Warning: Reading this article may make you want to follow in order to win 13M. No scam.
The Trust Game, also known as the Bid Game, Betting Game or Auction, is another scam performed by RuneScape's 12 year old, brainless and desperate masses. It basically involves the apparent ability to win a certain item by giving the host an item and he'll give it right back. Which he doesn't. Unlike Doubling Money, you actually need to have an item or cash pile worth winning in order to get any attention from people. Some people think simply having an item lent to them works - it doesn't.
Similar to a unwanted child, the scammer first does several rounds of the Grand Exchange in order to get attention from the uncaring masses, 80% of which just follow him in order to shout abuse or derail his unoriginal, pointless efforts. A friend usually comes along as the 'setup' who will place fake bids in order to make it seem that the host isn't scamming, and to give the trust game a bit of activity if everyone else is only there to call the host a retard. Which he is, because he's level 61, in adamant and trying to host a trust game for his 540k bank. Some of these scammers have more than one friend willing to join in, which is unlikely because the average RuneScape player only has one friend who accompanies him out of pity.
C1 or C2? Either its very C through.[]
(It should be noted that this section is not to be used as a 'how-to' regarding Trust Games, but rather a way to know how they work in order to prevent being scammed and/or onlook those participating in said games for the opportunity to say 'I told you so' in a smug and demeaning manner.)
Right, so you're desperate enough to try scamming people outright for some money, and you have a dismal partner to help you with the act. Now, depending on your whether you have the patience or resources, you'll want to do either a Class 1 or Class 2 Trust Game. Now, you thought it was just a procedure of hoping an idiot gives you a decent item blindly? Theres more to it than that.
C1[]
The more simple and far less effective trust game, this one basically has you doing the rounds of G.E advertising your scam, then leading them to the upstairs of the house west of Varrock's large bank and going "Were going to do the bid game" until it dries up, which usually happens in 23 seconds.
C2[]
More effective but requires an investment and at least two friends. This is designed more to build up trust by a bunch of genuine/rigged giveaways then try the main event. It also requires more than one item - a set of Bandos armour and a low rare (Halloween mask, Santa Hat or an Easter Egg) do nicely, but an Armadyl Godsword manages on more than one occasion. A C2 Trust Game scammer may do any of the following in order to gain trust with their gullible victims.
- Trivia Game - Can be rigged if necessary but often more effective genuine, simply doing a few RuneScape general knowledge questions for 100k each proves a good starter.
- Drop Party - A small drop party with moderately valuable items such as Rune Platebodies. Also the best way for a spectator/saboteur to profit from a C2.
- First to... - The host says that whoever does a certain thing first, such as trades the host or type out a certain message wins a prize. This one is almost always rigged, especially when the prize is more than a couple hundred thousand coins.
Once some of this is performed, the host then tries the trust game on the victims, the less intelligent of which will be fooled into thinking it isn't a scam. This is where the host has to balance greed against nerve - they can't just start scamming the first non-setup cash pile they get, they have to work their way up. Obviously you shouldn't take part in this, your 'bid' might be the one the host decides to hit the ejector seat button over. By returning smaller cash piles, and having their friends make fake bids, the 'highest bid' edges up, until it hits the point where some complete moron gives them a large amount of money, at that point the scamming host vanishes with the cash. One occasion, the host had managed to have scammed 42 million coins.
Disruption and Sabotage[]
Sometimes, simply standing there throwing verbal abuse at the host is not enough. Immediately berating the host the second they announce a trust game has been proven to crash a scam before it even gets going, however it is possible to perform a full scale attack on the effectiveness of the scam, which in the best case scenario causes the host to log out or abandon the scam, which is usually called a 'kill'.
- Summoning familiars - A well placed large familar can move the subject away from "anyone top 80k?" and towards "OMFG MOVE THE FIRE TITAN!"
- Fake bids - Completely unlike the ones done by the host's friends, this involves standing on the host and making up a ton of fake bids, in order to cause confusion and delay.
- Spamming bid deterrents - Repeatedly shouting out that the host scammed you when you never actually bid in the first place will deter possible victims from giving the host 'bids'. Even if they ignore you, everyone else won't, and friends of the host will give themself away by continuing to 'bid'.
Bringing a friend increases the effectiveness of these techniques significantly. Angry mobs work even better, if you can find one. Having 20 people autotyping SCAMMER! decimates each and every scam attempt it finds.
Folo-to-win-balls[]
Like every other mainstream scam attempt, the generally thick scammerbase (the only time where the scammer is going to be stupider than the victim, because at least most victims can spell) are prone to fucking up a scam attempt so badly to the point where they get pity, verbal abuse and laughter hurled at them in equal measures. But no gp.
- Follow to win phat (relentessly autotyped) - Unlikely to begin with, especially more so when the scammer is a level 56 who is using a lent blue phat. The immediate reaction is to yell FUCK OFF, which may or may not be intentional.
- Folo to win 60k - Probably the least potentially rewarding scam ever. On both ends.
- C2Balls - The host gets greedy and tries to start the scam a round early. Attempting to yell at him via PM had interesting results, it turned out he had a very similar name to his set-up friend. A quick, repeated shout out of this fact murdered his trust game there and then.