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Scammer Alert |
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The following are scames, please be careful:
Email
01. The latest trick is to try to make you change your email address to win a prize, or to change your password to something simple such as 'gohans'. Do not do this, if you do, that person will be able to get your password and gain entry to your account. Remember, no NeoPets staff will EVER ask for your password. If you receive any such messages, please forward them to abuse@neopets.com.
02. Chain Letters - NeoPets will not ask you to pass any messages onto anyone else. We will not be rewarding you with Neggs or anything else. If you receive any such Neomail, simply delete it.
Password
01. Change your password regularly. And by regularly, I don't mean every other month. Even several times a day. I advise changing your password daily especially if you go into people's shops to buy items for quests. If you don't, it is okay to change it every week or so. And don't give it out to anyone, NEOPETS STAFF WILL NEVER ASK FOR IT.
Why? Wonder why some people's account get hacked mysteriously? Some shops have scripts which run when the page loads. These scripts can steal your password.
02. Choose passwords which consist of alphanumeric characters and upper and lower case letters. Since no one other than myself uses my computer, I keep my password in a notepad document. This makes it easy for logging in since I can just copy (ctrl-c) and paste (ctrl-v). In addition, I can come up with ridiculous passwords like "nF0rnSuKsN98JhdY6". With 52 letters (upper and lower case) and 10 numerals, the possibilities are limitless. Do not use your login name in any form or a word that can be find in the dictionary as your password.
Why? The object when choosing a password is to make life difficult for a cracker. A brute force search using a machine which could try a million passwords a second, would take over a hundred years to complete. Think you'll be playing Neopets a hundred years from now?
03. Never ever change the email address on your Info page even if you are promised a kazillion NeoPoints. Neopets will not ask you for your password either. They are smarter than that. Whenever you receive such Neomail, head straight to the auto email form and cut and paste all details of the Neomail. From the header (Sender and Time) and original unmodified Neomail message. Here are examples of scam neomails. Notice the bad spelling and informal language used. We did not edit them.
Shop Scams
01. Who buys the most from my shop wins my grand prize worth over 10 kazillion NeoPoints. Whatever! Think again! Are you going to spend 3 million NeoPoints and end up missing out by 500np to the third placed winner? What happens if the owner of the account runs off with all your hard earned NeoPoints and supposed prizes? If you must participate, at least get the facts straight.
The prizes should be prominently displayed in the trading post. The owner of the account should have played for more than half a year to be able to afford those prizes. More importantly, his pets should have respectable statistics (high Levels, Hit Points, Strength and Defence). Take note of his strong pets names in case he goes missing. If you absolutely trust the user, go ahead and spend to try win the grand prize. I personally believe your money is better off in the bank earning interest.
Why? There are countless ways how this could go wrong. Ever wondered if those people who won did spend that much? Who knows, the winners may just be usernames of his other accounts. It's a win all situation for the contest holder. He doesn't even need to run away! I could go on and on, but you get the idea. I'm not trying to write off genuine contests. Except too many things can go wrong. (UPDATE: all contests have been banned now!)
02. While accessing someone's shop, if you suddenly come across a log in screen, check the URL of the page you are at. Do not enter your username and password! To play safe, click on "Login" on the left yellow menu. Report this immediately to abuse, stating the shop URL which contains the login form.
Why? Some users managed to replicate an exact copy of the login form. However, after clicking on the button "Login to NeoPets", your username and password are sent to the shop owner, using formmail. The correct URL should only be "http://www.neopets.com/loginpage.phtml" and nothing else.
03. You are using the Shop Wizard to sniff out cheap deals. You can't believe your eyes when you see a Cool Negg going for 10,000np! Upon hurrying over to the shop, you immediatly click to purchase. Hmm...it sends you to a log in page.
Why? The shop owner has edited the HTML of items such that you get forwarded to a log in page which looks exactly like this except it is hosted on Geocities. Immediatly report the shop.
04. A new scam going around is the 99,999np scam. You may have seen advertisements in chat boards or IRC, advertising for items like Battle Slices or Ancient Manchu Bows for 99,999np? Don't ever buy them! They are actually Deli Slices and Expert Bows. NeoPets used the same image for these 2 items. While you can get Deli Slices for less than 100np, Battle Slices go for over a million. Same goes for Ancient Manchu Bows.
Why? When in doubt, always look into the source of the shop. After the mandatory Neopets HTML, you can see the shop description and HTML for items in the shop. Or, try to highlight the text with your cursor. You can't. Simply because the words you see is on a background and the correct wordings are in white font and small sizes. (UPDATE: This will no longer happen again because Neopets changed images for them. Yay!)
Trading Post
01. Whoever bids the highest on this lot (usually junk) wins my account with over a kazillion NeoPoints and thousands of rares. Logical? Didn't think so.
Why? If this user was really leaving Neopets, why would they need the highest bid? What do they need Neopoints for anymore?
02. Bid the highest amount and you win a paint brush. Unless you see the paint brush, don't believe this. It's just another scam to get you best items.
Neo-Sitters
Going away for vacation? Who is going to feed your pets? Do NOT ever get a NeoSitter. There are two different scams involving this.
01. You get someone to NeoSit your pets and account. The next day, all your NeoPoints and items are gone and pets abandoned.
02. The other one is people actually asking for a NeoSitters but when you 'work out the agreements' the NeoSitter must give their account password as well as yours to be 'fair' (hmm... and I bet the person's asking for a NeoSitter is barely a week old). Don't be stupid, Neopets don't allow NeoSitters and if you need someone to look after your pets, go to the NeoLodge!
Boomspeed
This is more unusual as this isn't tricking you out of anything Neopets related. Basically people are sending emails to Neopets players pretending to be from Boomspeed (an image hosting service). They claim they will erase the player's account unless they pay 10 dollars. This is a scam, Boomspeed do not send such emails and Boomspeed have been alerted to this problem.
Other Scams
NeoDrive URL Scam - Don't send anyone your Neodrive URL, if you do then you are giving them your password!
Fake Competitions - If anyone is having a competition, then they are not endorsed by the NeoPets staff and they do not need your password to send you your prizes.
Virus Tricksters - Some very nasty people are posting links to viruses on the NeoPets site. They claim it is a link to a Neohelper program, NeoPoints.exe or a Scorchy Slots program. It is not. It is a virus that can seriously damage your computer.
What if you are already a victim of a scam? Take heart. Neopets has a system with increased security. All IP addresses as well as movements into and out of accounts are logged. Send an email immediately to abuse@neopets.com stating your username, all your user accounts and time (in NST) when you discovered you were hacked. It may take anytime from a day to a week for Neopets to respond.
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Q & A |
1. Do you know where I can buy books on or about Ixi?
Currently there are no Ixi books
2. What are the Ixi Battle Items?
Ixi Battle Gem, Ixi Indestructible Shield, Ixi Indestructible Blade, Ixi Indestructible Helmet.
 | Ixi Battle Gem | 2,722 NP | Attack 
Defence  |  | | Endless Use Item | Rarity 87 | | This pretty stone will give ward of enemies and give them a nasty zap. |
 | Ixi Indestructible Blade | 3,530 NP | Attack 
| | | Endless Use Item | Rarity 90 | | This mighty sword has two little horns on its tip to give that added edge. |
 | Ixi Indestructible Helmet | 2,356 NP | Attack 
Defence   | | | Endless Use Item | Rarity 83 | | Ok, so its not really indestructible, but it is pretty strong! |
 | Ixi Indestructible Shield | 2,530 NP | Defence   | | | Endless Use Item | Rarity 85 | | A super strong shield that will serve your Ixi well. |
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