Album scams and you (yes... YOU!)

Seeing as there are so many scams happening this few days i decided to make this post to create awareness to all who read this regarding album scams and since i am pretty bored due to MT

ALBUM SCAMS

What is it?

Album scam is when a person wants you to hand over your card so that he can gain the album entry for his account, claiming he will return the card after he has done so but more often than not once he has received the card, the person will not return it


Here is a more scenario of albuming with out collateral for you to consider when you are about to album with someone

-P1 is your average guy who has just obtained a $1000 note
-P2 is the scammer

*P2 approaches P1*
P2: Hey thats a nice $1000 note, i have never seen or owned 1 in my life can i take it home to take a picture of it?
P1: ok only if you return it when you are done. I need the money to live
P2: sure! no problem just wait here for a bit ill be done in no time
*P1 hands over the $1000 note to P2 to take home*
*P2 disappears almost immediately never to be seen again*

This is exactly what happens when you let another person album your cards. Its no different from the scenario above. Will you lend a person a $1000 note to take home and take a picture? If your answer is no then you should not be doing this to your cards... Its common sense actually!


How to prevent album scams

Dont album
They cant scam you if you refuse to album and allow people to album. There is no rewards for albuming anyway.

Request and make good collateral
I strongly advice to avoid albuming totally but if you still want to do it here is the next best option:

Have a good collateral for the albumed card. Collateral enough to cover the value of the card in case he does not return it.

Collateral should not be sold immediately if the person vanishes after receiving the card. The other party may be experiencing connection problem/service disruption etc. If you sold the collateral you lost the right to gain the card back!

People will value things differently etc... expect to pay a higher amount for your card to be returned if you sold the other party's collateral!


Q&A Section

Q: What makes good collateral?
A: A good collateral is an amount that you are comfortable of getting your card back if you sell the collateral in the event the person decides not to return the card.

Q: What if the person claims to be a reputable albumer?
A: Still request collateral from that "reputable" person of course! you never know what can go wrong

Q:What if the person does not have / refuses to give collateral?
A: You should avoid albuming with such people. If the person wants to album your card, expect him to give an equal or more value to your card that he wants to album(read what makes good collateral). If a person wants to album your card he should take all if not most of the risk involved, not the person being asked for the card to handle the risk.

Q: What if the person claims he needs to album the card to provide information to the wiki/wikia/online resource site?
A: If you feel like helping the person, there is NO need whatsoever to hand the card over. You can take a screenshot of the card from your album page and send it over instead. If you find it too troublesome you can always say no.


Share This!
http://tinyurl.com/albumscam

Screw you

Hmm i would say, i will only do an album trade for a valuable card if the person offers a card of equal value in my perspective. At least if the guy scams, i have something worth with me.

KuroStar wrote:

Screw you

what did i do to you?

Mistrevia wrote:

Hmm i would say, i will only do an album trade for a valuable card if the person offers a card of equal value in my perspective. At least if the guy scams, i have something worth with me.

Very true! but sadly it seems like many people still don't understand this though. Take a look at the last beatrix:doro scam

saphion wrote:

KuroStar wrote:

Screw you

what did i do to you?

Mistrevia wrote:

Hmm i would say, i will only do an album trade for a valuable card if the person offers a card of equal value in my perspective. At least if the guy scams, i have something worth with me.

Very true! but sadly it seems like many people still don't understand this though. Take a look at the last beatrix:doro scam

Look at my signature

The rule to follow is: Only trade (for albuming) for things you'd be happy to keep if the other person scams you. Of course, they have to be the same value or similar.

As people have said, there's no real value to albuming other than bragging rights/completeness. You should only album with people who can give proper collat or who have a good reputation.

Unfortunately, there's been cases of long-time allies scamming their allies, so if you still want to take the risk and album with someone else, don't complain if you lose your cards over crap collat.

Of course, not everyone is out there to scam people, but if your spent money/hard work is at risk, you should be kinda paranoid with albuming. (There's a reason why Dianas/Georgios/etc owners don't let other people album)

HoundR wrote:

The rule to follow is: Only trade (for albuming) for things you'd be happy to keep if the other person scams you. Of course, they have to be the same value or similar.

As people have said, there's no real value to albuming other than bragging rights/completeness. You should only album with people who can give proper collat or who have a good reputation.

Unfortunately, there's been cases of long-time allies scamming their allies, so if you still want to take the risk and album with someone else, don't complain if you lose your cards over crap collat.

