Splinterscams: And Introduction to flim flam

Greetings Splinterlanders @cryptoniusrex here with a particularly special post this week. This week I will be discussing the various Splinterscams that have began to surface with the rising popularity of the Splinterlands game. This interest has also sparked the interest of scammers and hucksters the world over, and without further ado let's begin by telling you the most common scams encountered here in #Splinterlands AND how to avoid them and keep #Play2Earn ing. In this article I will cover 3 prominent, potential scams.

1 Excitable Discord Bots and Their Enticing Traps

If you join the discord servers involved with this gaming space, which you are likely to if you have any interest, you will be barraged with robots spouting drivel about the "NEXT BIG NFT GAME OR CRYPTO ENDEAVOR" or they will say you have won x amount of crypto you just need to give them your keys to claim it. NEVER GIVE ANYONE YOUR PRIVATE KEYS EVER. These are the keys that give complete dominion over your wallet AND THER IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT ONCE THEY HAVE THEM. If you wish to disable ALL messages from people you don't know BUT share a discord server with there is a system setting for that. Discord actually boasts this option located in the settings menu, that can also solve this issue (Small guide located in summary of section). Additionally any "NFT Opportunity" that actually exists on whichever platform is likely a pump and dump. With their aim to be to sell their assets at market peak and leave everyone else holding the bag of useless tokens. THESE DIRECT MESSAGES FROM PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW AND THAT HAVE NO REASON TO MESSAGE YOU ARE USUALLY ALMOST ALWAYS A SCAM! Example located below.

The Long and Short of Discord Bots and Enticing Traps

NEVER GIVE YOUR PRIVATE KEYS TO ANYONE FOR ANY REASON!!!! This is true for ANY situation... period. Messages like in the image above are almost always a scam. To disable receiving these messages click on the gear next to your name in discord to access "user setting". Then, once there, navigate to the privacy & safety section. After that merely change the "Allow direct messages from server members" option to off (guide image located below). Onto the next section.

2 The Trade that Never Happened

If someone messages you in discord offering to trade an item DO NOT SEND THEM ANYTHING DIRECTLY. There are a few ways to trade and same-time exchange, one of them being on the WAX blockchain. By converting a pack or other item using the circular "convert" button in your Splinterlands inventory, you can convert it to a WAX token in your inventory on Atomichub. Then afterwards, by going to your inventory in the top right corner on atomichub, you can then exchange it with other users in a trade that happens exactly when you approve the transaction. However, IF YOU SEND SOMETHING DIRECTLY TO SOMEONE'S ACCOUNT NOT USING AN EXCHANGE PLATFORM YOU HAVE LOST YOUR ASSET AND THERE IS NO RECOURSE.

The only thing binding a player to that type of agreement is his word. Suggest using wax to exchange the item, it is easy and safe. If the trader had honorable intentions this sort of change won't affect the trade whatsoever. If they WERE going to rob you they may appear offended and "take the trade somewhere else" to entice you to take the bait. Don't go for it. Congratulations, you just dodged a fishing hook. Atomichub here and Wax Cloud Wallet here. An easy to manage wallet, a more detailed guide on how to use WAX in Splinterlands is located here. Now onto the most insidious scam of them all... the Splinter Ponzi.

3 Dark Crystal/ SPS Ponzi Operation AKA "Shared Pool"

This scam in my opinion is one of the most slow and sinister, and not as shattering as having your account hacked and all your assets sold and transferred out of your account without you being able to do anything, but once it's reached it's fruition it can leave you equally devastated in just a moment. In this scam a user (let's call him user x) rallies people together to contribute mutually to a "pool" with either their SPS or their DEC. "Let's all put it together and reap the rewards together" or something along those lines. This player may in fact hold his word.... at first, but there will come a time when he feels the markets are at their peak and cash out that sweet sweet piggybank all of the guild's actual gamers having been pooling together, intending to make all of the "pool's" assets as liquid as possible and sell them. He may even try to shift DEC around to make things "seem" accurate (to the untrained eye) until the unsuspecting guildmembers look on splinterstats one day to see that the "shared pool" account is empty. AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT, that's right! The vault is EMPTY! And who sits there holding the bag? The guildmembers! And even worse still, if he abandons the game and doesn't have anyone else promoted no one else can EVEN IMPROVE BUILDINGS in his absence. That's right, it gets worse.

