14 DAY TRIAL // Fraud is no laughing matter, but, sometimes, there are some tiny details that do make the subject somewhat amusing. One such detail could be that the currency involved is not the dollar, or the yen, or euro, but ISK. If you're not familiar with the country in which it's used, then learn that it actually comes from a universe, the universe of EVE Online. Yes, this is about a man that scammed others out of billions of virtual money. Dax is his name, and the final amount of currency he scammed other players out of was roughly equivalent to 374 billion ISK.
The basis of his little scheme was to convince people to invest money in his little operation, an operation that promised a 200% return profit. And the best way to gain people's trust when it comes to investing money is to convince them that you're already rich and know how to handle money. “To be honest, I've never been worth hundreds of billions of ISK, as most folks think I was. I've been a billionaire, but never the fantastically rich person that I've made myself out to be. It was just an image,” Dax admitted.
And, like any devious, little thief, as soon as he felt that he was about to bite more than he could chew, he made like a tree and left. “My initial 50 billion ISK offering got me a list of investors,” he explained. “Over the following weeks and months, I got in touch with most of them in person (in addition to other people) and worked out private deals, where each person thought that they were going to privately fund a 'shortage' in my IPO in exchange for one of my officer-fit ships.”
“The bulk of my fund-raising came from that. There's a lot of folks who think that they're getting an officer-fit Golem, or a Paladin, or a CNR, or a Guardian-Vexor today.” And, of course, they won't. But in a very interesting turn of events, after collecting such a vast amount of virtual money and spending 250 billion ISK on upgrading his ship, the fraudulent MMO pirate decided that he had spent enough time in the game and that it was time to stop playing.
“While I'm leaving EVE ... all the wealth and officer gear I've acquired isn't going to waste – an unidentified recipient who knows who he/she is already is going to get... well, everything,” he said. From the looks of it, this was his way of going out with a bang, and whether or not he managed any epic feat in the game, as far as general gameplay goes, a lot of people will remember the EVE player Dax and his ISK heist. Especially the people whose money he took, and the lucky one who'll receive his inheritance.