Scams

WARNING!

The various methods of the scams that are displayed and explained in this page should not be attempted in the game. The sole purpose of this page is to inform unsuspecting players so that they will be able to avoid such scams. Attempting such illegal actions can result in a punishment.

Scams or hacking are illegal actions that are performed by players, usually for the sole purpose of earning items by exploiting other players for their items. Such actions are frowned upon, and most of which are punishable and may result in a ban from the game itself. Should a player enter a world where illegal actions are taking place, it is highly encouraged for players to leave the world immediately. A simple act of spectating a scam is punishable. If, by chance, a moderator is online, message them (/msg <name of moderator> <message>) once. It is not encouraged to continuously spam and bombard them with messages. It is not advisable for players to try to solve any problems regarding scams by themselves as it may put them, as well as other players in unnecessary trouble.

Players can type in /report to report the world where Moderators will check the world. When players type /report, they have to make sure that the world itself is a scam, not the owner/admin or a player in the world.

Reporting scams, even if supported by images or video clips, in the Growtopia Forums, or sending an e-mail to the Support Team is a useless act. The Support Team does not accept photographs or clips of any illegal actions, and the Forums is not a place to report such actions.

There are also worlds in-game that educate players on scams and how to avoid them. One example is STOPDONTDROP, which is currently under the ownership of @Jenuine.

Drop games

Drop game #1

The drop game is one of the most common scams. The scammer tells the unsuspecting players to drop their items in a small confined space. When the player drops their items, the scammer covers up the items or bans/kicks the players so that they are unable to retrieve their items.

Drop game #2

The scammer will ask the player to place a World Lock in a world that they already placed blocks in. The scammer would have already created a room with hidden entrances into the room (such as Secret Passages to mimic Wood Block. When the player drops their item, the scammer will use a Psychotic Bunny on them and go into the room through the hidden entrance, picking up the dropped item. Sometimes the scammer will ask the player to go into a world with a name that is similar to the victim's name. The scammer will ask for access, then he will build a room, like in the previous scam, go into this room and ask the player to remove his access. When the victim goes to the World Lock to remove the scammer's access, he will place a Checkpoint at the end of the world, so the player can't see it. Then the scammer will go back into the room. Often players think that the scammer will go through an opened House Entrance or break a Garbage to take the item, so the victim will avoid it, but he won't be able to see Checkpoint, so scammer can respawn, and take the victim's item when the victim drops a rare.

Drop game #3

Two scammers who are both friends will place a Big Lock in a world and broadcast that they are quitting and players can have one of their items if they drop a rare item. The owner of the lock will leave the world, claiming that they cannot ban/kick because they are gone, however, the friend will kick the player when they drop an item.

Trust tests

This type of scam is usually between players who are already friends. The scammer (who is on the unsuspecting player's friend list) will pressure the player to prove their "trust" by having them drop a rare/valuable item in front of them or giving them access to a world. The scammer will then take their items or grief their world when they are offline. If the player refuses to do the trust test, the scammer will break their "friendship".

Betting

Betting of any form is illegal, with effect as of July 20, 2015. Players are required to bet some of their World Locks for a chance to win more. Any form of betting is considered illegal and players will be banned for hosting a casino and banned for 7 days if spectating one.

Casino

Two players are asked to drop their World Locks in a Display Box. They will then be asked to spin a Roulette Wheel and the player who obtains the highest score will take both of the player's items. In this case, the owner of the world can easily scam the items or the opponent could be a friend and the player will never receive their items, regardless of whether they won or not.

Dirt Game

The admin/owner would pull a player to a small room. There would be a public lock locking empty air, then the admin would ask the player to drop world locks for a certain amount of dirt blocks. Once the player has paid, the admin would then place dirt in the public spot. The player would break it and if anything drops, it would have a value ( example: If drops a seed, would be a world lock. If drops a block/gem, would be two or more world locks.) When the player breaks the block and it drops items, the admin would ban or kick the player, resulting in the player losing his world locks.

