A Guide to Common Scams in Torn
If you've been in Torn for any amount of time, someone will have either scammed or attempted to scam you. You might've been scammed at some point and didn't even know it. It's just the nature of the game and it is allowed within the rules. But to new players, you won't have a clue what's happening until it's too late.
This guide will help those new players, and maybe some experienced players who've just never thought to pay attention. It won't be a fully comprehensive guide since scammers are always finding new ways to make a quick buck off you, but these are at least the most common ones you'll encounter, and knowing how to identify these scams will give you a general idea of what else to look out for.
If anyone has any other scams I might've missed, feel free to comment and I will add them. This took me a couple hours to type up and I'm half asleep now so I probably forgot something obvious.
1. The Loss Non-Buyer
This might actually be the most common scam you'll see. More experienced players will buy losses from weaker players since it gives them merits they can use to improve their own gameplay. It's a genuine money-making method, even if not the most effective, but an easy way to make some quick cash if you blew your starter money in the casino.
If you're new and at all active, they'll use the Advanced Player Search to find you and chat you up. They'll offer to pay you X amount of dollars if you just attack them and lose. Sounds awesome, right?
The Scam: A lot of these people won't pay at all. They'll just take the free loss and then never talk to you again. Or they will shortchange you - offering something like just $100k when losses should be worth considerably more.
How to Avoid It:
- Set a minimum price: Do not accept anything less than $250k at minimum. If anyone is offering you less than that, they are most definitely a scammer. Personally, I wouldn't even trust them if they later agreed to a higher price point - there's a good chance they might not pay out in the first place.
- Check their reputation: Look at their enemy count near the bottom of their profile. If it seems far higher than their friend count, then you know they've done something wrong to make that many enemies. (These numbers represent how many people have added them as friends/enemies, not how many people they have added.)
- Get payment upfront: Always take payment upfront, or at least half, to make sure you don't come out with nothing.
To learn more about optimal loss selling, you can take a look at this guide which goes over them in detail. But again, I don't recommend selling losses as a long-term strategy. Use it only as a last resort.
2. The Investor
Even I get this one a lot, and I imagine a good number of newbies do too. Fortunately this one is the easiest to catch and avoid. You'll get a message from someone random and they will claim that they can double your money in a week if you just give them X amount of cash.
The Scam: The truth is that you'll just send them money, and you will never get it back. In my experience these are usually the types that like to just blow all of their money in the casino, but there are some who really do just want to take your money to fund their next Xanax.
How to Avoid It: Just don't send them your money. Simple as that. Unless it is someone you know that you can really, truly trust - and even then it's worth being cautious.
If you want to learn how to make money fast, there's a plethora of guides available. I generally recommend people check out this guide which goes into great detail about every money-making method that exists in Torn.
3. The Xanax-Vicodin Switch
Some items in Torn have images (or even names) that closely resemble each other. Xanax and Vicodin have similar images. Skateboard and Snowboard have similar names. That's just two examples out of the thousands of items that exist in Torn.
The Scam: A seller will list one item (usually a cheaper one like Vicodin) but make you think it's another item (like the more expensive Xanax) by relying on you to quickly glance at the image without reading the name carefully. You think you're getting a deal on Xanax, but you're actually overpaying for Vicodin.
How to Avoid It: When buying an item from anywhere - whether it's a trade, bazaar, item market, item send, whatever the case may be - always, ALWAYS make sure the item name matches exactly what you intend to buy. Don't just rely on the image. Also make sure the price matches what you want to pay, which leads into the next scam...
Never do trades with item/cash sends. More on this later.
4. The Bazaar Switcheroo
So you're browsing bazaar listings via TornW3B (yes that's a self-plug) or any other bazaar listing site, or you're using a service that alerts you of cheap deals on items (i.e., 20 Xanax found for $700k each). You go ahead and speed through the actions to snatch up the deal before anyone else beats you to it. But wait! The math doesn't add up. What you bought should've added up to five million dollars, but you're now down twenty million!
The Scam: Simple - the seller reduced their price on the item just long enough for someone to notice or for a bot to pick it up, and then switched the price to something much higher just a moment before you bought it. This one can be a bit trickier to avoid since sometimes they will change the price only after you loaded their bazaar, but the page won't update to reflect the new price until you click buy.
How to Avoid It: The only reliable way to avoid this is to make sure you only have enough cash on hand to buy exactly the amount of that item you want to buy. Some take it a step further and will just have enough cash to buy one item at a time. So for 20 Xanax at $700k each, they will have just $700k on hand, buy 1, then rinse and repeat. Yes, it's tedious, but it's the safest way to protect yourself from this scam.
