Discord Monopoly Channel - How to Spot a Scammer

This post will discuss things as it relates the main Monopoly Server, the one with over half a million users. There are more than a half a dozen servers. They are all similar, but not identical. 

This article applies to trades that primarily involve trust. Safe Exchange is "usually" safe. There are exceptions. I will go over those in a separate post later. I usually trust a Safe Exchange. 

Generally speaking I use three main red flags to detect a possible scammer. If a trader has any one of them, I will typically avoid them unless we are doing safe exchanges. If they have the first one, or more than one, I will usually avoid them, even if they want a safe exchange. 

I believe I have made over 200 trades now, probably more than half involving me trusting the other person in some way. So far, I have not been scammed. I am sure I will be, but it has not happened yet. 

Many of my trades are "stickers for stars." For example, I will pay 12 stars for the four star card you have that I want. In this case, the one giving the stars is generally expected to send first. Some servers have "rules" that say lowest rep sends first. However, people are not going to send the one card you want in hopes that you will then send four three star cards (and I don't think they should). 

Here are the Red Flags That May Indicate a Scammer

• A new Discord account. The is the worst red flag. 
• If you message them, "Hi," and then click on right click on their avatar and go to their profile, it shows you the age of their discord account. Most scammers accounts are less than five days old. They get reported, and open a new account. Do not trust anyone with a new discord account. I know we all had to have a new account at one point, but most people trading stickers for stars on a new discord account are scamming.  
• I generally give them a 'red flag' for any account that is less than a month old. If the account is less than five days old, I will not even do a safe exchange with them. 
• They make an offer that sounds too good to be true. 
• When Spot Rebel was trading for 60 stars or 2 fives, scammers were offering it for 25-30 stars. Invariably, if you checked the age of the Discord account, it was almost always new. They make the offer for the rarest card about half the time, another red flag. 
• There were a few occasions where someone offered a five star card for half its value or for a four star and they did not have a new discord accord. In the case of the four star offer, I usually gift them the four star and get them to promise not to do that again. The future them will look back on that trade with deep regret when they have the four star cards they need and they are then trying to get five star cards. While they are not scamming, I do consider it exploitation and a little unethical to make the trade with them. It would feel very scammy on my part to trade under those conditions. 
• They do not have legitimate rep. (Just Checking Rep is Not Enough)
• I consider around 30 points to be safe; however, I will trade if they have less than 30, but the other two red flags are not present. 
• Not all rep is legitimate. They can have 30 rep. but mostly from the same user. This is a scam. 
• To check rep. do not enter "-rep" on the server and check the number. That is exactly what many scammers are hoping for. Instead, search user mentions and you can verify that the reps are coming from different users, not one or two. Additionally, if someone has accused them of scamming recently, that too will be in mentions. 
• Correct way to check mentions: 
• Right click the user's avatar and go to their profile. You see the users display name. Under that, you see their discord ID. Double Click the ID, and then copy. 
• Then go not to direct messages, but to a main channel, such as five star trading. Once there, if there user id is tuenis_soref, for example, enter this in the search box:
• mentions:tuenis_soref

• Once you are satisfied with mention, if you double click the most recent rep in user mentions, it will take you the reputation channel where the rep was given, and that will show you the number of reps they currently have. 

Note: here is an example of someone who had decent rep if you just check rep, but if you check mentions you find that he got it all at once, mostly from a single user, probably himself under a different name.