Comparing the "MOS/VAN; S93" - scam trade to a classic Nigerian Prince scam.

[jRuutu 2,475]

 

The media, VHL teams, and fans gathered together to witness a historical press release on Tuesday. The league officials announced that the games completed in the previous sim were going to be played again due to a "fake trade thread" and "STHS not saving a backup".  According to sources close to the inner circles of VHL, the fake trade was the sole reason for the re-sim. The STHS backup save problem was used to cover for the fact that the simulation team fell for the VHL version of a Nigerian Prince - scam.

 

To get a better understanding of what happened, I have briefly analyzed the "MOS/VAN; S93" trade. As you enter the trade thread, you see exactly what you might expect to see when you click a trade thread, the title looks official,  facts about the trade are presented, and the first comments are from general managers of both teams. Especially, the tagging of those involved in the trade in a heartwarming message is a nice touch and something that perhaps tricked some of the commentators in the thread.

 There are still a few points that might have led someone to smell foul play. Those with sharp eyes might have spotted that the spacing of the text is slightly different in the first post than in traditional trade threads,  and the thread itself is posted by a VHL member and not by the "VHL Bot". Overall the scam trade is carefully made and as we saw the scam trade was able to trick multiple users, including the simulation team.

 

To deepen my understanding of scams and how to potentially spot them in the future, I looked at a classic Nigerian Prince scam and compared it to the "MOS/VAN; S93"  - scam trade. In the example, we can see a prince from Nigeria in trouble, they need a small loan to unlock their bank account. As a thank you they promise to send 1 million dollars back to you. 

 

 

When comparing the scams, both share similarities. On the surface, everything makes perfect sense, there is no need to think of foul play as banks are notoriously strict if you get on their wrong side. Perhaps the prince had their bank account unfairly locked due to inactivity, all you would have to do is send one transaction to show the bank the account is active, and great fortune would follow. Similarly, perhaps the simulation team thought the portal was not working and a VHL member posting the trade thread was just them being helpful.  When it comes to the finer details, if you have your assets frozen unfairly, you would more than likely want to move them as far as you can. Similarly, the finer detail in the scam trade, Moscow trading two first-round picks makes the perfect sense as the rebuild is pretty much completed. In both scams, the stories add up.

 

In the Nigerian Prince scam "sir" is used when talking to the reader. That can be a deal-breaker for some as pronouns are serious business in the modern world. When creating a scam, you do not want to take unnecessary risks. In the "MOS/VAN; S93"  - scam trade the spacing of the text is similar to the use of "sir". A risk that could backfire. It is the smallest of details that can make the biggest difference.

 

In the end, I would still like to say that despite small risks, such as the layout of the text or the pronouns used, it is still better to live your life believing in the goodness of the people. Next time you see something that makes you think this is a potential scam because a small point is off, please, don't think about the "MOS/VAN; S93" - scam trade or about the Nigerian Prince scams, if you start to look for monsters, soon you will start to see monsters everywhere.

 

Trust - have faith.  Help a prince out, ask from your GM if you could also be traded.

[Victor 11,021]

profound

[Spartan 4,531]

@Gaikoku-hito my sweet prince

[Gaikoku-hito 2,135]

May I add that actually there was a few more hints than say spacing of text when you look at the actual trade:

 

1. Posted by - as (mentioned) by a member; in this situation the AGM of Vancouver; who most GM around the league know doesn`t actively take part in open trade talks but has some say in larger deals behind the scene. 

 

2. (88) D - Liv Slater - small but noticeable mistake by the Prince when completing the trade as (88) shouldn`t have been added.

 

3. Same pick trade twice - S95 VAN 2nd as it was actually the pick that Vancouver traded to Calgary earlier in the day!!

 

4. And yes the spacing between the two teams is missing!!

 

Looking deeper on would notice the joking nature of the message sent to said GM of other team and said player involved in the trade; while subtle they should have still be noted:

 

1. "happy that we could agree to let Slater out of Jail" - reference of a comment made by the Moscow GM at some point last season; again I cannot find the former post so might have been missed by others but it did lead to a funny post by Vancouver GM during the awards:

In reference to previously made comments!!

 

2. "But the Captains Curse has once again claimed a victim as we were about to name you Captain for the Vancouver Wolves in S93 with Jens Lekman and Larry Abass Jr!!" - While references two other players actually traded one might not that Jen Lekman was not named a captain yet the statement made suggest that Liv Slater was about to be named Captain with these two players. Yet She was named Captain while only one of the other two was named assistant captain. Again subtle but should have been noted.

 

3. Condition in a spoiler tag .....?? - Should have thrown huge flags but I am guess most didn`t both checking the conditions

 

4. Conditions themselves - Get out of Jail free card changes already trade S95 VAN 2nd  to S95 VAN 4th and a bag of pucks; I have never heard of items actually trading hands between GM before but I guess a bag of pucks could be transferred if they live close enough together!! LOL!!

 

5. April Fools Day gif - Yup, to those that still might have missed it; there was a April Fools day gif posted along with the comments of Happy April Fools day!!

 

Than looking at the comments:

- Moscow GM comments: "Overpay tbh" - slight hint that he might not have agreed to the terms of said trade but also allowing the joke/fake trade some room to grow!!

- Vancouver GM comments: "Ya by Vancouver." - again subtle but enough to note that both didn`t actually agree with the asking price of said pieces in the trade but once again subtle but allowing the joke/fake trade to grow!!

 

And there you have it; One Sweat Prince!!