[Discussion] New Dupe Warning

[Tomas_Bryce]

As some of you might know, there has been an active dupe in Ultima Online for at least few weeks now. Many so called trusted brokers are involved in it and there will most definitely be new items added to the dupe list when all is said and done.

I understand that this is very frustrating and some of you might not care if an item has been duped in the past. However, I would like to think that a lot of us here do care about buying duped items from people who actively facilitate duping. As such, I will be proposing to the Rare High Council that we compile a list of people who not only sell duped items but also actively facilitate their duping. Obviously this information cannot be posted on Stratics so we will have to find an alternate option. Please stay tuned regarding this.

A good tip before buying anything from anyone is to ask the person about the history of the item. Who did they get it from and when? Then contact the person who sold it to them if you can to double check. You can always contact me at 43848609 if you have questions.

Please be careful and use common sense before buying items from the so called brokers right now.
(PS, there is something wrong with this forums and it does not let me update the title of the thread. I have actually updated the dupe list few times since May 11th)

 

[Crysta]

Are there specific items we should be watching out for?

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

Yes there is kind of. I am very hesitant about listing things that I am not sure if it has been duped though. Also, there are other reasons which might make it difficult for me to post actual items at this moment. Also, as far as I know the dupe is still active and things are getting duped as we speak.

I will discuss this with the High Council and see what they think about creating an "Under Investigation" list.

 

[Kaj]

I think it's a shame that the Stratics ToS doesn't allow us to name people.
Now basically all the 'brokers' (which is a somewhat ambiguous term regardless) are being incriminated. I know several people who you are aiming this at and I agree they should be banned, but there's also some guys out there that are legitimate.
Though I totally agree with the precautions you've mentioned and I think that everyone should do that, regardless of whether there is or was a supposed dupe present.

Anyone that dupes or knowingly sells/trades duped items really should be banned from our community!

 

[THP]

Again sad news ...Really makes u mad and also makes u stop buying stuff just incase u get duped by buying a dupe...

Hope the devs get there flamethrower out and again and nail the culprits fast.

 

[Barry Trotter]

Thanks for this warning about a new dupe!

I hope it gets stopped soon, so that we can get back to trading rares. Unfortunately, it seems some really good (possibly unique) rares are on the market right now, so I hope they don't end up in the hands of people who are just going to dupe them over and over until the whole rares market collapses.

As some of you might know, I have a few rather special (possibly unique) rares. I have been getting some rather hard-to-believe offers for them in the past few weeks. It puts me in a very difficult situation. If I sell them, they might get duped and that will ruin how special they are, but if I don't sell them, I could end up severely financially disadvantaged if the market collapses.

I hope the Rares Council can bring my dilemma (and any other rares collectors out there in a similar situation) quickly to the developers' attention. so that this problem gets fixed ASAP.

Thanks again for your vigilance,
Barry Trotter

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

Outlook is extremely bleak my friend.

 

[Crysta]

Do you at least know how its being done?

 

[Dhaerin]

has it been reported to the devs yet or do u know?

 

[Kaj]

has it been reported to the devs yet or do u know?

Several people have claimed that they have contacted Jeremy about this.

 

[Suzzy]

As some of you might know, I have a few rather special (possibly unique) rares. I have been getting some rather hard-to-believe offers for them in the past few weeks. It puts me in a very difficult situation. If I sell them, they might get duped and that will ruin how special they are, but if I don't sell them, I could end up severely financially disadvantaged if the market collapses.

This is not meant to be offensive to you Barry, but you are more than likely getting insane offers because dupers have a bottomless wallet. Gold means nothing to them, especially since it's like .50 cents a mil now. They want the items. That's where the big money is, and you have some of the only known uniques left that haven't been touched by them. There are still many uniques out there, but they are "missing" because no one knows who has them, but in your case we all know who owns some of the nicer stuff out there at the moment.

edit: Also keep in mind, that you can make a solid arguement that the Terathan shirt you own is the best item in the game, as Vine cords would have been if there weren't so many of them. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head that could be considered better is the Butcher of Jhelom.

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

Keep an eye out at my blog. I will be posting some interesting things this weekend hopefully. You might want to bookmark it too as I will be removing the link from my signature.

Barry most of your nice items are unique and will not be duped unless you sell them. The number of non-duped items is going to be lot less now and your items will be worth even more. I hope you do not sell them.

 

[Elbryan Uthador]

I have been contacted about buying a few items on my "Want list". Both items that were given out had a quanity of (2) and I know where one of each was before this dupe.

Now I am not sure who has the originals. Or how many have been duped.

Tomas has let the High Council know about this and we are going to decide as a group what we are going to propose to do about it.