5a. The Cancel/Trade Mugger
If you are trading a large amount of cash to someone, or someone is trading a large amount of cash to you, then others can see that you are guaranteed to have that large amount of cash on hand when that trade ceases to exist, if even for a short time.
The Scam: Determined muggers will often use a partner to be ready to mug the very second that the trade completes or is cancelled. If you aren't prepared, there is no way to avoid losing that cash. Similarly, some muggers will entice you to send them the items directly and then they will send you the money.
They won't.
So don't.
How to Avoid It:
- Never use direct sends: Use only the trade function to send items or money, never use direct sends.
- Be hospitalized during the trade: Make sure you're in the hospital before interacting with the trade at all. You can achieve this by:
- Completing the Intravenous Therapy Education to use Blood Bags, then using one to hospitalize yourself
- Using Ipecac Syrup to hospitalize yourself
- Asking a friend to hospitalize you
- Playing Russian Roulette with $1 games until you lose and end up in the hospital
- Make sure you have Revives turned OFF!
- Plan ahead: Remember you can trade while in the hospital, but you cannot withdraw money yourself from your faction bank or property vault while hospitalized. Make sure a faction banker is online, or ghost trade the money to a trusted friend until you are in the hospital.
Important Note: This also applies to Buy-Muggers. If you are selling something expensive in the item market or your bazaar, make sure you are hospitalized! Always! People will mug you.
5b. The Bulk Item Scam
Sometimes a scam won't immediately be obvious, at least to a newer player. Trading is one of the most lucrative ways to make money, but when you don't know the market it's also one of the lucrative ways for someone else to make money at your expense.
The Scam: You are sent a trade from a high networth player, and they throw hundreds, if not thousands of a random item into the trade. At a glance it looks like a great deal. You calculate your buy price versus the market price and you stand to make MILLIONS! But the truth is that this particular item is the victim of artificial inflation, or is about to tank in price due to an upcoming event. You're buying so much of the item that there's a good chance you won't be able to offload it before the price tanks, and you might just be one of dozens of mules being sent the item.
How to Avoid It:
- Wait: While trading might seem to be an attractive "career" path in Torn to many, it does require an advanced knowledge of the market. Avoid becoming a trader until you've learned more
- Ask a friend: If you have a friend you know and trust, ask them if that trade seems like a scam. Bonus points if the friend is also a trader.
- Do your own research: Take a look at the items history and its future. Has it been increasing in price at an alarming rate? Is an event upcoming that involves that item? Did Ched remove or add it to overseas stock again?
- Always be on your guard: These will usually be obvious if a player sends a trade and the scam item is the only item in the trade. But sometimes they will send you a hundred different items so you don't feel like looking through each and every item. If you notice a high value on the trade, it's worth double checking they didn't sneak in a scam item.
5c. The Not-Ranked-Weapon
Ranked weapons are very heavily sought after and it's easy to lure in people by offering them great bonuses at small prices. After all, the perfect Ranked Weapon/Armor is basically endgame for a lot of players. We all have our dream build that most of us may never achieve, or we all dream of being one of the household RW traders that hoards hundreds of billions worth of ranked weapons. With a little psychology, scammers will take advantage of this fact.
The Scam: A player will offer to sell you a Ranked Weapon at a great price, show you screenshots of the weapon and it will seem like a real legitimate offer. But when they add the item to the trade, they will just add normal version of that weapon - without any bonuses - to the trade. Ranked Weapons don't appear any different from normal weapons at a glance in a trade, so you'll just see the name, assume it's correct, and complete the trade.
How to Avoid It:
- Check The Weapon: Anytime you are trading weapons or armor in a trade, there will be a small 'i' next to the items name. If you hover/tap on it, it will bring up a tooltip that will show you details about that weapon. If there's a bonus then it will show the bonus above the damage/accuracy/quality, as well as the rarity of that item. Double check that ALL of this matches what you were given in the screenshots. Even a difference of 1% on a bonus can be a big leap in price.
- Check The Trade Log: At the bottom of every single trade is a trade log. It shows every single action that has occurred on that trade, from most recent to oldest. Some players will put the real item first, wait til you add the money, then 'accidentally' remove the item and then add the standard version of that weapon. If you see that happened, double-check the one they added back is still the right one.
- Use The Double-Confirm: Unless you have a script that disables it, all trades require a two-step confirm. The first confirmation will lock the trade so neither side can remove items or money, allowing you to inspect the trade for accuracy before completing it. If it doesn't match, you can cancel.
6. The Faction Vault Scam
This one might be a bit harder to prevent or predict. Even major faction families fall prey to this scam. A good share of them go unnoticed since the factions just eat the loss without a forum post or anything, but it is the holy grail of scams as evidenced by the linked article where $780 billion worth of vault funds suddenly went poof into a players inventory.