Even if they plan to hold the assets and play there is no telling how much is being skimmed or actually put into the guild from that account directly without in depth transaction monitoring on the blockchain. Why would any gamer think to do this? Let alone know how to do this? This is why it can be done under your very noses.

At the end of the day the shared pool account only has 1 set of keys controlled by 1 person who can do whatever they want WITHOUT legal recourse, NEVER POOL YOU DEC OR SPS IN A MUTUAL PLAYER ACCOUNT POOL. If they decide to do something you don't agree with in the pool there are NO recourses you can take with the game, paypal, etc. due to the nature of cryptocurrency on the blockchain. Once you send out your DEC or SPS that is IT, there is no way to reverse that decision. There are diesel pools on tribaldex here, and other legitimate diesel exchange pools that offer actual rewards and apr on your DEC and SPS. Best of all, you can WITHDRAW at any time after an un-staking period. If you choose to go that way. Out of any of these ponzi schemes, be ESPECIALLY wary of those trying to pool SPS into their "pool account'. People may offer rewards and gimmicks for these ponzi pools too. They may even incentivize it with the occasional card etc., but don't be fooled. Giving away your SPS is giving away your little piece of Splinterlands. If you really see this game going somewhere hold on to it, and if you don't YOU sell your SPS at the appropriate time on the appropriate REAL crypto market option. Don't make the foolish decision of contributing to someone else's piggybank. The majority of guilds require contribution to guild BUILDINGS, be wary of ones that require donation to a player account "pool". All your work and effort may be gone someday and your guild leader has left the safedoor WIIIIIIIDE open on his way out.

Contributing to guild buildings benefits EVERYONE in the guild directly and is transparent, contributing to a "guild bank" or "shared player account pool" benefits the OWNER of the account the most as he retains absolute power. Some of you gamers aren't savvy about business tactics and scams and some players in this game (due to the nature of it being on the blockchain) may be very professional at these types of schemes and seem very charismatic. It may be their bread and butter in their professional lives as well, because in the world of cryptocurrency there is little legal recourse for this type of behavior. If you cash your SPS into one of these "Pools" to get "shared rewards", someday the payday of the player holding the keys may (and let's be honest there is a good chance he will) sell off ALL of the staked DEC and SPS to get the maximum return on investment at some point someday. Things will seem nice in the days before they pull the rug too, there will likely be bread and circuses with honey and wine so to speak. Free cards, Discounted Packs, Chaos Legion cards etc. The guild or players may not notice it right away, why would they ever suspect? He's been so nice all this time. The amount they "invested" in being nice with gifts is a fraction of a part of the "pool" and that amount pales in comparison to the eventual pooled payout within the "shared player pool" on an exchange. Another "investment" they have successfully returned on, AT THE EXPENSE OF ALL OF YOU. Don't be fooled, they will be charming until the last moment and disappear like a magician.

The Long and Short of the Splinter Ponzi

DON'T POOL YOUR DEC OR SPS INTO SHARED ACCOUNTS WHOEVER OWNS THE KEYS IS THE OWNER OF THAT FUND. They may use honey to sweeten the deal, like cards for donating all you get from airdrops etc. DON'T BE FOOLED. YOUR SPS IS NOT SECURE AND THE "SHARED ACCOUNT POOL" KEY HOLDER MAINTAINS ABSOLUTE CONTROL AND REAPS ALL THE REWARDS FROM HOLDING THE SPS TO BOOT. They may have even gone to the effort to have a youtube channel etc., all this can STILL be a con. No one would ever know until someday (potentially years) from now. You sending them your SPS would sweeten their payday could EASILY be worth the extra effort of having a youtube or twitch. THEY MAY HAVE EVEN BEEN PLANNING THIS ALL FOR THIS MOMENT, never forget ANY player asking you to send them your SPS for promised rewards in the future is suspect. Use an exchange or official pool for rewards, or better yet hold the SPS yourself to get your own rewards (Remember vouchers are tokenized so even if you can't get 1 in a day you can use your SPS to get a PART of a voucher each day). Any shared player account pool may one day vanish and everyone involved will have NO recourse. It's like selling your piece of Apple stock to get an iphone when it comes out every few months, except it's to a random person you know on the internet that isn't even officially with iPhone you met in a chatroom. All on nothing but "his word", and to top it off he's going to not immediately sell the stock either but hold onto it instead. So he can be seeing it's future gains while you sit on the sidelines? Highly suspect. Sounds like an easy choice in this scenario to me too, doesn't it? No thank you, I'll keep my SPS. Most guilds require BUILDING donation fees, these are reasonable and benefit everyone in the guild and only benefits people WHO INTEND TO KEEP PLAYING. Whereas, the pool account can in fact be a hidden payday of the keyholder at the end of the day. Add to the ACTUAL diesel pools here, these are the official diesel pools for the token. However, I recommend holding onto the DEC for airdrops if you are an early player to get in on the SPS action. Diesel pools don't offer card prizes, just a small trickle of apr. Not as much as one could make from card rentals either, but they are LEGITIMATE DEC pools.