 

[DevilsOwn]

dismay doesn't begin to cover my feelings at this time

thank you for posting, and thank you to the entire council for the effort to protect our community

 

[Kaj]

I would like to encourage everyone that has a collection to at least make their house private, until the extent of the dupe has become known.
I have no idea what exactly is at risk, from what I've heard from people here on the boards it's not like the changeling dupe or anything, but rather safe than sorry, right?

Also if you hear anything or see anything suspicious, e-mail Jeremy (jdalberg at ea.com). Every bit of information can just help solve the issue at hand. I would recommend mailing if you see vendors selling 10 valorite hammers or that seem to have infinite stock of rares.

 

[Thunderz]

As of stratics/uo's ROC!!! if we can all laugh together at them so naming and shaming is forbidden what about listing every broker/trader out there that there is i mean everyone.... and then someone posting who is "trustworthy"...... thus if we get offered items or gold for our items from someone not on that list alarm bells will ring were not naming them as ROC says we cant.... were just naming the good guys and everyone can see from the list inocently the bad guys.... works?

 

[Pickaxe Pete]

vendors selling 10 valorite hammers

That would be nearly every other vendor on Atlantic -- and they are selling like CRAZY. Actually, there are fewer in stock at the moment than there were a few days ago (last weekend).

 

[Suzzy]

There would be no need for a council if it weren't for all this duping.

The way I see it, the main purpose of the council in my eyes is to keep track of what is legit and what isn't. Once that is figured out they take the steps necessary to combat this plague on our rares community. This topic being started is the first hurdle to jump in that process. If all you can do is make negative comments about progressive action being taken on fighting a 10+ year long battle, perhaps you should be posting in the spiel's and rants forum.

Anyway, my view of the council is positive, and I'll listen to what is being said with interest. If it helps the community as a whole, I'm all for it. I'm here to collect rares and enjoy a game, not to make a living. Rather than fight amongst ourselves we need to fight the true enemy of the rare's community, which in my opinion are the dupers, the fencers, the fake collectors, and the people who claim to be legit, but who are really not. If the council helps keep these people out of our community, then why wouldn't you support it?

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

That would be nearly every other vendor on Atlantic -- and they are selling like CRAZY. Actually, there are fewer in stock at the moment than there were a few days ago (last weekend).

Yes, it is not something that is affecting rares only. However, it is very hard to pin the problem to one factor with things like runics and artifacts compared to items which we know are supposed to be limited in number and not obtainable anymore.

 

[Kaj]

That would be nearly every other vendor on Atlantic -- and they are selling like CRAZY. Actually, there are fewer in stock at the moment than there were a few days ago (last weekend).

Send their vendor names and locations to Jeremy. We all know it's impossible for a normal player to get 10 valorite hammers and sell them at sub market prices.
Sure he could have been doing BODs since the start and just recently decided to sell them all. But not very likely, eh .

 

[The Scandinavian]

Hi there,

you have my icq and the rest of the members of the Councils icq.
Why not send some info there?
Or maybe PM.
You decide.

About hammers I was on a vendor crawling two days ago and noticed a few Valorite hammers on a vendor...On Europa.So I guess they are spread allover.

And that is bad news for me.As some of you have noticed Im a smith at heart and I value my precious Valorite hammers higher than everything else I have.


Regards
The Scandinavian

 

[THP]

Well picking thro' the pieces i would love to name ..names!!! that i thought were cheating in UO !! but alas i'd only be stuping to the ''low levels'' that people do ingame when they accuse me of scripting for god sake... lol... just because iam good at idocing on europa....so alas i bite my tongue..

But i really wish the devs would just nip this in the bud for once and for all!!!!

 

[Sarsmi]

This is depressing. I heard a little bit a few weeks ago about there being a new dupe and was hoping it was just rumor. And with community members being involved...ugh, such a shame.

 

[Flutter]

I'm still waiting to hear more about this.
I wish someone would tell me something... lol?

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

I will post in few days. Sorry was going to do it today but there are some complications beyond my control.

 

[XaeviusMenate]

This is terrible news. Dupers once again assume they can make a buck at the cost of the community.

Furthermore, I am placing any potential sales of my unique items listed in my previous price-check thread on hold, indefinitely, until this is fixed.

I do NOT want to see anything rare anyone puts up to sell fly to all four corners of the UO globe in multiplied fashion.

The fact that people are blatantly duping val hammers and event rares (I can confirm, I saw heartwood friendship earrings without the original title but with neon green hue intact) is a sad testament to how greedy these little ****s are getting.

 

[Moby Grape]

Any updates on this?

 

[Teufel_Hund]

As long as the Shard Transfer Service is down, you can assume the dupe still exists. I am not saying the the shard transfer is part of the dupe because I have no knowledge of it, just that Transferring Shards would almost be like money laundering in the game. So you keep all the known bad items in one location, easier to clean up. Just my two cents.

