A Notice for Those Who Play Adopt Me! (in Roblox)- please read

(Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post in, but anyways..)

I just got scammed in Adopt Me!.

Here's how it went.

I saw a person in Adopt Me whose description was "Follow me if you want to duplicate your pets".

So, just out of curiosity, I followed the person.

Me: "I want to duplicate  my pets."

Scammer: "sure, just send your pets here."

I sent four of my ultra rare pets, which I regret doing..

Scammer: I need more pets in order to duplicate.

Me: That's all I'm giving you. If you're not going to duplicate them, give them back. Now.

I started to worry.

Scammer: Okay, okay. Just-- Wait!

Me: Hand them over. Now. Please.

The scammer sends a trade request to me. I decline.

Scammer: Do you want to duplicate your pets or not?!

Me: Fine, fine.

I trade my pets to the scammer, one by one.

Scammer: Duplicating...........

                   Duplicating..........

The scammer just ran off. I took off after him/her.

I just ran and ran. Thank GOD I had made "friends" with her in Roblox so I could teleport to where she was in-game.

I arrived in her house. She kept locking it, but that didn't stop me.

Until finally, the scammer decided to stop locking him/her's house.  

Me: Give my pets back. Please- I'll do anything.

The scammer didn't say anything. I just kept sending trade requests to her, but the scammer kept declining.. I was panicking.

The scammer's.. accomplice?: STICK YOUR HANDS UP LADY

I thought he was the scammer's accomplice because their usernames were almost identical.

accomplice: GIVE  ME ALL YOUR PETS

I didn't understand, but suddenly scammer no.1 started dancing.

I sent yet another trade request to scammer no.1 when THIS happened:

Scammer No.1: I don't have your pets! I gave them all to him!

Me, in my mind: WHAT?! Omg, I never should have trusted her..

I send a trade req. to scammer no.2.

He  was more sympathetic, so he gave my Shiba Inu, an Ultra Rare, back to me.

After  that, I only got my common and uncommon pets back. My God, I was so overwhelmed so I just left the server.

Here's a list of all the pets I lost.

• 2x Red Panda(s) [Ultra-Rare]
  
• 1x Robin [Common, they just decided to take it because it wasn't in the game anymore.  ]
  
• Reindeer [Rare- again, it's not in the game anymore.]
  
• Deinonychus [Ultra-Rare, obtainable from the Fossil Egg]
  
• Sabertooth (tiger) [Ultra Rare, Fossil Egg]
  
• Frog (Ultra-Rare) [unobtainable. thats why they took  'im.]
  
• Dilophosaurus [Rare, Fossil Egg]
  
• Pterodactyl [Rare, fossil egg]
  
• Bunny [rare, obtainable from permanent in-game eggs]
  
• Woolly Mammoth [rare, fossil egg]
  
• Glyptodon [uncommon, fossil egg]
  
• Neon Cat, my first ever Neon.
  

13 pets. I know. 

If anyone wants to help me git my pets back, here's what  you can do.

-Walk up to anyone in the game and ask them to show you their pets.

I only named one pet, so that might help. The cat's name is "Kit n e o n".

-Look for anyone in the server with the words:

"follow me if you want to duplicate your pets"

"follow me if  you want a fly potion"

Help is most appreciated. If you find any of my pets, please contact my Discord. I'll provide my username below.

And if you ever get hold of any of them, please send a friend request to me in Roblox and give it to me.

My Roblox username: Tacoburritotchi

My Discord username: tacoburritotchi#1731

I'm sorry that this happened to you, Taco.

Unfortunately, this is a scam as old as time, far pre-dating Roblox or even video gaming in general*, and it's highly unlikely that you'll be able to get anything back. Your items have most likely been traded to someone else, or even sold on eBay or the like, by now (listings for Roblox content are everywhere if you search for virtual pets on eBay).

*It's basically a variant of Advance Fee Fraud.

It's probably best to just take it as a life-lesson and be thankful that you didn't lose real-life goods or money.

Penguin-keeper said:

Your items have most likely been traded to someone else, or even sold on eBay

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What- How even- WHAT

Some info I forgot to put in.

The Glyptodon's name is Rainbow.