A Handy Dandy Checklist Summarizing How to Avoid ALL LISTED Scams

• NEVER SEND ANYTHING TO A PLAYER ACCOUNT DIRECTLY WITHOUT AN EXCHANGE PLATFORM FOR A TRADE! IF YOU WISH TO BUY OR SELL ALL SALES IN THE SPLINTERLANDS MARKETPLACE ARE PLAYER 2 PLAYER. USE THE OFFICIAL MARKPLACE TOOLS! More info on why in Section 1
• NEVER GIVE YOUR KEYS TO ANYONE!!! More info on why in 2
• NEVER POOL YOUR SPS/DEC IN A "POOl" THAT IS A PLAYER ACCOUNT AND NOT A REAL DIESEL POOL More info on why in section 3

ADDITIONAL NOTE: It should be noted that there may be many players offering you discounted packs,vouchers,promo cards, NFTs, or anything else for sending your SPS to their account (they may call it a "pool" of some kind). Don't be fooled by these hucksters! They will be offering enticing things (they may even give them to you), DON'T BE MANIPULATED. SPS will eventually STOP BEING AIRDROPPED. They may have money to put towards the con (including youtube animations, twitch giveaways etc.), but even so. Whatever giveaways or subscriptions they are offering to have you participate by sending them SPS are NOT WORTH IT, they have done a projection of the value of SPS and I promise you they anticipate it being much more valuable than WHATEVER they are giving you. And you are surrendering your assets to them willingly for them to exploit. DON'T BE DECEIVED Full in depth explanation on the how and why in section 3.

Hopefully these tips will help you from filling up someone else's pockets, and more importantly keep gamers from getting swindled out of their hard earned profits that they made fighting the Splinterbots and each other. All their rainy DEC fund funneled into a crypto scammer's pockets. Don't let it happen to you! Some people may have good intentions and give you benefits for siphoning away your SPS but don't be fooled, when the dollar sign to cash out is too great it's hard to say where that same guild leader will stand months or WEEKS from now. Guild Buildings stay with the guild and are something that most guilds require at least a pittance thrown toward every season etc. If you like this guide (actual FREE giveaways, tournaments, and more!) consider following me here on peakd. Reblog this post if you think someone else can benefit from this info. Next week: An in Depth Analysis on the Future of Splinterbots will shine some light on "What they mean for the rest of us?"

Splinterscam Awareness Drive Giveaway

This week I will be giving a set of 10 essential starter cards for bronze league for 15 days to 10 players chosen at random. What do you have to do to enter? Tell me what you think in a comment on this post, it's that easy and with no strings attached! You don't even have to like this post if you don't want to. I sincerely hope this guide helps someone from getting scammed or worse, losing their hope in Splinterlands forever. Don't forget to follow for more content, and stay safe out there battlemages. Reblog for awareness if you think this information can help someone.
If you want to donate to a victim of hacking and know more on the subject check out this post here (all proceeds go to the victim and even though it is past being able to like it you can still send a tip). Keep in mind this sort of scam is not present in DELEGATION which is different than asset transfer in the way you can do with @monster-curator which offers manual SPT curation services. And you make passive APR rewards on your SPT.

Keep Summoning And See You in the #Splinterlands Be Safe Battlemages