 

[Lady Aalia]

also shard transfer down stops the dupes from beeing "laundred"

I hope this gets fixed soon ...if you look on a certain Mall on ATL there sure is a nice amount of "Rares" for sale...

And i wouldnt doubt if the owner of the Mall was getting a pay off ...if not he sure dont care much about his UO assets, but then i am sure they all made enough RL $$ off this game to acctually care...

 

[Lucy of Kenton]

thankyou as always tomas for highlighting this. i am fairly shocked about one of the sellers but i will make a sweeping statement so i apologise to those that are innocent.
money creates greed creates crime etc. i would ask everyone to boycott gold and item sellers that sell for rl cash. i know for sure of some that have been involved in these practices in the past and yet, some people still trust these people as they always turn up to the trades etc, well think hard how they came by their excess stuff. for instance one ex-europa trader initial L has dealt in duped goods and was an associate of 'Done' that we got pushed out of uo (but doubtless he is around somewhere) and most of these people have uo bans so shudnt even be in uo. even a auction2 broker has bans. remove the market for these parasites and they will go bug another game.
i sold some stuff to the one named so watch out for duped fake blackrock jewellery. a fake fake! i have to say though that the person in question seemed honest enuff. can they perhaps reply on stratics?

 

[JC the Builder]

Character Transfer has a mixed blessing for UO since it began. It is great that you can transfer your characters and items between shards. But it has caused an unbelievable amount of duping. If they had just extend the time of transfer and put in better safe guards, who knows what UO would be like today. It would probably be a lot different.

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

No he cannot Lucy.

Btw, no more link to my blog in my signature due to rules & regulations.

 

[Crysta]

Not really a big suprise to me; never trusted him since the moment I met him. Makes me happy I told him he'd never have a vendor at my place.

 

[THP]

I was shocked a '' big player'' of that Ilk as been drawn to the low depths of the duping world....greed !!! plain and simple pure greed.

 

[Muu Bin]

So far I have been able to find one specific name and another initial in regards to this problem (one from a blog and another from this thread). Are there more out there? I am certain of it. Based on a lot of what has transpired since I have been reading these forums I have to ask myself if there really is anything rare out there? ... (This is a rhetorical question so no need to flame me about this).

Lucy of Kenton, I think you hit the nail on the head with your comment regarding the purchase of items for RL money. I would hazard a guess that some, if not a lot, of these cheaters would disappear if this practice were somehow stopped. If the incentive to do this was not there, then the only benefit they would get from their cheating would be a "virtual" benefit. At this stage I think you would see at least some of these parasites move on.

That being said, encouraging players to buy items for gold only will not stop the problem in the end as long as gold itself can still be bought and sold for RL money. The only way I see this as happening is if EA/ Mythic took an active roll in pursuing this with the current on-line companies that perform this service.

Ultimately, it is our choice to collect these virtual items and I would like to think that the majority of us do so for reasons other than to make RL money. I, myself, like rare items from a deco perspective and would love to build a collection to show to anyone interested. Alas, at the rate I am going it will be a long road ahead but one that I hope to get enjoyment out of...

Peace out

 

[Elbryan Uthador]

Only thing we can really do as a community is not buy from these people. On Tomas' blog the one named gave out other names as why he was singled out and not the others.


I have bought, sold and traded with that individual, but I damn sure will not be doing so anymore. I hope the rest of you feel the same way.

 

[Escaflowne]

Indeed!

 

[Jasonleebeck]

Interesting, my warnings to this community a while back about this person apparently were far to late for some, and yet far to early for anyone to take notice and/or care. Sorry to those who missed my warnings about this person a while back, and to those who decided to ignore it. I had posted pictures of this persons posts' from other web forums here, tagging him bfb (bad for business), where they so hilariously had used the SAME EXACT NAME here as they did there.

Again, sorry.

 

[NewThunder]

Only thing we can really do as a community is not buy from these people. On Tomas' blog the one named gave out other names as why he was singled out and not the others.


I have bought, sold and traded with that individual, but I damn sure will not be doing so anymore. I hope the rest of you feel the same way.

Why would you not deal with that individual? There has been ZERO offer of proof; Just one person person posting small tidbits of information that could easily be forged. I think the most shameful part of this entire situation is that without any proof one person's reputation can be tarnished. Perhaps we should wait for evidence before sitting in judgement of others.

 

[Omnicron]

Why would you not deal with that individual? There has been ZERO offer of proof; Just one person person posting small tidbits of information that could easily be forged. I think the most shameful part of this entire situation is that without any proof one person's reputation can be tarnished. Perhaps we should wait for evidence before sitting in judgement of others.

QFT...

 

[simonovsk]

Why not deal with that individual and discard Tomas's affirmations?

Well, simply because if you've been reading this forum over the last year you've probably had the chance to make your own opinion as to who is who, even without having met either of those two persons. Because it is clear as ice, really, that one of the two is acting out of interest for the game, and the other out of interest for his purse.

