Welcome to Gaia! ::

+Protect yourself from scammers/hackers!+

1) Admins and Mods will NEVER ask for your password. If anyone claiming to be a mod/admin asks for it, report them! [sample fake admin]

2) Beware of links that other users give you. Hover your mouse over the link to see the url or copy and paste it to the address bar (or a word document). Make sure it begins with http://www.gaiaonline.com or some other well known and trusted site such as http://www.youtube.com, http://photobucket.com, etc. Links may lead you to keylogging sites (records your keystrokes to get your password) or fake login screens. Innocent looking urls and/or text can be use to disguise links malicious sites.
[link that leads to a fake login screen]
["vote in the avi arena" scam] <--very popular lately
[fake Gaia job opening]

3) Make a complicated password.Use a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols in your password. Don't use anything that was be easy to guess such as: your name, birthday, pet's name, etc.

4) Avoid typing your password more than you need to. Save your passwords in a word document, then copy and paste them to the login screen. This will prevent keyloggers from recording your keystrokes. You can also use a web-based on-screen keyboard to "type" your password.

5) Always logout whenever you leave--especially if you know other people are going to be using the same computer.

6) Never tell anyone your password--not even your best friends or your parents. They might accidentally let it slip or write it down so that they don't forget (other people can get a hold of the paper with the password on it).

7) Install a firewall and virus scanner to prevent malicious (potential keylogging/hacker) software/viruses from being automatically installed on your computer. Scan your computer whenever you suspect that there might be a virus/keylogger as often as you need to.

8 ) Use mules. Transfer all unused items to another account and leave only the equipped items on your main account (or you can ghost it and transfer everything to the mule). If you do get hacked, at least you won't lose everything at once. It's slightly inconvenient to transfer items between accounts all the time, but it's better than letting a hacker take everything.

9) Ghosting
1. Save your avatar exactly the way you want it--you won't be able to change it for a while.
2. Delete your avatar. Don't make a new one! As long as you don't make a new avatar, your old one will continue to appear exactly the way you saved it.
3. Now that your avatar base has been deleted, all items have been unequipped. Transfer your items to a mule for safekeeping.

10) Offers that are too good to be true often really are to good to be true. Trade an angelic sash for gift wrapped panda hat? No way! Never accept a gif twrapped item in exchange for one of your own items. Giftboxes can easily disguise worthless items, allowing the scammer to run off with your expensive ones.

11) Always double check your trade window. Some scammers send you a trade of ex) 2,000,000g for an angelic scarf. After you confirm the trade, the scammer takes out a couple 0's and wind up actually paying ex) 200,000g, 20,000g, 2,000g for your item. Unfortunately, once you confirm the trade, there's very little mods can do to help you get your items back. The second confirmation is there for a reason. If you didn't check it, then it's "your own fault for getting scammed."

12) Don't use the same login + password combination for multiple sites. If one account gets hacked, it'll be a piece of cake for the hacker to hack all of your other accounts.

13) Don't loan other people your items. If someone asks to borrow your items to "try them on" or to "see how [my avi] looks with a certain item," DON'T let them (unless you are very close to them or just never want to see your item again). That's what http://www.tektek.org is for. Gaia's new MP layout will also allow users to "try on" items before buying them. A scammer can easily take your item, block you, and run off with it. There's not much mods can do about this either, since you gave the scammer your consent to "borrow (forever =__=)" your item.

14) Do not buy Gaia gold with real money. Gaia gold is the property of Gaia Online. Buying gold from another user with real money will get both you and the seller permanently banned. (but the seller still gets away with your real money and will probably make new account to scam more people.)

15) Don't be greedy. Looking for an easy way to make gold or get a rare item it likely to get your scammed. Being greedy makes you particularly vulnerable to scammers because you're more likely to ignore warning signs that they are, in fact, scammers.
[Innocent looking giveaway....]
[...that leads to ripway.com...] <--used an innocent url to hide the fake one
[...which leads to a fake login screen] <--look at the address bar
[2 million gold survey]

16) Don't use bots to make gold. You will get yourself (and everyone the botted gold is transferred to) permanently banned.

17) Don't download random antivirus software. Chances are the antivirus software might actually be a virus. Only download from sources you trust.

Well...a few people did. I was contributing to a free avatar art thread, and we had a lot of scammers and such, so we all brainstormed and came up with this to post on the front page.