Sunday morning I think it's illegal to be up this early on a Sunday, but I can't sleep and I have to be in town in a few hours for the first of a new series of 40/40 L5R Tourneys at the local store.

I was browsing the boards and noticed that there's a post regarding a new gang of alledged "rippers". It seems as if some pour soul has been duped by fake refs, a fake 3rd party and a lot of well written, convincing emails.

Is it still safe to trade online?

I'm wondering how many trades go through MOTL every day. I would hazzard a guess at around a hundred. So out of a very conservative estimate of around 600 a week, one rip occurs every day to some hapless person, that's a nice even 1%.

Good - a low percentage, but there are other factors which I will get into later.

Trading online is one of the best tests of an individual's ethics and morals. Here's someone, sometimes at the other end of the known world, sending you valueable product on the strength of a few emails and a bunch of references. I now that personally, I was terrified in my first few online trades - I made sure my cards would get there - simply to ease my mind that *my* end of the bargain had been witheld.

MOTL is growing at an incredible rate - I watch the number of members jump up daily, but how many of these people are here to try and rip us off.

I think it's such a small number that's it's not even worth worrying about. Ripping is a crime of opportunity (AFAICS) and even though the age range of the perps is just as varied as the cards they get from the crime, I sometimes wonder if most "rips" aren't that at all.

I have drawn up a system for my own online trades involving lots of paperwork, a MS Access Database and double-checking everything. How many "rips" are from people on here that have a trade where the other person sends first, they get the cards and then forget all about their end?

This is not an excuse for rippers - it's the definition of a probable cause. Sure, some rips are intentional (the case in NY for instance or the Chille gang), but why would someone risk going to jail (or huge fines) for stealing a piece of cardboard worth, at a max, a few hundred bucks?

That's like thinking "I know, I'll rob a gas station today and leave my name and address for the cops".

If 3rd party trading (formerly thought to be the safest way to trade big cards) is out the window, maybe we should all stump up the fees for safecards.com? Maybe a lot of people will, but this shouldn't be nesessary.

Why? Because the majority of MOTL traders are honest, good people. Some of them might have a slighly forgetful mind, or lack a little in the organisation department, but they're the ones you can sort everything out with. The "real" rippers are so few and far between that I don't worry about them as much as I used to, and I don't think you should either.

Still be careful - still check refs, get emails, address and telephone numbers whereever possible if it's a large trade (or use safecards) but don't assume everyone you're trading is going to rip you (Directed to the one guy who emailed me with 0 refs, insiting I send first because he was new to this *grin*).

Anyway, on to the topic - I have an open invitation to *any* ripper that reads this. Contact me, via ICQ or email and I would like to conduct a small online interview with you. You don't have to give your name, but I do need proof that you are not making anything up.

I want to follow up this article with one on the "Eithics of Ripping" and I need your input so I'm not biased.

Banzi

Most rippers won't read this because they stick to the trading forums.

__________________
"People believe that if I say I'm gonna kill someone in a song, that I actually mean it. Well if you believe that... then I'll kill you." - Eminem

If they want to meet on IRC, that would be do-able. After all, the only thing I could get would be their IP address - what more do they have to worry about.

I don't want names of people they've ripped - I just want to ask them some eithical questions regarding their actions so I can word them into my next article. I think it would be a learning experience for us all, and I for one would give the interviewed ripper a bit of kudos for comming forward and being heard.