Staying Safe on Neopets
There are some evil people out there with nothing better to do in their tedious lives than to prey on the unsuspecting newbies. This guide helps you differentiate between the neofriends and the neoscammers. Below are some sections on ways you could get scammed, or ways you could get your account frozen - please read carefully or suffer the consequences.
Password scams
Neopets would never ask you for your password - they know it already. People contacting you pretending to be staff and asking for your password is definitely a scammer and will take everything in your account before discarding it. You can always tell when it's one of the real staff neomailing you because of their avatar (the TNT exploding one that users can never get).
Getting rich scams
A lot of people have been scammed by others who insist that they have a "secret way of getting rich fast". That is a complete lie. There is no such thing as getting rich really fast - it takes hard work to earn neopoints. Scammers with these ploys will often ask you to visit a website where you submit your information (including your password) and then take your account and everything you have inside. Or they will ask you to give them a certain amount of neopoints before reavling the "secret", and then take your neopoints and run off to their main account - leaving behind only an account that they don't need and wouldn't care if it was frozen.
Spamming
Spamming (short pointless annoying messages) might not sound like a very serious offense, but trust me, it is. It's not only annoying but it can also screw up neopets, putting lots of bugs that could result in you losing your neopoints, items or even your pets. Here is an example of spamming that could occur on the trading post or neoboards.
This will get you roped in and spamming along with the original culprit, and when it comes to someone responsible reporting the spamming, your name would be on that list of participants. This is a very important warning: if you spam, you will get reported.
Being "Penpals"
The last thing you want to have is a stalker outside your house because you decided to give away your real life details. Only give out your details if you are absolutely certain that the person you are associating with is not an axe murderer. Get to know the person a little better before revealing your contact details. If someone is pressuring you to give away your address or phone number, just block them - they are not the type you would want to talk to. People wanting to be your penpals should be someone you have gotten to know quite well. If you want to keep in touch with someone outside of neopets, give them an email address before you give them a real address.
Raffle Contests
If you ever come across a raffle contest in someone's shop, don't participate. You will end up having to spend more than 1000nps for a prize that you will never get. Chances are, the person hosting that contest is just scamming you to get all your neopoints, whilst promising a paintbrush that they don't have, let alone give to you. It's also against neopets rules to host a contest anyway so it's best not to participate and get scammed along with getting in trouble with Neopets for encouraging something against the rules.
~Jen