Any form of betting, not necessarily a casino is considered illegal. With effect from July 20th, 2015, any kind of betting is banned in Growtopia. Should players ever be caught hosting such illegal actions, they will be banned from the game. Participating in a casino or spectating or doing anything that involves betting will also result in a punishment, but a lighter one.

Password Door Game Scam

A scammer will have a world with a quiz or parkour. When the player reaches the end of the door, they will come across a Password Door, usually telling the player to guess any number between 0 and a large number (e.g. 0 to 10,000). The Password Door may not even have a correct password or the prize may not be what the player expected (such as being lured for a valuable item but is really a low-value item). This makes the player waste time in the world.

Fake Game Worlds

A sign that a world is a game world is if its name is ridiculously long like WLLLLLLLLLLL or WIIIIIINNNNNN. A scammer will usually have a hall at the beginning, telling the player to rate 5 or that the world isn't a scam. The prizes may seem valuable (e.g. a large amount of World Locks). The players will usually complete an insanely long parkour before reaching the areas with prizes. However, the areas with the valuable items are blocked off and unobtainable, leaving the player to pick up the low-value items., or no items at all.

Donate to Win

The scammer will ask players to donate rare items, the player who donates the rarest item will receive an extremely valuable prize. The scammer can use alternate accounts to donate their own items to make other players increase the value of their items to "beat" the alternate account. Once a valuable item has been donated, the scammer will ban all players from the world.

Work Hiring

The scammer will broadcast that they are hiring players to help them break their Farmables. They will promise a valuable prize once the player has finished breaking all the farmables. When the player has finished breaking all the farmables, the scammer will ban the player or give them a low-value item instead. However, this does not mean that ALL players who hire workers to break are scammers, some will actually pay for the player's labour.

Note: Some also advertise this as free XP. In this case, it is not a scam.

Account Password Scam

The scammer will claim that they are selling the password of an account, saying that there are valuable items inside. However there is really nothing and the player who buys it will log onto the account to find nothing, or the scammer never actually told the correct password but took the payment for the password.

Rare Item Scam

Usually, a more experienced player will scam a less experienced player in the scam. The scammer will offer an uncommon but useless item such as a Radioactive Chemical (or anything else which seems rare but is actually worthless) for a world or item of some value. The player will not realize that they are trading for something of little or no value.

Phishing Scams

Phishing Scam #1

The scammer will claim that they can hack Growtopia and give unlimited items or gems. The scammer asks for the player's GrowID and password, usually on a website. The information is collected by the scammer, who later logs onto the player's account and transfers all their items onto their account.

Phishing Scam #2

This scam is similar to the first type but far more advanced. This scam is an advanced application that finds the save.dat file on the player's device. The save.dat file is then transferred to the scammer who can later log onto the player's account and transfers all their items onto their account.

Phishing Scam #3

Almost like type 1, involves the scammer broadcasting about fake moderator applications. The scam requires the player to go to a fake moderator website, which asks for the player's GrowID, password, and email. When a player types in their email, password, and GrowID, the website claims that the player's information has been submitted. The information is collected by the scammer, who later logs onto the player's account and transfers all their items onto their account.

NOTE: The save.dat file is a local configuration file which contains settings, an auth token, GrowID name and other information such as RID, skinColor etc.

NOTE: The save.dat file has not contained a password after the 4.19 update, instead it contains a token value which is used to login.

Vending Scam

Vending Machine Scam #1

The scammer advertises that they are selling an item for extremely cheap (e.g. Portcullis for 60 per World Lock). Players will flock to the world. The scammer creates an area which is usually filled with Dark Cave Background and Water Buckets. A Portal is usually placed underneath the Vending Machine to quickly remove all the players from the world once the scam has been performed. The scammer will release all the players into the first Vending Machine where the price is just as the scammer says in their broadcast. The scammer usually places only one World Lock's worth in the first Vending Machine. The scammer then releases all the players into the second Vending Machine where the price is different (e.g. Portcullis for 6 World Locks each). Players will think that the price is the same as the first Vending Machine and will purchase the items in the machine. Once the scam is performed, the scammer will make all the players fall into the Portal.