If you do not want to trust anyone, then you must use your brain to make decisions. But in those troubled times, you have to take a stance, acting as some sort of Chamberlain won't help, and there always comes a point where you have to stop deliberating and start acting.

Furthermore, it has been announced that some evidence would be provided (which it has already, in the form of icq logs), so unless you can offer some counter evidence prior to that, what is the point of arguing, if you follow your own reasoning?

 

[NewThunder]

Why not deal with that individual and discard Tomas's affirmations?

Well, simply because if you've been reading this forum over the last year you've probably had the chance to make your own opinion as to who is who, even without having met either of those two persons. Because it is clear as ice, really, that one of the two is acting out of interest for the game, and the other out of interest for his purse.

If you do not want to trust anyone, then you must use your brain to make decisions. But in those troubled times, you have to take a stance, acting as some sort of Chamberlain won't help, and there always comes a point where you have to stop deliberating and start acting.

Furthermore, it has been announced that some evidence would be provided (which it has already, in the form of icq logs), so unless you can offer some counter evidence prior to that, what is the point of arguing, if you follow your own reasoning?

I would have to question which of the individual's are acting out of self-interest. I could fashion ICQ logs that say anything I might want them to say, Icq logs are no proof. When you speak of troubled times, who is stiring up the alarmist trouble? I always believed these forums were not here to judge others or to serve as a tribunal, rather for a place of discussion, But of late there is a clear feeling of agenda in the rare's forum, rather then building the rares community it seems to be deviding it.

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

No one should believe things just because I said it. However, my mandate has always been sharing everything I know with everyone as much as possible. In this case, I could not post the proof due to very good reasons but I also wanted people to know what I knew to be cautious at least as there was an active dupe involved.

Finally, stratics rules does not allow most of these things and that is why it is not posted here. I urge everyone to respect it.

I could fashion ICQ logs that say anything I might want them to say, Icq logs are no proof.

Yes, you are correct. However, just about anything can be faked. It also depends on how far you are willing to bury your head in the sand. I can't really care if anyone chooses to believe that I am faking the logs. I fully understand that not knowing me it would be hard for everyone to buy it, especially if they are close to the said person. That is clearly not a good enough reason for me to not share it with everyone. However I do agree that none of it belongs on this forum.


This thread is very close to being locked. Probably should be locked now and will be if things related to my blog are brought up again here. If it was suitable for stratics I would have posted here and not there.

 

[Suzzy]

The point of this thread was to warn people of an epidemic on our community, and it should remain that way. How you take the information that is provided is up to you. Deal with people at your own risk. If someone keeps selling the same stuff that is supposed to be "rare" over and over again on the same vendors, use common sense there folks. If this thread gets sidetracked that will be a shame, because it should remain open and constantly updated as a permanent reminder of what people do in this game to make a buck.

 

[Deadly Shadow]

The point of this thread was to warn people of an epidemic on our community, and it should remain that way. How you take the information that is provided is up to you. Deal with people at your own risk. If someone keeps selling the same stuff that is supposed to be "rare" over and over again on the same vendors, use common sense there folks. If this thread gets sidetracked that will be a shame, because it should remain open and constantly updated as a permanent reminder of what people do in this game to make a buck.

Seems that common sense at times go by the wayside at times

 

[simonovsk]

Bumping this up, as I'm wondering a few things :

If people are duping items and not gold, then the amount of gold in circulation hasn't changed.

I can understand the price of gold is dropping, as a lot of it is ending up in the hands of a few who are reselling to their own ig customers, who then eventualy will hand the gold back to them in exchange for (duped) items, etc....
In this case, why isn't the price of items dropping too? It isn't, as far as I can tell from the last large auctions.

Second thing I'm wondering : should we be afraid of duped rubble items and duped trade-in (the current one) rewards? Did anyone witness any evidence as to some of those items having been duplicated?

Third thing : I remember DVI mentionning a few months ago that he was afraid a new dupe was active (that must have been last winter). If he was right, then I'd assume vast quantities of items must have been stashed, and maybe all the vine cords that fell off that wild packy in luna really were fresh dupes after all.
If so, then I guess we're in for a slow realeasing of duped items by a few crooked individuals posing as members of the community, over the next years.
How does the rares council feel about that?

Isn't the whole purpose of this forum challenged if we take in this new development, as ultimately it is mainly a tool for some people to perpetuate their lies and profit from the readers? I mean there is no rares knowledge if the data is manipulated by salesmen in order to make a penny, and everything is duped in the end...

I understand the terms of use of this forum prevents the council from making open statements, and I was away while the council was set up so couldn't get a foot in to get some news. But I'm a curious person, so would somebody please update me with what's really going on?

Thanks.

simonovsk / Mr Pink