Of course, not everyone is out there to scam people, but if your spent money/hard work is at risk, you should be kinda paranoid with albuming. (There's a reason why Dianas/Georgios/etc owners don't let other people album)

Some people are just too greedy. long-time allies sigh

I'm kind of thinking aloud and want to try to make a case for this idea. I haven't totally convinced myself but maybe some of you would be willing to think about it and discuss calmly I'm open to the fact I might be wrong here.

Given what seems like a huge amount of album scams (I seem to see "scammer alert" every day for a different account) I wonder if it might be best for the community as a whole if all of the respectable players gave up albuming?

I know it's a bummer for your individual album goals (though, you can always still trade!) but if the overall impact is that it makes the community safer for all players, it might be worth it. Think of it this way: tthe more people who play the game the better. People drop off the game all the time. If enough new people don't stay in the game to replace the old ones, the game dies faster.

If respectable players make albuming seem respectable/OK, then people are more likely to get album scammed (they feel bad about saying no, they've seen it work a couple of times so they let their guard down, etc) and we make it easier for the album scammers.

But if all/most respectable players just stopped albuming, then it would be pretty clear that when someone wants to album, it's likely a scam. If we moved in this direction, we would make it more likely for honest players to stay in the game, because they will not get either
a) frustrated by being scammed when they are new, or
b) just leave the game when they are still kinda new and see "scammer alert" and they wonder WTF is up with this game/community and leave before they get hooked like the rest of us.

Yeah, i only album with ppl i trust ( from having done it multiple times before) and i only get to trust them by albuming with collateral. But ALWAYS demand collateral of equal or greater value. If they come to you to album, they should be willing to take the risk.

I don't see the point of wanting to fill your album with rare cards since it doesn't accomplish any in game goals or criteria that you can't do on your own. If you want the art, look for high resolution pictures online and put them on your phone/tablet/comp.

BigYojimbo wrote:

I don't see the point of wanting to fill your album with rare cards since it doesn't accomplish any in game goals or criteria that you can't do on your own. If you want the art, look for high resolution pictures online and put them on your phone/tablet/comp.

Some people just like to do it, in the same way some of us love playing this game while others think it's an absolute waste of time.

Man, that IS a sobering thought.

Happiemealz wrote:

BigYojimbo wrote:

I don't see the point of wanting to fill your album with rare cards since it doesn't accomplish any in game goals or criteria that you can't do on your own. If you want the art, look for high resolution pictures online and put them on your phone/tablet/comp.

Some people just like to do it, in the same way some of us love playing this game while others think it's an absolute waste of time.

Man, that IS a sobering thought.

THAT IS A SOBERING THOUGHT?!

Try to think of how Kadaan gets all the pictures in the wiki !

Learn to shut your mouth lmao !!!!

I was being analogically sarcastic. For the record, I have no qualms about people who want to album - to each his own.

The issue with scammers is probably never going to end. What makes it worse is that the majority of scams is actually done on one allie to another. Its a disgusting betrayal of trust where you album with one allie multiple times and you build trust for them, and one day you get a rare card and you let them album without collateral and then BAM! you're scammed.

Lately scammers plan their attack without remorse and will become allies with someone with a similar username. Its strange that they would do this but people, for some unknown reason, will accuse the account with the similar name as the scammers second account. Im not sure how this train of thought came to be but its affecting one of my good allies right now because they have a similar user name to a scammer. Lol so if someone makes an account SlytheringSerpent and scams, people will run to me SlytheringSnake thinking I'm the second account. Im rather surprised at the number of in game players who assume that.


All of this is messed up. It would be nice if people stopped albumming, since as everyone else mentioned, there is no in game benefit to doing so. But of course, its not gonna stop. So please beware who you album with. Don't album with strangers. Don't album with allies unless you've known them for a while, a loooonnnggg while. And make sure you have a collateral. Even if they are your allie don't be afraid to ask them to trade a collateral and if its not enough press the cancel button, its not worth the risk. And if you're not sure the value of the collateral, just ask your allies for a price check

Kurostar wrote:

Look at my signature

you mean this?

Quote :

I CAN BE TRUSTED TO ALBUM! SO LET ME ALBUM RAAAAAAWWWWWRRRR!!!! XD

Thats the same thing scammers say. Maybe you can be trusted but not everyone is the same

Kurostar wrote:

Try to think of how Kadaan gets all the pictures in the wiki !

If you need the information to be uploaded into a wiki/wikia/resource site, you can request the owner to give you the screenshot of the front and back of the card, no need to hand it over.


In short dont take unnecessary risks. If you still want to do it, its your call, i can only warn but i cant stop you people from carrying on

-updated with a Q&A section-

albuming is so 2012

There are people who started in 2013 :p

saphion wrote:

Kurostar wrote:

Look at my signature

you mean this?