A similar scam has emerged in BUY+ worlds, where the scammer advertises a “cheap” item (e.g. Pepper Tree Seed for 70 per World Lock). The world is designed with two identical areas: one Vending Machine stocked with a small amount of Pepper Seed (70/wl), and another with Pepper Block at the same price. When a player enters, they’re sent through a Portal to a bait world where the Pepper Seed vending machine is placed at the bottom of a vertical drop, timed with the The Adventure Begins countdown. Due to the fall speed and timer, it’s nearly impossible to reach and buy the seed before time runs out. After failing, the player is sent back to the main world through a different Portal, now facing the Pepper Tree Block vending machine, which has enough time to buy. Thinking they missed out earlier, the player rushes to purchase, only to realize they’ve been tricked into buying a different item (buying block instead of seed) at the same price.

Vending Machine Scam #2

The scammer will place an item in a Display Block below the Vending Machine (e.g. a Pinball Bumper seed). The Vending Machine will actually have an item close to the item in the Display Block, however, less valuable (e.g Pinball Bumper block). The players immediately rush to buy it before realizing that they've bought blocks for the same price as the seed. Different variants involve using similar seeds or items (such as Pet Bunny and Cuddly Bunny or Rainbow Wig and Rainbow Wings).

Vending Machine Scam #3

During Halloween Week, a player will claim that they are selling items of a high rarity (i.e. more than 100, usually steam items) so that they can drop it into Growganoth. When the player purchases it from the Vending Machine, they will later see that their item is not of the rarity they claimed it was.

Vending Machine Scam #4

The scammer sends out a fake super broadcast claiming they're "quitting" Growtopia and selling items cheaply to lure players into their world. The world is placed with a lots of Roulette Wheels around Vending Machines, so that the spinning messages along with player chat will cover up the actual item prices on vending machine. At first, they sell a few items at low prices to earn player trust. But once players are convinced, they quietly switch to other expensive items (e.g. 1 World Lock to 100 World Locks for Ripper Wing). And because the price is hidden, players end up buying them without realizing they’ve been tricked.

The Counterfeit Scam

The counterfeit scam involves a scammer trading two almost identical items in a world, claiming that it is the more valuable item (e.g. Change of Address, Birth Certificate and Secret Of Growtopia, Chandelier Seeds and Sand Seeds, Emerald Block Seeds and Cash Register Seeds). The scammer will drop the fake item in a world and claim that it is the more valuable item. The scammer will sell the world and the buyer will realize that the item they received was not what they had expected.

Trade Scam

Trade Scam #1

The scam involves the player trading an item for an offer more valuable than the value of the item being purchased. (e.g. purchasing Phoenix Wings for 300 Diamond Locks). When the scammer places the item, they will distract the player by saying that they are laggy or talking to the player. However, while the scammer is doing this, they quickly change the item into a lower price without the player noticing (e.g. 150 Diamond Locks to 15 Diamond Locks). The player would not have realized and accept the trade before realizing that they have sold an item for way cheaper than it is worth.

Trade Scam #2

The scam involves a scammer trading an obscure but worthless item for an extremely high price to a friend of theirs (e.g. Burnt Leather). The scammer will then go up to a player, attempting to sell it for slightly cheaper, making the player realize that they can profit off it. The player will then realize that they cannot sell the item and that their item is worthless.

Trade Scam #3

The scam involves the player buying a valuable item and switching it right before the trade with another similar item. For example, a player will offer to sell a Weather Machine - Stuff, and at the last second, switch it for the Weather Machine - Sunny.

Bat Wings (Play Wings)

Moderator @Play has his own Moderator item, the Play Wings, which looks similar to a Gargoyle behind a Mannequin. Players will usually try to sell a world with these items, claiming that they have the Play Wings.

Nightmare Devil Wings

After the release of Painter's Pack, players can paint blocks with paints. Using the same method as the Play Wings scam, the scammer will paint the Gargoyle purple and put a Mannequin in front of it to make it looks like the mannequin is wearing a pair of Nightmare Devil Wings.

Fake Youtube Recording

In this scam, scammers pretend to be a Youtuber, recording a video for their channel. They will ask a player to drop an item for their video which they claim to be something along the lines of a simple skit about scamming. Once the player drops their items, putting "trust" into the scammer, thinking that Youtubers won't scam. The scammer than bans or kicks the players, preventing them from getting their items back.

