Why do you need to verify your trader?
So you won't be completely dumbfounded when faced with an MMORPG account recall or PayPal dispute. The more personal info you get, the less likely the person will scam you. Heck, sometime by getting enough personal info, you can recover an account yourself. Middleman will not protect you from fraudulent payments or account recalls.

Therefore the only way to discourage these scams or test the legitimacy of a trader by asking for personal info. A major mistake of new traders is that they're unable to tell whether someone's forum username, chat usernames, or personal info is legit.

We're here to help you!

Have your trader click on the Verify Me button up top or go to this link!
http://virtualfaqs.com/forum/verification/414-stop-scammers.html#post1185
Generally, we do not ask for any account info except a PayPal email. If you don't have PayPal, we may ask for a little more.

We highly recommend you let us do the preliminary verification. If you want to do it yourself, here are the following steps. ***Follow the steps exactly*** You can get scammed doing something as simple as asking for an email rather than sending an email.

Verify someone's MSN, AIM in terms of a forum username.
1. Ask for their forum username.
2. Tell your trader you will send a private message and ask for a reply. (Do not tell your trader the contents of your PM. Only inform them you sent a PM to their inbox.)
3. Your PM should look similar to this: "I'm currently talking to someone who claims to be you. Now copy and paste the following and answer the questions. What is my MSN name? What is your MSN name? I cannot accept this reply unless those questions are in the private message."

This is extremely important the "questions" in the PM are sent back to you. You want the forum user to identify his own MSN and your MSN. Many scammers try to impersonate high rep forum users with similar chat names.

Verifying a buyer:
1. Send a email to the buyer's PayPal email and have them reply to it.
2. Make sure PayPal payment is sent with a confirmed shipping address and contact phone number.
3. Go to 411.com and do a reverse phone look up. Make sure the area code matches the state in the PayPal email.
4. Call the phone number. Ask for the person by last name only. Make sure your trader wants to buy your virtual goods.
5. You may want to ask for photo ID if the transaction is $500 or more (or less if you prefer) or just go Western Union.
6. If you don't use a MM, give the account info to their PayPal email and send a private message on the forum letting the buyer know that's where you sent it. If there's no PayPal email, send the account info to their forum username. Try not to use instant messenger if you're a new seller.

Verifying a seller:
1. Request the seller to send you a PayPal payment of $1 with a confirmed shipping address and contact phone number.
3. Go to 411.com and do a reverse phone look up. Make sure the area code matches the state in the PayPal email.
4. Call the phone number and make sure your trader wants to sell you virtual goods.
5. Repeat the same thing on the Original Owner of the account if possible.
6. Make sure the PayPal name and Original Owner match.
7. Pay by credit card when using PayPal so you can chargeback if anything goes wrong.
8. Ask for photo ID of the Original Owner if the transaction is $500 or more (or less if you prefer).

Verifying a trader:
1. Send a email to the buyer's PayPal email and have them reply to it.
2. Request the trader to send you a PayPal payment of $1 with a confirmed shipping address and contact phone number.
3. Go to 411.com and do a reverse phone look up. Make sure the area code matches the state in the PayPal email.
4. Call the phone number and make sure person wants to sell your virtual goods.
5. Repeat the same process on the Original Owner of the account if possible.
6. Make sure the PayPal name and Original Owner match.
7. Ask for photo ID of the Original Owner if the account value is $500 or more (or less if you prefer).

Additional things to do:
After receiving the account info post-purchase, make sure to change all the info passwords, addresses, credit card info immediately for your safety.
Google the trader's username, first and last name, emails, IM chat names for possible scams on other sites.
Never download anything from your trader. If you need to see pics, tell your trader to upload it to a photo sharing site or photobucket.
Verify their feedback. Look at the transactions. Make sure they're real and not made up!
Verify their Trust Who and Virtual FAQs verified!

Once again if you're new, we highly recommend you to send your trader to our site and click on the Verify Me button up top or go to this link!
http://virtualfaqs.com/forum/verific....html#post1185

__________________
Not sure if your buyer is trustworthy?
Let me help you. Click here for details!

Have a question about PayPal? Check out my PayPal Virtual FAQ