wise Crystal Armor?

Scammer: Yep!

*The victim gives the scammer the Crystal Armor. The scammer takes off without returning the armor, leaving the victim behind.*

Example 2, with the scammer posing as a loaner:

Scammer: I'm lending my Wise Crystal Armor. Anyone?

Victim: I'll borrow.

Scammer: Sure, I'll give you the armor, but I want 1M coins as collateral.

*The victim and the scammer exchange items. Victim returns to the scammer to return the armor, only to find that the scammer has logged off with the victim's coins, leaving the victim behind with the scammer's armor set.*

### Item Switching Scam

Related to the unbalanced trade scam, this scam involves having the scammer initially offer to trade a valuable item. However, the scammer will decline the trade and blame it on lag or a misclick before sending another trade request. This time, the scammer will offer a much less valuable but similar-looking item in the trade window, hoping the victim doesn't notice. The victim pays the price of the expensive item for a cheaper item.

Example of a transaction:

Scammer: I'm selling a ton of crystal fragments for 100k each!

*Victim checks bazaar, sees that catalysts are 140k each, and decides to party the scammer. They trade, and scammer puts in 2 stacks and an additional 2 crystal fragments. The victim puts in the* appropriate price. After a while, the scammer cancels the trade.

Scammer: Sorry, lagged there. Let's trade again.

*This time, the scammer puts in 2 stacks of enchanted quartz instead of 2 stacks of crystal fragments. The victim, without checking twice, accepts the deal. The scammer runs off with the money.*

### Backpack Scam

The scammer claims that certain items are in a backpack when they really aren't.

Example of a transaction:

Scammer: I'll give you 500k if you help craft Zombie Hearts for me.

Victim: Sure, I have the recipe.

Scammer: I have too much enchanted rotten flesh, so we have to use backpacks.

Victim: Eh sure.

Scammer: I don't trust you. I have 1M worth of enchanted rotten flesh here. I need collateral.

Victim: Uhh, sure.

*Scammer puts in backpacks full of revenant flesh inside the trade menu (worth <1 coin per). Victim doesn't check twice and accepts the deal. Scammer runs off with the collateral.*

Another example of this scam is a "mystery backpack," where they are guaranteed to profit. For instance, a scammer may charge 20mil for a mystery backpack of what appears to be superior, but is instead superior helmet with 3/4 farm suit armor.

### Splash Scam

The scammer will say that they are doing a god splash on their private island, and all the attendee would need to join is give the scammer money. However, after giving the scammer the money, the scammer will kick the victim from the island. These scams are extremely uncommon as of the community center update due to God Potions being available in the community shop.

### Dungeon Carry Scam

A low level player may request higher leveled players for a carry in a Dungeon run. The payer promises to pay after the run; however, when the run completes, the scammer takes off without paying. This can also go the other way around, with the carrier requesting the money before the run and then running off without doing the carry.

### Non-Tradeable Item Scam

This scam involves advertising an item such as the Mathematical Hoe Blueprint or Basket Of Seeds. They will offer it to a potential victim for a price (generally below average), saying that the victim needs to pay them and then they'll drop it.

### Fake Enchanted Diamond Block Scam

The scammer will offer to buy an item from a victim for what appears to be at least a stack of Enchanted Diamond Blocks or similar. To make this scam more convincing, the scammer may pay much more than the market or street price. To start, the scammer will show stacks of enchanted blocks; however, when the trade is completed, only one block per "stack" is given instead of a whole stack.

Example of a transaction:

Scammer: I'll give you 1 stack of enchanted diamond blocks for your Flower Minion. (This stack of enchanted blocks is fake; only one item is real while the other 63 are ghost items.)

Victim: Sure.

*The scammer and the victim trade. The scammer shows one apparent stack of enchanted diamond blocks in the trade window. The victim puts up his Flower Minion.*

*The trade resolves. The scammer receives a Flower Minion and the victim receives only one enchanted diamond block instead of a full stack. Scammer takes off, leaving the victim behind.*

## Scams abusing game mechanics

### Island Stealing (Co-op Insiding)

A player may ask to join or offer items in exchange for joining someone's co-op island, only to grief it by stealing items or destroying the island. Island stealing can also have two new players join a co-op and then vote out the original owner.