Spleef Scam

The scammer will host a game of Spleef. The scammer will put a rare prize (e.g. a World Lock) and ask players to pay to have an extra "life". At the end, when the player is declared the winner, the owner will refuse to pay up or ban the players, taking the payments for lives as profit.

With effect of July 20th 2015, Any kind of betting is banned in Growtopia, paying for a chance to win is included as betting, should a player be caught, they will be punished, to a lesser extent (cursed).

Glitch Seed Scam

The scammer will claim to be selling a glitched seed, asking for a high price. The seed really isn't a glitch seed but usually an uncommonly seen seed such as a clothing seed (made using a Clothing Compactor). The scammer will sell the seed in a world where the player will realise it isn't a glitched seed once they have bought the world.

Fake Item Quantity Scam

The scammer will usually drop 200 Glass Pane behind a rare item (such as a World Lock, making it look like there are 200 World Locks. When the scammer sells the world, the player will collect one World Lock and 200 Glass Panes which they have paid a large amount for.

NOTE: Locks now have orange borders around them to tell the difference between locks and blocks.

Chest Game

The chest game is a form of betting where the scammer asks players to pay a World Lock for a chance to win something rarer in a Treasure Chest. However, these chests usually have worthless items inside so that the scammer can profit from the player's initial payment. The chests may not even have any rare items.

NOTE: With effect from July 20th, any kind of betting is banned in Growtopia. Players will be banned similarly to a drop game if they host any form of betting. Participating in betting will also result in punishment, to a lesser extent.

Stuff Weather Machine Scam

The scammer will claim that they will place a rare untradeable item in a player's Weather Machine - Stuff (e.g Golden Pickaxe). The scammer will ask for access so that they can place the item in. However, upon receiving access they will smash the machine and take it.

Dirt Game 

The scammer will make a world with one Vending Machine. It will usually have one Dirt inside for the price of one per World Lock. The scammer will say that the first person to purchase the dirt will gain two World Locks. The scammer will give the prize the first time round to make it seem legitimate but the second time, many players will attempt to buy it to win the World Locks and the scammer is ultimately selling Dirt for one World Lock each. It is considered betting as it is a way of "paying to win".

Free Wrench Scams

The scammer will obtain many Geiger Chargers and place them in a Builder's Lock set to Build, that way the victims can place Geiger Counters IN the Geiger Chargers but are never able to take them OUT, and then place signs telling players why placing their Geiger Counters in the Chargers is a good idea, i.e. saying "This place is a good place to charge, because it only takes 10 minutes here as opposed to the usual hour" or give players instructions on how to "use" the Chargers, or say "Only the owner of the Geiger Counter may retrieve it." on a sign. Then the scammer will Super Broadcast something like "Free Geiger Charging Here". Then people will flock to the world, put their well-earned Geiger Counters in the scam, and lose them forever. The scammer may also put actual items to use with the free wrench system. Scammers may also place Fossil Prep Stations within the world which will be locked by a Builder's Lock  that's set to build. Players will be able to place there Fossils IN the Fossil Prep Stations but they WON'T be able to get it out afterwards.

Fake Global System Message Scam

The scammer will attempt a form of broadcasting (usually a Super-broadcast) and mimic the line of text a Global System message would probably send, and in the line of text, the scammer will state that the user's password(s) is not safe OR that they are hiring mods. Then the scammer will state a website ending with the domain .ml. (eg. **Global System Message: Your PASS is at RISK!/in DANGER! Change at <website>.ml) Another format: (**Global System Message: we are HIRING <amount> MODS! Apply at <website>.ml) NOTE: Players can no longer broadcast in `4(red) colour to prevent the imitation of Global System Messages

World Add Scam

The scammer will ask the victim to create a world and lock the door so the scammer couldn't get out. The scammer will then ask the victim to drop a valuable item on the ground, and lock it with a block. Then, the scammer will ask for access, but not accept. Then, the scammer will ask the victim to leave the world, when the victim leaves, the scammer can now accept the lock's access and take the item(s) dropped by the victim.

