Roblox: How to spot and avoid scammers in Adopt Me!
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Roblox is one of the most popular gaming platforms in the world.
Around 100 million people use Roblox every month, Adopt Me! is one of the most played games on the platform.
Adopt Me! is a game where players can adopt virtual pets like dragons, unicorns and giraffes, raise them, visit islands and build homes.
Made by NewFissy and Bethink, and released in 2017 the game now has around 52 million monthly players, and has broken gaming records.
However, some players have experienced or witnessed something called 'scamming' whilst playing the game.
It's a big issue, and we've been finding out more about it, and how you can protect yourself from it.
What is scamming?
This scammer is trying to trick YouTuber Leah Ashe into a Trust Trade
A scam is when someone tries to trick another person into giving something of theirs away, by promising something or lying about what they can give in return.
The main reason why people do this is to get rare or valuable things easily by taking advantage of others' trust.
In Adopt Me! one of the main things scammers try to do is take rare items or pets away from other players, without giving anything back in return.
How to spot scammers in Adopt Me!
This scammer caught in a recent video by Leah Ashe was pretending to be a YouTuber who was giving away free gifts in return for rare items
Here are some of the ways that scammers can try to steal from other players:
By pretending to be a famous YouTuber - when they are not, to earn a player's trust.
Offering things that are not true - such as duplicating pets, making pets flyable or ride-able (when they are not normally), or offering to change the colour of your pet.
Trust-trading - scammers might ask players to give them an item first, with the promise they'll give them something after.
Asking to borrow something - then not giving it back.
Lying about something that happened in real life to get sympathy and free items from other players.
How to avoid being scammed in Adopt Me!
Roblox: Leah Ashe's top tips for avoiding scammers in Adopt Me!
Here are some of our top tips to avoid scamming.
Get knowledgeable about your stuff - Pets like dragons, unicorns and giraffes are in the legendary tier and are harder to get. Learning the value of your items means you are less likely to fall for fake or unfair trades. Adopt Me! makers say: "Scammers will lie about how rare an item is, make sure to check how rare an item is before trading it."
Be critical - Take a step back and think, does the situation seem right and do you know the person and trust them?
It's okay to say no - Don't feel pressured to say yes to a situation you aren't sure about. You can say no if the situation doesn't feel right or it's making you feel uncomfortable.
The makers of Adopt Me! say: "Never trade items outside of Adopt Me!, only use the official in-game supported trade tools. If a deal seems too good to be true, it's probably a scam."
What to do if you've been scammed
Roblox has this information on its website to help people report issues
The makers of Adopt Me! say: "We are working on a number of new updates to help reduce scamming. We track every trade in the game, which we can easily search to help punish scammers. We are working on new systems where players can report users, and new features for trading including more trade slots, extra trade verification and a special 'Trading License' required to trade as well as lots of other things".
They also recommend contacting the Roblox or Adopt Me! support team if you have been scammed, although they do say: "we can only help with certain problems".
Roblox recommends using its 'Report' feature to record in-game abuse.
In an official statement on their site it says: "If you made a deal with another player and they backed out, we are not able to reverse it or return your items or currency."
Some players have criticised this system, saying it's not always effective at solving a problem.
The makers of Adopt Me! recommend learning about some common scams you might face in the game, and teaching your friends how to avoid them as well: "On the whole, the Roblox platform and developers do a good job at helping reduce scamming, and by sharing knowledge we can help make sure more players stay safe and protected."
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