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bauer6bauer6 Member Posts: 125 Arc User
hi all,
i have received many in-game emails from a company called ***** to purchase EC.
was wondering is this legal within the game to purchase EC from them?

thought i would ask before making a transaction.

will not do it if my account gets banned thats why i am asking.
Post edited by bauer6 on

Comments

  • verlaine11verlaine11 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    bauer6 wrote: »
    hi all,
    i have received many in-game emails from a company called ***** to purchase EC.
    was wondering is this legal within the game to purchase EC from them?

    thought i would ask before making a transaction.

    will not do it if my account gets banned thats why i am asking.

    Stay away from them, totally uncool and will get busted for it and you should amend your post to take the name out.
    Also you could get your info stolen from them, never ever buy from companies like that
  • lan451lan451 Member Posts: 3,386 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    No, it is not. If you want to spend real money for EC, you can buy things like Master Keys and Fleet Ship Modules from Cryptic and then sell those on the exchange in game. Never use those shady sites. They're more likely to steal your account and/or credit card number.
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  • chalpenchalpen Member Posts: 2,207 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    The issue isn't just that your account will be banned. The real issue is that they will milk your cc so bad your grandchildren will feel it
    Should I start posting again after all this time?
  • jaguarskxjaguarskx Member Posts: 5,945 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    No, it is not legal based on a somewhat similar thread about a month ago.

    Purchasing ECs, keys, ships etc from an outside source (i.e. not Cryptic / Perfect World) can get you banned if you are caught.

    The last time I have received such an e-mail, I reported it as spam.
  • ltdata96ltdata96 Member Posts: 15 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Not sure, don't think so.

    The real question is: Are those messages legal. And i'd say no! Nearly everyday i find such messages in my inbox. REALLY annoying, i don't want their f***** ECs:mad:
  • bauer6bauer6 Member Posts: 125 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    guessed as much, thanks for the heads up fellas.

    i have received many in-game emails from them, was wondering if cryptic has any way to stop them spamming my in-game email then.
  • nikkojtnikkojt Member Posts: 372 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    bauer6 wrote: »
    guessed as much, thanks for the heads up fellas.

    i have received many in-game emails from them, was wondering if cryptic has any way to stop them spamming my in-game email then.

    When you open the mail, there's a button at the bottom labelled "Report Spam". Clicking this button adds the sender to your ignore list, and presumably flags their account to Cryptic's Security/spam prevention team.
    I am NikkoJT, Foundry author and terrible player. Follow me!
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  • voyagerfan9751voyagerfan9751 Member Posts: 1,120 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    bauer6 wrote: »
    guessed as much, thanks for the heads up fellas.

    i have received many in-game emails from them, was wondering if cryptic has any way to stop them spamming my in-game email then.

    Unfortunately stuff like this is all too prevalent in online game. Nearly every game I play online has some spam thing about purchasing in-game money.

    The fact is, EC is no where near hard enough to be worth spending RL currency on, and I am pretty sure it is against TOS.

    As far as Cryptic doing something, the problem is that there are so many accounts being created for this kind of thing, that even if Cryptic banned one, 4 more probably pop up to replace it.

    Best thing to do is Report for spam and move on.
  • ashkrik23ashkrik23 Member Posts: 10,809 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    They will steal money and your personal information, do not do it.
    King of Lions rawr! Protect the wildlife of the world. Check out my foundry series Perfection and Scars of the Pride. arcgames.com/en/forums#/discussion/1138650/ashkrik23s-foundry-missions
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  • centersolacecentersolace Member Posts: 11,178 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    It's not a good idea. Block and report anything that sounds like that.
  • jaguarskxjaguarskx Member Posts: 5,945 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    If you would like to legally buy ECs, then the best thing to do is to buy Master Keys from the C-Store, then sell them on the Exchange.

    I have seen keys selling for just slightly over 2.7 million ECs the other day. But yesterday they seem to have settled down to just a little over 2.5 million ECs. When I 1st started playing STO back at the end of January master keys were selling for about 1.95 million ECs.

    You can either buy Master Keys with real money or you can grind dilithium ore and refine, then them up on the Dilithium / Zen Exchange (see Assets tab in the personal inventory tab) to convert to Zen.... And then you buy the keys.