Scammer no. 2 was acting a bit like a jerk to me, like, he said:

"What are you gonna do, call the cops?"

"Your parents help me scam people.

Well, I was a bit freaked out by that- but of course he was lying.

Thanks for all the support, guys!

-Tacoburritotchi

Tacoburritotchi said:

What- How even- WHAT

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You should also be careful that your quest to get things back doesn't end up leading to people who might try to scam you again. Unfortunately, scams targetting those who have already been scammed also exist, and I'm sure that there'll be some variant in the online-gaming world, too.

This happened to me once. It really does suck. But, I think it is a little off topic for a website called tamatalk. The only advice I give is to try to remember the username if it happens againg then flag them.

IzzydaTamaBoss said:

But, I think it is a little off topic for a website called tamatalk.

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It's absolutely fine - we have several non-Tamagotchi-related sections for that reason, and this thread is in one of them.

Penguin-keeper said:

You should also be careful that your quest to get things back doesn't end up leading to people who might try to scam you again. Unfortunately, scams targetting those who have already been scammed also exist, and I'm sure that there'll be some variant in the online-gaming world, too.

Click to expand...

But the pets aren't even worth money  They're designed to look as if they're made of, idk, clay? (they're quite cute nonetheless)

EDIT: Omg- they sell Adopt Me! pets on  EBay?! Let me say that again: THEY'RE NOT MENT TO BE WORTH MONEY (but some pets cost Robux- look that up.)

FOR GOD'S SAKE MAN THIS IS HORRIBLE

Tacoburritotchi said:

But the pets aren't even worth money  They're designed to look as if they're made of, idk, clay? (they're quite cute nonetheless)

EDIT: Omg- they sell Adopt Me! pets on  EBay?! Let me say that again: THEY'RE NOT MENT TO BE WORTH MONEY (but some pets cost Robux- look that up.)

Click to expand...

All of these "currencies" are the same - no need to look it up. Robux are yet another virtual in-game "currency" that costs real-world money but has no real-world value and obfuscates the conversion-rate somewhat so as to encourage the user to spend more real money within the game - the idea of having a lot of Robux encourages a "Keeping up with the Joneses" mindset that keeps those inclined to it spending regularly, and they appear to be cheaper and better-value the more you buy at once (even though, again, they have no real-world value - it's just psychological). Schemes like this usually target kids who may be more inclined to see value in non-tangible offerings, since they're hoping to normalise such spending behaviours so as to maximise their profits.

Unfortunately, even though they're not meant to be worth money, schemes like this encourage that sort of thinking in some people, and in turn encourage scamming.

Tacoburritotchi said:

FOR GOD'S SAKE MAN THIS IS HORRIBLE

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It is, but unfortunately environments that're designed to create profit for the operator tend to breed such things, since there will always be others who want to profit from it too.

A good rule of thumb for any kind of trading in an informal environment is to not do it if you don't have equal control with the seller/service provider, or just to give a small amount for a test run. If something relies on someone else's independent actions and you have no way of strongly influencing them, they have the power to not fulfill the bargain. I remember hearing the story a naive girl on Youtube who got scammed trying to get a fake ID for the oh so flawed transaction where she sent someone money and then just waited to get her ID - which of course never came and she never got her money back because there were no controls. People are much more likely to get scammed when scammers don't have to rely on their reputations either since they can just cheat a bunch of people and go somewhere else. That's why Ebay is so safe because they have a feedback system so future customers can see if sellers are actually scammers and that encourages fulfilled bargains. Furthermore, Paypal is such a beneficial online service because they care about both buyers and sellers continuing to use them and they have the power to return money to the unfairly treated party, since they act as a middleman. If there weren't safety controls put on goods/services and blind trust was assumed, the only business the world would have is stealing - because it'd be easy.

Oh yeah, if any of you are interested in the various scams people have pulled over the years, I recommend watching Racket Squad, a vintage, black-and-white tv series that dramatizes various real-life scams "taken from police racket and bunko squads" as the intro details. Another part adds, from what I remember, that conmen "steal more money from the American public each year than bank robbers and thugs with their violence. And remember, it could happen to you". It's on Youtube and, of course, it's entertaining

Report the Scammer!