To repeat from the other thread: there were no warning signs that there was a problem, no sign of any kind of crisis in leadership or that. Nor is this a case of not properly vetting an officer first, this was a long con intended to draw in members to guilds under the auspices of being a growing trade guild with hopes of becoming a strong and viable community. A "con" remember comes from "confidence," and even now there are still people this guy scammed who believe they are indebted to him, because the situation played to expectations. It wasn't a case of "join my guild, now give me all your money," it worked to develop a community spirit so that people wanted to see the guild thrive, that's what good guilds do.

Remember, if you're on NA/PC, you're indirectly affected as well. With four trade guilds that were previously operating near full capacity, there are thousands of items that were for sale that have been yanked off the market. These items haven't suddenly been dispersed over other trade stores. And the people who make money off those lost sales are now poorer for that, and consequently are not spending their profits on items from OTHER guilds. And you now have a sociopath with hundreds of millions of gold who is free to knock useful established guilds off their trader.

This isn't a case of some petty drama, there is a predator operating in a manner largely indistinguishable from any other trading guild that's trying to get a foothold on the market. It hurts innocent guilds' reputations, it takes advantage of the qualities that make people good guild members, it makes people new to trade guilds wary of being scammed again, and it negatively impacts the game's economy. And yet, the guy is still openly operating under the same name. That's why something needs to be done, because it will happen again. Nobody benefits from this person being in the game.

If this person is using the names of established guilds in order to recruit for a version 2 of those guilds without any affiliation, I'd say that ZOS should definitely get involved. One might even say that falls under the naming and shaming rules.

I'll never understand the mentality that some people have who say things like, "If you were dumb enough to fall for this, then you deserved it".

To those types of people: I hope that your grandparents never fall victim to a scammer and lose hundreds or thousands of dollars because of it.

There are predators out there who could care less who they exploit or in what way. Whether it is a scammer stealing real money or in game, a predator is a predator. People do not "deserve" to be exploited.

Pretty sure he already changed his name. So the one in the screenshots no longer applies.

The player in question has been taken care of.

@Kane_Hart appreciate the post, though I'd generally advise against reposting forum moderation decisions publicly on these forums. Rarely ends well for the poster.

Ackwalan wrote: »

If only the game was moderated as strictly as the forums.

Can't have evidence in a searchable format out there that makes you look bad. The carpet must truly be a thing of wonder to hold so much under it.

I wonder if ZOS would edit my post and give me a warning for name and shame if I did it towards my own ingame name...