cupcakelpsaj (AJPC)

Do not attempt to track down or harass any of the scammers we post. We only ask that you report them, and maybe block them.

Hey gang! Danny here with a scammer I encountered yesterday. cupcakelpsaj was advertising in Jamaa Township that they were giving away the items on their trade list in their den. I went to their den to check it out.

Their trade list consisted of a spring phantom headband, peacock feathers, and a glitched red holiday sweater. A good sum of valuable items to be giving away for free.

I waited around in with several other people in the den until cupcakelpsaj returned. They then started to announce the rules of the giveaway. They told us that there would be no begging and only the winner would get their list, and they also asked us to be happy for the winner and specifically told us not to call them out as a scammer. Last of all, they told us that we could leave if we didn't like how the giveaway was going, and that we had to do what they said.

This sounded incredibly suspicious right out the gates - if this was a genuine giveaway, they wouldn't have to specifically tell us not to call them a scammer.

They then asked us all to buddy them before the giveaway could start. This set off immediate red flags for me. Scammers hosting scams in their den will often ask participants to buddy them so that, if anyone even alludes to the fact it might be a scam, they can lock them out immediately.

I wasn't going to participate, but I buddied them anyway so I could stick around and see what was up. They then replaced the giveaway prizes on their trade list with some store-bought items.

They started to explain how this "giveaway" was going to pan out. They explained that it was going to be trust, which means that participants would trade the scammer items, and then have them returned, and whoever trades the best items will win the giveaway.

This is nearly always a scam for a multitude of reasons - why would you trade someone your items if you expect them to be given back immediately after? How does giving the host rare items actually determine a winner? Why does the trade actually have to be accepted? It really doesn't make any sense if you think about it for a second, but it's one of the most popular scams currently.

Somebody traded cupcakelpsaj, and presumably declined the trade before it went through. This prompted them to explain that the participant didn't do it correctly, and told them they had to accept the trade twice, and then cancel it.

This isn't possible. If you are sending someone a trade, you will not get the chance to accept it twice. You send the trade, and if the other person accepts it, then both of you have to accept it again, and then it goes through. This tactic of asking people to "accept twice and then decline" deliberately preys on people who aren't fully aware of how the trading system works. It's meant to trick people into accepting a trade they believed they would get the chance to decline.

Myself and other people in the den asked cupcakelpsaj why we couldn't do another giveaway method, such as a wheel or a draw instead. Their answer to this was simply "idk", and telling us again that we should leave if we didn't like it.

Only one person was actually trading cupcakelpsaj, everyone else had caught onto the fact this was a scam and I had JAG'd everyone asking them to report them and not to trade. The sole participant had apparently had their trade accepted, and nobody else was trading, which would mean they were the winner of the giveaway.

cupcakelpsaj asked them to put a low value item on trade so they could receive their prize, so they did.

However, cupcakelpsaj instead unbuddied us all and locked us out of the den.

I checked the trade list of the person who had "won" the giveaway, and sure enough, the low value item they planned to trade for their prize remained on their list.

Make sure to report cupcakelpsaj for scamming. Stay safe and never accept a trade you don't like!

-Danny