Quote :

I CAN BE TRUSTED TO ALBUM! SO LET ME ALBUM RAAAAAAWWWWWRRRR!!!! XD

Thats the same thing scammers say. Maybe you can be trusted but not everyone is the same

Kurostar wrote:

Try to think of how Kadaan gets all the pictures in the wiki !

If you need the information to be uploaded into a wiki/wikia/resource site, you can request the owner to give you the screenshot of the front and back of the card, no need to hand it over.


In short dont take unnecessary risks. If you still want to do it, its your call, i can only warn but i cant stop you people from carrying on

-updated with a Q&A section-

THat was meant to be a joke, typed that on impulse. You only just reminded me to change it.
I'm talking about 'Visit my shop..."
Please, my album completion is quite at a high percentage.
And btw, before if you EVEN try to accuse me of scam. Go and see my album completion as of now, I have already albumed 6* as well with 5* collateral.(Rouge, Xmas Francois, Xmas Debbie and some others)

I cannot be trusted?

Seriously, my respectable fellow forum members, please stop and think before album trades, come on the forum and ask if anyone else will make that trade before you do, and hear all the warnings, and think before you act.

Also an advanced warning.
No matter how much you trusted your ally, and how many successful trades/albuming/lending you did with that ally before, always ask for collateral that can cover your loss. Not that you don't trust them, but to maintain a good trading and trusty relationship both sides have to cooperate.
If an ally is mad at you for not giving your card without collaterals, be very cautious, do say sorry, but don't trade unless s/he is willing to collat. It is always the scammers that are trying to get your card at that very moment, because usual trusty players don't get mad for a friend acting logically. A usual player that just want to album will likely try to get enough to collat. because the difficulty to album should be a part of the game, and true albumers should know that very well.

MythSearcher wrote:

Seriously, my respectable fellow forum members, please stop and think before album trades, come on the forum and ask if anyone else will make that trade before you do, and hear all the warnings, and think before you act.

Also an advanced warning.
No matter how much you trusted your ally, and how many successful trades/albuming/lending you did with that ally before, always ask for collateral that can cover your loss. Not that you don't trust them, but to maintain a good trading and trusty relationship both sides have to cooperate.
If an ally is mad at you for not giving your card without collaterals, be very cautious, do say sorry, but don't trade unless s/he is willing to collat. It is always the scammers that are trying to get your card at that very moment, because usual trusty players don't get mad for a friend acting logically. A usual player that just want to album will likely try to get enough to collat. because the difficulty to album should be a part of the game, and true albumers should know that very well.

You deserve this

KuroStar wrote:

You deserve this

What are you saying? Qute Kitty should always deserve cheers(and hugs and head caress) ;9

MythSearcher wrote:

KuroStar wrote:

You deserve this

What are you saying? Qute Kitty should always deserve cheers(and hugs and head caress) ;9

Okay, I'll try this...

Spoiler:

I personally do not trust anyone enough to album, it is nothing personal. I see no reason to album in this game since there's no reward for doing so, although I guess I can understand why people would want to have a full collection. I think I would only ever do it with cards I have doubles of, just in case.

Its a shame that there are so many scammers now-a-days. Albuming IMO is part of the game. I like being able to flip through all the cards and I strive to complete mine.
After being scammed I really learned that there is a proper method to it though.

I dont think albuming should be discouraged, just make sure you're protecting yourself with collat. Luckily, I have some pretty awesome allies that just let me album everything they get so I dont do risky albuming with other people.
Anyway, I am a proud albumer and I will not quit till I have them all ^_^
Unit #: 324/373
Monster #: 64/101

Shop Link!< Here is my shop/albuming corner where I have what I need and what I have no issue albuming listed.
We can all album safely and the forum is the best place to start ^_^

KuroStar wrote:

And btw, before if you EVEN try to accuse me of scam. Go and see my album completion as of now, I have already albumed 6* as well with 5* collateral.(Rouge, Xmas Francois, Xmas Debbie and some others)

I cannot be trusted?

Chill. I am not accusing anyone of scamming. All i am saying is that you should not blindly believe words of trust when you do not even know the person. Some examples:

Quote :

I can be trusted

Quote :

Trust me I am your ally

Quote :

Even though its not equal collateral i like my cards so i want them back

Quote :

I wont scam look at my records

etc... so on and so forth...

and yes please album safely


On the side note:

KuroStar wrote:

I cannot be trusted?

No, at least not for me. No offense so dont take it personally but i dont know you at all.