    ============================================

    Edit:

    Due to your question, I thought you were a new player, but you have been around since 2012 so I am sure you are aware of the above.
  • kamenriderzero1kamenriderzero1 Member Posts: 906 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    There are actuality some jurisdictions that will prosecute continuous email spamming as a form of harassment.
    Everywhere I look, people are screaming about how bad Cryptic is.
    What's my position?
    That people should know what they're screaming about!
    (paraphrased from "The Newsroom)
  • shpoksshpoks Member Posts: 6,967 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Also, don't even type the name of the "company" in your in-game chat because it can automatically trigger a chat permaban.
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  • azurianstarazurianstar Member Posts: 6,985 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    bauer6 wrote: »
    hi all,
    i have received many in-game emails from a company called ***** to purchase EC.
    was wondering is this legal within the game to purchase EC from them?

    thought i would ask before making a transaction.

    will not do it if my account gets banned thats why i am asking.


    GRR GOLDFARMERS! The Scourge! :mad:


    "Is it legal to buy from them?" Technically yes. There is a court ruling that allows the transfer of virtual currency, as long as any profit is recorded for taxing purposes. Else it becomes money laundering and those involved will serve prison time.

    But it's also not legal because many online companies have it in their EULA that give them the right to ban your account if you should ever be caught doing business with these people.



    So should you do it? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

    It's stupid easy to EARN EC in STO, and tons of gear are selling cheap on the exchange so you don't even need it. So REPORT them for SPAM and let CSR get rid of the rotten blight on MMO society once and for all! :mad:

    bauer6 wrote: »
    guessed as much, thanks for the heads up fellas.

    i have received many in-game emails from them, was wondering if cryptic has any way to stop them spamming my in-game email then.

    In the Privacy Tab there is a "only receive E-mail from Friends and Fleet" selection. But it hasn't worked for me, since I too been getting spammed by these creation for a little over a week now. So it's broken.

    But one thing is for sure, they like to Email spam at certain Times, and they always do it from the Tutorial. So wish the Devs would change it that no new account has access to Emails and Private Messaging until they completed a certain amount of playtime or reached a certain level. Guranteed that would get rid of the majority of them.
  • rattler2rattler2 Member, Star Trek Online Moderator Posts: 59,174 Community Moderator
    edited May 2014
    Goldsellers are in pretty much every MMO. At least its not as bad as in WoW, where you also get PMs about stuff like epic mounts. Its all a scam to get your information, be it account or financial.
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  • cptjhuntercptjhunter Member Posts: 2,288 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I just report it as spam.I 've got a few of them this week.
  • groomofweirdgroomofweird Member Posts: 1,045 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Is it legal in RL terms? Yes as far as I know.
    Is it legal in game? Hell no. If someone is caught or reported for doing so they can track thier transactions and ban their account.
    I had a fleetmember who foolishly did this and bragged about it in esd, his account was banned. I only knew about it as I had a PM on our fleet webside explaining what had happened.
    He lost everything and had to start again from scratch on a new account.
    However I am more than aware that many people ingame have used these vendors for various things and kept quiet about it.
    Best to just delete the mail and go about ones business, irritating as they are.
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  • annemarie30annemarie30 Member Posts: 2,745 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    I dunno what the gold farmers are offering for exchange rates, but depending on current prices in the exchange, you would need 192-225 keys to get enough EC to buy the 500,000,000 bug ship. thats 200-250 dollars for the bug ship if you really wanted one that bad.

    so unless the farmers are offering more than 500,000,000 ec for $200 USD...
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  • xenificationxenification Member Posts: 615 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    Is it legal in RL terms? Yes as far as I know.


    erm no its not....such things are going on in ESO right now as well, its stealing personal information and then scamming the individual, thats a criminal offence no matter where you are or what game you play or what you do in general.
  • mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    bauer6 wrote: »
    hi all,
    i have received many in-game emails from a company called ***** to purchase EC.
    was wondering is this legal within the game to purchase EC from them?

    thought i would ask before making a transaction.

    will not do it if my account gets banned thats why i am asking.

    Yes, it can get your account banned. Just report them and move on.

    It may technically not be illegal, in the sense that you would be fined or imprisoned for it. but it is a violation of the terms of use, and thus -> account ban.
    There is also additional risk that "gold spammers" like this will try to steal credit card data or identify information that they'll use for further nefarious purposes, that could have more legal consequences and could at minimum be inconvient, if not far more costly than the price they advertise.
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  • anazondaanazonda Member Posts: 8,399 Arc User
    edited May 2014
    You read the Terms of Service right?

    You know the little checkbox you just clicked and ignored (despite checking it actually meant that you spend the time reading it, so you were/are technically lying)..?

    It's all in there... Yea thats right!!! All the little details about such things are actually in there.
    Don't look silly... Don't call it the "Z-Store/Zen Store"...
    Let me put the rumors to rest: it's definitely still the C-Store (Cryptic Store) It just takes ZEN.
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