Example of a transaction:

Scammer: I'm quitting SkyBlock! /coopadd [scammer's name] to receive all my goodies including my Superior Dragon Armor set!

*The victim /coopadds the scammer.* There are two ways this will go down.

Scenario 1:

*The scammer joins the victim's island, stealing all their valuable items, and leaves the victim with no items.*

Scenario 2:

Scammer: Thanks! Can you also add my friend to the co-op?

Victim: Yes.

*The victim adds in the scammer's friend or alt. The scammer then starts a vote to coopkick the victim, and the friend or alt agrees to kick out the victim. This ends similarly to Scenario 1, except the victim has to start all over.*

## Scams related to phishing

### Trojans

Some programs may appear to offer certain features like other legitimate programs or mods; however, this program contains hidden malware. When the user runs the program, the program can then steal the user's account information. An example of this is a session stealer disguised as a mod that steals the user's session ID for the hacker to later access the victim's account.

Example of hidden malware:

*The victim finds a mod on a website that proposes itself as a SkyBlock (or generic) mod on a website.*

*After downloading the mod, the victim runs the mod. At this point, the mod then obtains all the victim's accounts' session IDs. (A portion of the code shows that it goes through every account that has been stored.) The mod then relays this information back to the hacker to use.*

*Some time later, the hacker uses the victim's session ID(s). The hacker then logs on the victim's account(s) using the stolen session ID(s), possibly using the account(s) for malicious purposes.*

### Phishing Site scam

There are multiple forms of the phishing site scam. All of them involve the scammer attempting to get the victim to enter their Minecraft account's login details into their website, which may or may not resemble the official Minecraft website. The scammer then logs into the victim's account and takes all their items. Even though some phishing websites may appear to do nothing, the victim may actually download malware unknowingly.

Scammers will often offer victims incentives to log into a fake website in order to receive the "free" items, usually in private or party chat. Some scammers will also pose as Hypixel staff or notable players such as YouTubers and tell their victims privately that they can receive free items. Hypixel staff will never start a private conversation with players in-game, and will instead use the forums or wait for players to talk to staff first.

Example of a transaction:

Scammer: Do /p scammer to receive 5 million free coins!

*The victim adds the scammer to party.*

Scammer: Hey, go to [Insert Scam Website Here] to receive your coins!

*The victim goes to the website and inputs their email address and password in. The scammer then receives the email address and password to then log into minecraft.net to reset the victim's password. The victim gets logged out of Minecraft and the scammer then uses the hacked account to transfer the victim's items to the scammer. The victim not only loses his items but also loses his Minecraft Account, the latter which could be used in many malicious ways such as being used as a "burner" account for running a hacked client.*

### Real-World Trading

Aside from violating Hypixel's rules and risking a ban, players who engage in real-world trading may find themselves at risk of having their accounts compromised. A real-world trading website or Discord server may request the victim's email address in order to verify the transaction. Using the email address, the attacker will then attempt to crack the victim's password, match the password up to details in a data breach, and then crack recovery questions by doing research in order to take all the victim's items.

### YouTube Phishing

Some scammers will claim that, if players search YouTube for a specific phrase or channel name, they can watch videos that teach them how to easily make money or promise a giveaway of items. Instead, these videos attempt to phish victims' login details by telling them to log into a third-party website controlled by the scammers or find the username's details and use a password cracker to compromise the account. These third-party sites may resemble a site controlled by Mojang. For example, the scammer may provide a link to a "post on the Hypixel/Minecraft forums" which is actually a third-party site disguised as the forums which then prompts you for a password. After the player logs into the third-party website, the account will be compromised and the scammer will log in to steal all the player's items.

### Password Phishing

A scammer will attempt to get a victim to say their password aloud. One possible way to do this is to say "Look, Hypixel changed it to where you can't say your password backward anymore! See, mine is \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*." However, the asterisks are actual asterisks; it will not censor passwords and variations of passwords, such as passwords said backward. The scammer will then log into the victim's account and take all their items.

Another variant of this scam is to tell players to change their password to something specific, then log out in order to receive free items. This will simply result in the scammer logging into the victim's account and stealing their valuables.