EVE Online bank embezzled. Lulz ensue.

[General Zod]

Not really worth putting in the real forums, but I found this hilarious.

EVE Online has banks. Run by EVE Online players. And EVE Online players are as susceptible to embezzling over 80 billion ISK (the game's currency) then doing a runner as any of us.

Having found himself in the position of investments manager for the in-game bank Dynasty Banking, player Xabier had massive amounts of in-game currency at his fingertips. Between 80-100 billion ISK. But instead of looking after it, he...took it. All of it. Then took off to the stars.

The Chairman of Dynasty Banking, Manalapan, has issued a statement trying to put a good spin on things, but it's hard to put a good spin on things when your statement reads:

The most recent event and one which has caused the most controversy is surrounding Xabier. First and foremost I would like to point out that it is still not known for certain whether Xabier has, for lack of a better word, scammed. What we DO know is that he has missed a dividend payment on a personal bond, and his bio now states “Thanks for all the fish”.

Anyone on SDN go by the name Xabier in EVE by chance? And who the hell thinks it's a good idea to have a bank in an MMO ran by a player? Either way this had me ROFLING for a good long while.

[Ace Pace]

And who the hell thinks it's a good idea to have a bank in an MMO ran by a player?

Maybe you're not very well aware of EVE, but it's pretty much entirely player driven. There's a bloody council to look for future ideas for the game composed of people from the community.

[General Zod]

Maybe you're not very well aware of EVE, but it's pretty much entirely player driven. There's a bloody council to look for future ideas for the game composed of people from the community.

My experience with EVE pretty much amounts to playing the trial for about an hour before getting bored and uninstalling.

[RogueIce]

So do they have a player-run FBI to track him down and then toss him into a player-run jail? Is it even possible to punish this guy?

[Eleas]

So do they have a player-run FBI to track him down and then toss him into a player-run jail? Is it even possible to punish this guy?

More to the point, why should he be punished at all? Has his actions caused demonstrable harm?

[General Zod]

So do they have a player-run FBI to track him down and then toss him into a player-run jail? Is it even possible to punish this guy?

More to the point, why should he be punished at all? Has his actions caused demonstrable harm?

Pretty sure he was talking about punishing him in game.

[Eleas]

More to the point, why should he be punished at all? Has his actions caused demonstrable harm?

Pretty sure he was talking about punishing him in game.

Yeah, but that's the part that doesn't make sense. They know who did it. If they want to punish said person, put out a bounty on that username. No muss, no fuss.

[Mr. Coffee]

That's nothing. The record for most ISK lost to a banking scam is still held by Cally, the guy that pulled off the EVE Investment scam. Total haul on that was well over 700,000,000,000ISK, or if sold for real money, about $110k-$120k. And even that isn't the most technically impressive bit of thievery. The best is still the Guiding Hand Social Club contract killing of Ubiqua Seraph Corp's CEO, where they infiltrated the entire company and got the target to trust one of their member over the course of a year, then got her isolated, blew up her ship, blew up her pod and claimed the corpse, then looted the entire company's wallets and hangers for about 30bil ISK worth of money, ships, and equipment.

Welcome to EVE Online, where fucking over your fellow players in hilarious and every more creative ways ins't against the rules at all. In fact, it's usually encouraged by the developers.

[RogueIce]

More to the point, why should he be punished at all? Has his actions caused demonstrable harm?

Pretty sure he was talking about punishing him in game.

Yeah, but that's the part that doesn't make sense. They know who did it. If they want to punish said person, put out a bounty on that username. No muss, no fuss.

That's what I was asking: is there a method to do it. I don't play the game so I didn't know if there was a way for those who got screwed to exact some in-game "justice" (whatever form they choose for that justice to take; it is a game, after all ).

[Mr. Coffee]

That's what I was asking: is there a method to do it. I don't play the game so I didn't know if there was a way for those who got screwed to exact some in-game "justice" (whatever form they choose for that justice to take; it is a game, after all ).

They could put a bounty on the guy, but he's probably got a few alts in either noob corps or shell corps, so he can just have one of his alts kill him and collecxt the bounty for himself. Since the guy's scam was based around producing capital warships, chances are the character is an industrial/research spec and doesn't need to leave a station much anyway. Chances are he's probably already transfered the ISK to another Alt and he's going to continue play through it.

So no, the chances of exacting "justice" are slim to none. Lesson learned, unless it's Chribba verified, it's probably a scam. Also, like I said, this sort of thing is not against the game TOU, and for the most part is actually encouraged by game mechanics and the Developers.

[RogueIce]

They could put a bounty on the guy, but he's probably got a few alts in either noob corps or shell corps, so he can just have one of his alts kill him and collecxt the bounty for himself. Since the guy's scam was based around producing capital warships, chances are the character is an industrial/research spec and doesn't need to leave a station much anyway. Chances are he's probably already transfered the ISK to another Alt and he's going to continue play through it.

So no, the chances of exacting "justice" are slim to none. Lesson learned, unless it's Chribba verified, it's probably a scam. Also, like I said, this sort of thing is not against the game TOU, and for the most part is actually encouraged by game mechanics and the Developers.

So basically as long as you plan ahead with those Alts a bit you can effectively erase your tracks and escape clean? Well so long as you don't get too greedy and some relative "unknown" player/corp/whatever draws attention to the fact he has a shitton of money from nowhere. Or whatever.

That's a shame. They should try and have a system where some trace is left behind when you do that. I could see a business popping up with people dedicated to killing those. Although I don't know how technically feasible it is if you have more than one account or something.

Oh well. Makes EVE sound interesting anyway. I suppose if I ever get into an MMORPG it might be this one. Trying to set myself up to be an EPIC embezzler sounds like fun.

