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Hello Traders! This Guide will hopefully introduce you to the unfortunate practice of scamming in the trading community, and what you can do about it. For those that are unaware, scamming is when an untrustworthy or dishonest individual "steals" your Pokemon, or otherwise has run off with one of your Pokemon with no intention of returning it. Scamming isn't limited to just stolen Pokemon, however. Trading hacked Pokemon (which is also against Trade Corner rules) without being upfront and honest about it also counts as scamming the receiver of the Pokemon.
So now that we've gotten the introduction out of the way, what can you do about scammers? What happens if you do get scammed? Thankfully, this generation makes it much easier to catch scammers in the act.
The incredible thing about this generation compared to previous generations is that the Switch has the ability to both screenshot and record short clips (up to 30 seconds) in your games. You can view this guide by Nintendo on how to take a screenshot, but the important part as it relates to scamming is that you want proof of your Pokemon being traded away, and the Pokemon that you received from the individual. If you're making an accusation that someone is scamming you, it's best to bring as much evidence to your side as possible.
In this example, I'm going to be taking a screenshot of sending my Popplio over. It's a surprise trade, but fundamentally it's the same concept.
As you can see in the first screenshot, I have circled the person's IGN that I'm trading to. This is extremely important. In order to lend credibility to your case, you would want:
You'd also want a screenshot of the Pokemon you're receiving, as proof the trade being complete as well as proof of the individual sending over whatever Pokemon you claim they have.
After you saved the screenshot, the Switch gives you two options: you can send it to Twitter or Facebook. While this seems like an unfortunate circumstance at first since the Switch doesn't allow images to be posted directly to Imgur, creating a throwaway Twitter account for documentation of sensitive trades should be rather simple, and you can toss your screenshots and video clips there.
Failing that, should creating a Twitter account not become an option, you could record sensitive trades occurring on your mobile device and upload them directly to Imgur.
After that, you would want to send those pieces of evidence over to the following moderators of the Trade Corner: Firebolt, CommanderSaturn, and IrishAurum with your accusation. The matter will be looked into and you will be contacted with any further information or updates regarding the situation.
Sending Video Clips is in much the same vein as screenshotting, except video clips are much more reliable and concrete sources of evidence to have on your side. Not that screenshots aren't solid on their own (the more the better, after all), but a video clip is pretty definitive and telling that a) the trade definitely occurred, b) the scammer gave you either an illegitimate Pokemon without disclosing it and/or ran off with the Pokemon you traded them. You can watch this video by Nintendo on how to go about capturing video clips. It's old, but the information on how to go about doing it is still accurate.
Also, much like screenshotting, the Switch offers you to post to either Facebook or Twitter. We strongly recommend keeping a Twitter account documentation of sensitive trades (or recording them via a mobile device and uploading the evidence to Imgur) so you know you have evidence on your side should you believe you've been wronged.
--
One more thing!
This is the list you would want to use before you trade with anyone to ensure that you aren't trading with a known scammer. Thanks to the r/PokemonSwordandShield moderators for providing this information!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Trade Corner section mods: Firebolt, CommanderSaturn, and IrishAurum! Happy Trading, everyone!
EDIT: if you're savvy enough and have an SD card in your swtch, you can put the SD card in your laptop/computer and just upload the clips straight to Imgur.
So now that we've gotten the introduction out of the way, what can you do about scammers? What happens if you do get scammed? Thankfully, this generation makes it much easier to catch scammers in the act.
Method #1: Screenshotting
The incredible thing about this generation compared to previous generations is that the Switch has the ability to both screenshot and record short clips (up to 30 seconds) in your games. You can view this guide by Nintendo on how to take a screenshot, but the important part as it relates to scamming is that you want proof of your Pokemon being traded away, and the Pokemon that you received from the individual. If you're making an accusation that someone is scamming you, it's best to bring as much evidence to your side as possible.
In this example, I'm going to be taking a screenshot of sending my Popplio over. It's a surprise trade, but fundamentally it's the same concept.
Spoiler:
As you can see in the first screenshot, I have circled the person's IGN that I'm trading to. This is extremely important. In order to lend credibility to your case, you would want:
- A screenshot of the person's IGN that you're trading to, either at the start of the trade or in the middle of the trade. Either or works.
- A screenshot of the person validating that it's indeed their IGN. Simply them saying, prior to the trade occurring that the IGN is indeed them is enough proof of this.
You'd also want a screenshot of the Pokemon you're receiving, as proof the trade being complete as well as proof of the individual sending over whatever Pokemon you claim they have.
After you saved the screenshot, the Switch gives you two options: you can send it to Twitter or Facebook. While this seems like an unfortunate circumstance at first since the Switch doesn't allow images to be posted directly to Imgur, creating a throwaway Twitter account for documentation of sensitive trades should be rather simple, and you can toss your screenshots and video clips there.
Failing that, should creating a Twitter account not become an option, you could record sensitive trades occurring on your mobile device and upload them directly to Imgur.
After that, you would want to send those pieces of evidence over to the following moderators of the Trade Corner: Firebolt, CommanderSaturn, and IrishAurum with your accusation. The matter will be looked into and you will be contacted with any further information or updates regarding the situation.
Method #2: Video Clip Recording
Sending Video Clips is in much the same vein as screenshotting, except video clips are much more reliable and concrete sources of evidence to have on your side. Not that screenshots aren't solid on their own (the more the better, after all), but a video clip is pretty definitive and telling that a) the trade definitely occurred, b) the scammer gave you either an illegitimate Pokemon without disclosing it and/or ran off with the Pokemon you traded them. You can watch this video by Nintendo on how to go about capturing video clips. It's old, but the information on how to go about doing it is still accurate.
Also, much like screenshotting, the Switch offers you to post to either Facebook or Twitter. We strongly recommend keeping a Twitter account documentation of sensitive trades (or recording them via a mobile device and uploading the evidence to Imgur) so you know you have evidence on your side should you believe you've been wronged.
--
One more thing!
This is the list you would want to use before you trade with anyone to ensure that you aren't trading with a known scammer. Thanks to the r/PokemonSwordandShield moderators for providing this information!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Trade Corner section mods: Firebolt, CommanderSaturn, and IrishAurum! Happy Trading, everyone!
EDIT: if you're savvy enough and have an SD card in your swtch, you can put the SD card in your laptop/computer and just upload the clips straight to Imgur.
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