| The good old fashioned Auction House scam has a | | | | their cloth for will only be 25-40% above standard |
| number of different variants, each of them with a | | | | market price (this will add up quickly though). Now, with |
| varying level of offense to Blizzard and its customers. | | | | a full monopoly on the item, they must only watch for |
| On a very basic level, the scam merely monopolizes | | | | other people adding theirs and buy them as quickly as |
| and drives up prices in the Auction House. However, in | | | | possible. It's a quick scam because they must ensure |
| more advanced modes, the scam can actually steal | | | | that they keep the market to themselves or they lose |
| people's gold and leave them empty handed or with a | | | | their money and their deposits. |
| stack of useless cloth. | | | | The Scam Part |
| The Basic Premise | | | | After monopolizing the market, there is a series of |
| The basic cheat that many people utilize is completely | | | | scams available to ensure that a scammer can get rid |
| legitimate because it is within the scope of the game | | | | of their items quickly and for the price they've listed. To |
| rules and really just involves manipulating the in-game | | | | do so, they will then hotlink an item that they do not |
| economy a bit, something that is technically illegal in real | | | | have, an epic blue weapon or the like. They will offer |
| life but completely doable nonetheless. However, it is | | | | to trade the epic weapon for a fair number of silk |
| something that you can easily watch out for by | | | | cloth. Now, when everyone purchases the scammer's |
| keeping careful track of prices and values in the | | | | silk cloth from the Auction House and whispers to the |
| Auction Houses of numerous servers. | | | | scammer to trade, the scammer simply states that |
| The first step that these Auction House entrepreneurs | | | | they already traded and ignores the rest of them. |
| take is to find an item on the Auction Block that few if | | | | By using this method, they can quickly and easily get |
| anyone is selling. Let's say they've chosen Silk Cloth | | | | rid of 200 or more silk cloths and get out of the |
| for example. They will then gather as much as 175 of | | | | Auction House with a 40% boost in sales by artificially |
| this item. Now, to make sure they have full control of | | | | inflating prices. This is hard to get in trouble for, so it is |
| the market, they will buy off all the existing Silk Cloth | | | | important as a buyer that if you see prices that look |
| on the market to ensure that only they have the ability | | | | inflated, you check with other servers to ensure that it |
| to sell. Now, they can list their Silk Cloth for whatever | | | | is fair and that you are not being scammed. Of course, |
| price they want. | | | | with supply and demand, if you need the item, you |
| However, to keep up appearances, the price they list | | | | might just have to pay the price for it. |