Nefarious: A friend, a scammer, an enigma

[Zelek Uther]

jekkis, sorry to hear of your large in-game loss! (Also to others who have lost large sums)

Nef asked me for 300k a couple of weeks back. It was on IRC, and I had just gone AFK. I came back later to see the message on my IRC screen... just before logging out to go to bed. At the time he asked, I literally had nothing (probably a little bit on my vendors) because I'd just spent all I had on buying resources to maintain my vendors.

If I had 300k, I would have lent it to him though! He was a trusted and generous friend, and ran an excellent rares vendor. It's hard to believe that this has happened, that we are taking about the same Nef... I guess all this must have been the "long con"?

Z

[Telamon]

.

[Abbot]

The thing is, I don't believe this was his plan all along. I know he knows he could have gotten away with a lot more than 4 mil if he really wanted to, legitimately or through scamming. He built genuine relations with people not just by trading a lot, but actually giving you trust back. I think there's others who share this same sentiment, we didn't just trust him because he was the rares guy, we trusted him because he was our friend.

That's what makes this so baffling.

I will not be in the least surprised if he returns, and I don't believe he's gone. I think he's going to try working his way up again and hope no one notices. I'll do what I can to keep a look out for his return.

[Arsen]

yo jekkis i could borrow you a bear rug maybe but if iam about to return somewhen (possible) you need to share it with me. if you ever quit u have to pm me and lemme get it banked. would need to sell some shit first to get the silver. lemme know if that would work for you

[Mikel123]

I would like to say that on December 2, 2011 I said the following:

No dealings so no opinion, but I would like to point out...




His name is Nefarious.

Suckers.

Short of naming himself Ponzi Pete or something like that... yeah. Prob could have seen this coming.

[jekkis]

Contrary to what Abbot said, I believe Nef did plan this at least to some extent. He might not have planned the exact details, dates and scheme, but I'm sure he had this in mind as I've since learned it is typical for him to worm his way into a group, work a long time and wait for the opportune moment - which in this case was around two million off me + around 3 million from everyone else who gave him loans.

As for the idea of getting more out of it, every scammer is driven by greed. In the same manner as drug addicts, they can only think about when the are going to get their next fix and trade something considerably more valuable to just that. This is precisely what Nef did, yes he could probably have scammed millions more, but greed makes you blind and ignorant.

[Abbot]

Contrary to what Abbot said, I believe Nef did plan this at least to some extent. He might not have planned the exact details, dates and scheme, but I'm sure he had this in mind as I've since learned it is typical for him to worm his way into a group, work a long time and wait for the opportune moment - which in this case was around two million off me + around 3 million from everyone else who gave him loans.

As for the idea of getting more out of it, every scammer is driven by greed. In the same manner as drug addicts, they can only think about when the are going to get their next fix and trade something considerably more valuable to just that. This is precisely what Nef did, yes he could probably have scammed millions more, but greed makes you blind and ignorant.

All very possible, I just would prefer not to believe that because that is a harsher reality than I hope.
All I know is it just doesn't make sense.

[Pirul]

Dearest Nef, if you're reading this, please note that I still think you're an upstanding individual, with the highest moral standard. PM me when you want to do the bells deal we've discussed.

* The opinions expressed in this post are subject to revision after such deal is executed.

[jekkis]

Nef has probably been talking about the holiday bells I own, so get in touch with me instead.

[the bazookas]

At least the scam didn't involve the family farm. Such things happen frequently, unfortunately--sometimes even perpetrated by close relatives (I don't have personal experience with this, but I know many who do). It's just easier to do and get away with in an online environment...

It's a mad world *insert Gary Jules piano music here*

Unfortunately only a few viable options exist for dealing with this fact:

• Don't trust anybody (not a viable option in my opinion, since I believe it defeats the purpose of life... although you obviously need to be very careful who you trust, it won't always prevent things like this from happening).
• Not care so much about whatever you lost (e.g the pixels), which is, I think, the best option; I decided long ago to always take the position of "This is not a loan, I'm just giving it to you"--because it doesn't put you both in a position where your relationship might be compromised (unless they continue to mooch off you, but then again, it's easier to say "I already helped you out as much as I am able"). Furthermore, you don't have to always bring up the awkward, "sooooo... you got my money yet?" which can be more painful for everybody involved than just not having the money in the first place.
• Blow them up as much as possible with purple potions whenever you run into them--especially in town or other places where they think it is safe. If you need assistance in this matter, please contact your neighborhood bazooka asap.
• Rage quit. This will probably free up lots of time which may (or may not) be better invested anyhow ... but you'll be back.

[Light Shade]

• Blow them up as much as possible with purple potions whenever you run into them--especially in town or other places where they think it is safe. If you need assistance in this matter, please contact your neighborhood bazooka asap.

I support this action.

-L/S

[chumbucket]

On a shard I used to play on long ago, someone became friends IRL with someone else. He asked for help IRL with really serious problems. Help was received. Friendships were made, etc. And then one day he logged in and dry looted a co-owned castle full of rares and was never heard from again. That was low.

Is that the sort of thing that happened here? Or is this some old fashion UO barding?

[Light Shade]

I believe, in my heart of hearts, that it was an elaborate attempt by [cA.], not [cA], to infiltrate their own guild of [$$$] and ruin their own reputations so that they could later blame it on [cA] and accuse them of ruining the playstyle of bards in general.

Time will tell. Either way, it was a dastardly act.

-L/S

[Grimnir]

I'm assuming Chumbucket is bard as well as thief? Haha.

It does suck to hear. But I do see that is the freedom of playing in the sand.

Only one other MMO out there lets this kind of stuff go. I still love that one too.

I understand the playstyle, I just don't support it.

[Brules]

Over the summer we caught him selling bone piles as bone containers on his vendor, also. This is nothing new to me unfortunately. I am sorry that you were scammed by him.

Nefarious[$$$] ???

$$$ is merging with cA now?

I support you editing your post to be factually true. He was booted from $$$ for being racist in #IRC as well as his suspicious activities I was alerted to.

viewtopic.php?f=74&t=34269&p=310191#p310191

Get your story straight - cA fed you the wrong lines to vomit on the boards.

Go thread crap somewhere else.

Sorry to anyone who got scammed......1st rule of UOSA - never loan ANYONE any amount of $.