gold gifts from strangers?

amapola76

Hi all,

I logged on this morning to find that I had received a rather large gold gift (500k), with a note that it was in celebration of that player marking an achievement in-game. As far as I know, this person is not a fellow guild member, but I'm honestly not sure; it's probably someone I just randomly encountered at the right moment.

That being said, my first impulse was to think, "Oh, how kind!" and start to type a thank you note. Then my lawyer instincts kicked in.

I can't think of any way this could be a scam, nor do I remember seeing anything about a similar situation either way on the forums over the year (I'm assuming this is a pretty rare level of generosity, if genuine). But, I am cautious by nature, so I thought I'd ask here and see whether anyone else has ever encountered this before, and/or whether there's any reason I should be wary. Is there any way that anyone would even be able to take any negative action, based on me either accepting the gold or responding to say thanks?

amapola76

NB: I also know that to some of you, 500k in gold is basically nothing. I've been playing for several years, and have around 2million in the bank on each server, but it still seems like a fairly large gift to a stranger, to me.

SilverBride

I wonder if they meant to send this to someone else and misspelled the name.

amapola76

SilverBride wrote: »

I wonder if they meant to send this to someone else and misspelled the name.

Oh, that's a good thought! Maybe I'll send them a quick note to make sure before I accept the gold.

TaSheen

amapola76 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I wonder if they meant to send this to someone else and misspelled the name.

Oh, that's a good thought! Maybe I'll send them a quick note to make sure before I accept the gold.

That's what I would do!

Lumenn

To be honest I can only think of one way it could be a "scam" and that's if it's duped gold. Maybe, MAYBE, if it's duped and they're sending it out in "Gifts" some official might ban your account should they just assume you're part of the scam "I got a random gift from a stranger" probably wouldn't carry much weight. It would be a weird way to mass grief people, but I've honestly seen things more petty than this(management from store lvl to corporate for decades. People are....odd)

I'm gonna go with silverbride on this and just say it's probably miss sent to you. Reply and ask them for clarification?

Treeshka

I would say just to be safe send it back.

Lazarus_Rising

2 years ago someone gave me 1.5 million in the middle of the night. Pretty nice i thought. After like a week i got logged out during IC event and got an email from ZOS stating that they took the money away because it was money through exploits and they traced it back to me.

I got no punishment or anything . Luckily i didnt spend it just had it on my bank.

Since then i am very careful with money gifts.


There is the mail:

Greetings,

We have determined that this account has received 1,500,000 gold, and our records show this gold was originally obtained as a result of an in-game exploit.

As a result, we have removed 1,500,000 Gold from this account. Please be aware this is not an official warning and no disciplinary action has been taken on your account.

amapola76

Hmmm. Well, we can still keep our mail for a month before it's auto-deleted, right? I'm thinking I'll reply with a query to the sender, and then give it at least a week to sit there while I see how it pans out. I can always use more gold if it's legit, but I'm not desperate for it.

Really, my two main objectives are first to not impair my game in any way, and second, not to jump to the wrong conclusions if someone actually did just do a nice thing.

SilverBride

Treeshka wrote: »

I would say just to be safe send it back.

This is probably the safest thing to do.

shadyjane62

I have given that amount away, not a lot but couple times a year.

Yesterday I used 500k in AP to buy someone a Deadly Golden Necklace.

If you have been in game for ten years and don't spend a lot, that amount is nothing.

Nightowl_74

A complete stranger sent me 500k once. I was just out questing, I don't remember where anymore, when the little notification ping came up and I realized it was the person who'd been standing next to me but we had no interaction other than being in the same place at the same time. My keyboard wasn't plugged in so I got that set up and thanked them. They replied, so I know it wasn't a mistake, but I've never seen or heard from them again.

Diminish

You would be surprised how many people actually give away random gold to players. I've done it myself many times on both PSNA, and PCNA over the years, and donated millions to streamers to giveaway to their viewers. To some, 500k is a lot of gold, to others, it is a drop in a bucket. If you are not comfortable accepting it then send it back, try whispering them, respond to them asking questions... whatever puts your mind at ease really. I wouldn't think too much into it though myself; it happens more than some people may realize.

Kendaric

TaSheen wrote: »

amapola76 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I wonder if they meant to send this to someone else and misspelled the name.

Oh, that's a good thought! Maybe I'll send them a quick note to make sure before I accept the gold.

That's what I would do!

No, never look a gift horse in the mouth...

If he misspelled someone's name, it's not your fault. I say keep it.

Shlomo666

amapola76 wrote: »

NB: I also know that to some of you, 500k in gold is basically nothing. I've been playing for several years, and have around 2million in the bank on each server, but it still seems like a fairly large gift to a stranger, to me.

May be he needed to get rid of some gold to finish a quest
RichestGuyOnEsu - Gold Cap

Reverb

I wasn’t the sender in your case, because the timing doesn’t line up, but I routinely send 500k-1m gold to players based solely on their comments in zone chat.

Clearly not everyone is getting or giving gold randomly, but I don’t think it’s all that uncommon.

Dr_Con

i misspell the name of recipients sometimes, the game autopopulates usernames sometimes.

DreamyLu

Like @SilverBride was saying some posts above: safest is to send it back.

Personally, I would have done that immediately without second thought. As good as the intention may have been, it's an open door for troubles.

_Zathras_

I'd just return it, with a thank you for their kind thought and generosity.

It is just too large of a gift from some random. I wouldn't feel comfortable accepting it.

spartaxoxo

I think asking them if they meant to send it to you is the right course of action. If your name was misspelled or you said something in zone right as they were sending it to someone else, they'll let you know. And then you can get that nice gift to it's rightful owner. If they did, it's great, and enjoy.

85flyingbrick_ESO

there's plenty of decent folks in game. I used to troll starter zones on New Year's Day and hand out millions to new players. It's fun to give sometimes.