[General Zod]

Oh well. Makes EVE sound interesting anyway. I suppose if I ever get into an MMORPG it might be this one. Trying to set myself up to be an EPIC embezzler sounds like fun.

You just have to overlook the fact that EVE is basically a glorified spreadsheet with a flashy GUI.

[RogueIce]

Oh well. Makes EVE sound interesting anyway. I suppose if I ever get into an MMORPG it might be this one. Trying to set myself up to be an EPIC embezzler sounds like fun.

You just have to overlook the fact that EVE is basically a glorified spreadsheet with a flashy GUI.

From what I've gathered Hearts of Iron 2 is kinda like that, and I got sucked in. EVE Online could do it, too.

[Mr. Coffee]

So basically as long as you plan ahead with those Alts a bit you can effectively erase your tracks and escape clean? Well so long as you don't get too greedy and some relative "unknown" player/corp/whatever draws attention to the fact he has a shitton of money from nowhere. Or whatever.

Basically yes. If you have a bit of smarts, can plan a bit, and can bullshit convincingly, you can pull off scams like this. Hell, you don't even really need to be convincing about it, some dumbass will fall for it. A good example is the "I'm leaving EVE and have 20bil ISK to give away. Send me any amount and I will send you back 10x ISK!". It's amazing how many people fall for that one. Really, the onlyhard and fast rule set by the Devs on scamming is no scamming game time cards (CCP makes money on selling GTCs, so they're pretty harsh with people that try to scam those), other then that it's pretty much limited only by your own creativity.

That's a shame. They should try and have a system where some trace is left behind when you do that. I could see a business popping up with people dedicated to killing those. Although I don't know how technically feasible it is if you have more than one account or something.

Well, if someone really had a bug up their ass about ti and had enough friend to back them, they could always go to war with whatever alliance or corp the scammer is in. But usually, about the only thing a scammee can do is swallow their pride, learn from it, and move on.

Or they could rage quit, in which case everyone will just shrug and ask "can I have your stuff?"

Oh well. Makes EVE sound interesting anyway. I suppose if I ever get into an MMORPG it might be this one. Trying to set myself up to be an EPIC embezzler sounds like fun.

If you're interested, send me a PM and I'll fire you an invite through the EVE Buddy system so you get a 21day trial instead of the regular 14 day one. It can be a bit daunting at first if you try it solo, but we've got a good corp going to help out with any questions you've got and get you set up.

[Xon]

Oh well. Makes EVE sound interesting anyway. I suppose if I ever get into an MMORPG it might be this one. Trying to set myself up to be an EPIC embezzler sounds like fun.

You just have to overlook the fact that EVE is basically a glorified spreadsheet with a flashy GUI.

What the hell are you talking about? It has a horrible UI.

[General Zod]

Oh well. Makes EVE sound interesting anyway. I suppose if I ever get into an MMORPG it might be this one. Trying to set myself up to be an EPIC embezzler sounds like fun.

You just have to overlook the fact that EVE is basically a glorified spreadsheet with a flashy GUI.

What the hell are you talking about? It has a horrible UI.

I never said anything about its UI being good. Just flashy.

[chitoryu12]

I always did have respect for the Ubiqua Seraph raid, though I do feel a bit sorry for the CEO. I would feel sorry for ANYONE who was simultaneously killed, podded, and lost billions within the span of a few minutes.

Though yes, I will agree that the UI is one of the worst things I've used.

[Mr. Coffee]

The really hilarious part of the scam in the OP, is the EBank (another eve bank run by CSM deligate LaVista Vista) is offering to loan them funds to keep Dynasty Banking from tanking.

[Mr Bean]

Judged worthy of the real forums, moved to G&C

[Admiral Valdemar]

I've heard of the prior incidents, but this is frakking hilarious. Perhaps they should petition the authorities (there ARE authorities, yes?) for a bailout. You can then have someone create an EVE TARP and make off with it to decorate their ship in the most gaudy, expensive way possible.

[Mr. Coffee]

I've heard of the prior incidents, but this is frakking hilarious. Perhaps they should petition the authorities (there ARE authorities, yes?) for a bailout. You can then have someone create an EVE TARP and make off with it to decorate their ship in the most gaudy, expensive way possible.

Don't be so fast to joke. Some in game corp from Finnland tried to sue a member of Goonfleet IRL over the use of their corporate forums as an in-game intelligece asset. There are some people that take the game waaaaay to seriously.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Given South Korea just sent a guy to jail for blogging about corporate fuck-ups which could impact on the bottom line of some big players, I'd say it's less insane seeing it in the virtual world. Certainly hilarious though, and we need more of it.

Humour does tend to wear off when it's my savings in real-life being squandered by politicos and bankers, however.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

I'm honestly surprised that that sector of player business still exists after the original 700 billion scam. Though I never looked into it myself, before or after hearing of said scam.

Coffee's pretty much summed up the game perfectly though.

[Admiral Valdemar]

There's something perverse about a sci-fi simulator game trying to be Elite or I-War turning into an online version of Monopoly. I used to love playing Netropolis on BT's LiveOne (or whatever BT called the web back in '97) service. That was Monopoly though. With thousands of people and the ability to stink bomb or tac. nuke rival shops.

[Commander 598]

I've heard of the prior incidents, but this is frakking hilarious. Perhaps they should petition the authorities (there ARE authorities, yes?) for a bailout. You can then have someone create an EVE TARP and make off with it to decorate their ship in the most gaudy, expensive way possible.

Don't be so fast to joke. Some in game corp from Finnland tried to sue a member of Goonfleet IRL over the use of their corporate forums as an in-game intelligece asset. There are some people that take the game waaaaay to seriously.

I haven't heard of this one...even though I've got a tab in Pidgin permentely tuned to a GF chat. Was it Finfleet?