Know Your Scams: Rare Item For Sale

Setup

The 'Rare Item for Sale' scam utilises some of the cheaper officer/deadspace/faction items that can be found on the mrkate. The key to the scam is setting up the contract with one or two items plus other innocus items that make it appear that the price advertised is a really good deal.

Faction items in a contract, must be a good deal

Officer items especially can sell for several billion ISK and seeing one or two for sale in a contract for, what appears to be, the low price of a billion or two can be irresistible.

Once setup the scammer will start advertising in Local, usually something like:

[Multiple Items] Hanger Clearance
[Multiple Items] Corp Closing - Hanger Clearance!
[Multiple Items] Rare Items For Sale!

With the contract linked at the start and a description indicating a firesale or rare item is available.

What Happens Now

The mark comes along and sees, what appears to be an awesome deal for faction/officer or deadspace items that appear to be well under "perceived" market prices. They of course Accept it and find out after price checking that they aren't as valuable as they thought.

How Can You Protect Yourself

Spend a little time reading the details of the contract closely will help you. Verify that the green text shows you receiving what you're expecting. This type of contract implies a ship with rigs and fit, so verify not just that you can see the fit and rigs but also the ship is there.

If you see a contract make sure you block both the issuer AND the person who advertises the contract (they could be different).