The Scam: There are two variations of this:
- The Vault Thief: Someone gains access to vault permissions and simply empties it, taking everyone's money.
- The Corrupt Leader: In some cases, it won't be an outsider that steals the vault, but the leader who steals from their members. Ched has gone on record to say himself that the faction vault isn't meant to serve for members to store their funds. So some leaders will treat these funds exactly as Torn names them - as donations - and just use the money on themselves, leaving you with an empty wallet.
How to Avoid It:
- Don't use the faction bank for storage: The safest way to avoid this scam is to avoid using the faction bank for your personal funds. Store your money in stocks instead after buying the Stock Ticker from the Points Building, or use the vault with your property if you own one outright. (Make sure vault sharing is disabled if you have a spouse!)
- Choose your faction carefully: If you really do want to use the faction vault, take a look at this guide which will help you learn what to look for in a faction. It still does not guarantee the faction won't scam you or fall prey to a vault scammer at some point... but it does improve your chances.
7. The Property/Company/Faction Seller
Not much detail needed for this one, since it falls largely into the same category as the trade muggers.
The Scam: Some people will inform you that they can't put a property, company, or a faction that you're interested in buying into a trade, or that it is broken and won't let them add the item. They're lying. They want you to send the money first without the protection of the trade system, and then they'll disappear with your cash.
How to Avoid It:
- Insist on using trades: Tell them to stop playing games or else go vacuum their lawn. These items can be added to trades.
- Verify what you're receiving: If they do actually initiate the trade, make sure that what they added is indeed what you agreed upon. Remember that in the trade menu, money always shows up as red, items in yellow, properties in green, companies as blue, and factions as grey.
8. The API Key Scam
You are pretty unlikely to encounter this one, but with the rise of so many more third-party services popping up these days and how easy it is for them to exploit API keys of new players, it feels necessary that I put this here.
The Background: There are some players who like to rent or purchase API keys of fellow Torn players to power their services. They'll use the same Advanced Player Search tool that the Investor will use to find players who are new and don't know any better. They'll guide you to create an API key for either a one-time fee or a weekly fee. Free money for just doing literally nothing. Most of these are legitimate (at least from what I've seen), but not all of them will be.
The Risk: Your API key can reveal a lot of data about your account, especially if you use a key with a higher level of access. For example, a full access API key can provide your log data - meaning whoever has it can see every single action you take in Torn, and when you take it. This information can be used to track your habits, know when you're vulnerable to mugging, see what you're buying and selling, and more.
How to Avoid It:
- Don't sell your API key if you're uncertain: If you are unsure what all this technical jargon means, then just avoid selling your API key entirely.
- Do your research: If you do decide to sell your API key, take a look at the buyer's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service to make sure it not only makes sense, but aligns with what they said they would use it for.
- Monitor usage: You can check the history of any usage of your API key under the Settings page by clicking the circle next to each API key and seeing the recent history involving that key.
- Use separate keys: It is recommended to use a different API key for each service that you use for both easier tracking and management if API misuse occurs.
- Ask for help: If you do believe someone is trying to misuse your API key or you are really unsure, you can ask a member of Staff who will help you. Staff are not allowed to scam under any circumstances and misuse of your API key is actually a violation of Torn's scripting/API rules. You can see the full details by going here and clicking into the Documentation tab.
9. The Girl
I hate that I even feel the need to enter this one, but I've seen it happen.
The Scam: Girl with a pretty profile picture promises you something. Pictures, attention, who knows. Just give her items or money or access to your property vault.
How to Avoid It: It's a man pretending to be a girl. Stop simping. If they are offering you anything of real-life value or asking for anything that has real-life value (pictures, real world money, etc) do not perform the exchange as this will get you fedded, and report them using the report section on their profile.
In Summary
- Scamming is fully allowed within Torn's rules. While it's unfortunate, the scammer likely isn't breaking any rules.
- Always verify before you buy: Check item names, prices, and quantities carefully. Don't rush.
- Use the trade system: Never send money or items directly when conducting business. The trade window exists to protect both parties.
- Remember the two-step confirmation on trades: All trades require that you accept the trade twice. The first accept locks the trade. Use that to verify accuracy.
- Get hospitalized for large transactions: If you're dealing with significant amounts of cash, being hospitalized prevents you from being mugged.
- Don't trust "get rich quick" schemes: If someone promises to double your money or offers a deal that seems too good to be true, it probably is.
- Protect your faction vault: Better yet, don't use it for personal storage. Use stocks or your property vault instead.
- Research before trusting: Check profiles and enemies counts before doing business with someone.
- Keep only what you need on hand: When buying from bazaars, only carry enough cash for what you intend to purchase.
- Guard your API key: Only share it with established, trustworthy services, and monitor its usage regularly.
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