Rayman Scam

The scammer will broadcast that they are selling a complete Rayman set in a Display Shelf. The victim will then buy the world. While the victim accepts the trade, the scammer will quickly change the Rayman's Fist into a Fish Tank Port or Tambourine.

Patched Scams

This is a list of all scams which are currently patched and are no longer existing or able to be performed.

Scam Growtoken Worlds

The scam usually involves luring players into a world to stay in there. Scammers can keep players in their world with the form of a giveaway (and collecting the items as masses of players attempt to collect the item) or a scam mini-game world with fake prizes. It is designed to waste players' time as they collect Growtokens from the world.

Players will also fake broadcast to lure players in, such as claiming that there is a player in their world with a Legendary Item or that they are giving free items to players.

NOTE: As of the Systems Update, players can no longer obtain Growtokens from worlds.

World Trade Scams

World Trade Scam #1

The scammer will drop an item with a Checkpoint hidden behind it. When the scammer trades the world to the player, they will respawn, taking all the items.

This scam can also be done using a Door behind dropped items where the scammer will go to the Door ID and collect all the items once the trade has been done.

Another alternative is that an alternate account or a friend can take the items.

World Trade Scam #2

The scammer will place items in a Vending Machine. Just before the trade, they will take the items out and sell the world to a player, with just an empty Vending Machine.

World Trade Scam #3

The scammer will try and sell rare items inside a Highly Combustible Box. When they trade the world to a player, the scammer will burn the box and take all the items inside back.

World Trade Scam #4

The scammer will stand right next to a dropped item when trading. While the player is accepting the trade screen, the scammer will walk over and take the dropped item as the player accepts the trade.

World Trade Scam #5

The scammer will block items with Secret Passage, made to look like Wood Block. When the world is traded, the scammer will walk through the open Secret Passages and take all the items.

NOTE: As of the 3rd of June 2015, players are not allowed to trade worlds with loosely dropped items or items in storage containers (e.g. Treasure Chest), Dragon Gates or public blocks (i.e. Garbage).

World Trade Scam #6

The scammer will drop items in a world, cover them up, and offer to trade the world for a cheap price (such as Angel Wings for 8 World Locks). When the player starts trading, the scammer will place the World Key into the trade, along with some other items to distract the buyer. The scammer will then try and switch the World Key for another item while trying to distract the buyer such as talking to them. The buyer will then not receive the world.

World Trade Scam #7

In Growtopia, a common scam involves the full provider worlds. The scammer claims the world contains thousands of providers blocks such as Science Stations, ATMs, or Tackle Boxes. These worlds are often priced attractively and advertised as having up to 2,600 Science Stations. To pressure the buyer, the scammer may use an alt account to "simulate competition" by offering a higher price, creating urgency and making the buyer feel they must act quickly. If the player leaves to reconsider, the scammer later messages them with a world name that looks almost identical to the original world (e.g. WB4Q0 versus WB4QO) which is actually a lure world. This lure world may contain only 500 providers placed near the area, while the right side of the world is completely empty. Due to the limited screen view, the buyer may not notice the missing stations and proceed with the trade without inspecting the entire world.

In some cases, the scammer places a door and sends the buyer to another world, distracting them and making it seem like the trade hasn’t happened yet. The buyer unknowingly completes the trade and ends up with a world that is far less valuable than promised.

Phone Booth Scams

In this scam, the scammer will access a player to a lock with a Phone Booth. They would then ask the player to punch the Phone Booth. Since the item is designed for players to store their clothing items, some players may accidentally click "Yes" and all their clothing items will be put into the Phone Booth. The scammer would then kick/ban the players and take the items inside the Phone Booth.

NOTE: The Phone Booth can now only be used by the owner of the booth.

Conclusion

In order to avoid getting scammed, players need to learn how to control themselves. Players must not give in to greed or to whatever the scammer says. If a player is trying to scam, leave the world and ignore them. Use common sense and do not fall for these scams. Please do NOT perform any of these scams, as it will result in a ban. id:Scams