sugarvalves [1963573] —
Original article
With vault thefts on the rise, we take a look at what happens to faction scammers when the anger has died down, and ask whether scamming your way to the top is a legitimate way to play Torn City.
One of the best things about Torn City is that everyone can choose their own path. And while some are more arduous than others - I’m looking at you, SSL users - each way of playing is respected in its own right. Even the ads for Torn try to direct new players down three specific routes, offering up the chance to play as a Fighter, a Criminal, or an Executive.
But recent events have led me to conclude that there is another, unofficial way to play Torn. A path trod only by those brave or stupid enough to embrace chaos. For while many are keen to experience the life of the faction warrior, the business mogul, and the criminal kingpin, only a select few choose to experience the life of the outcast, the pariah, or the villain.
Read on, as we look into the history and reality of Torn’s controversial fourth playstyle.
The Scammer.
Elysian Fleeced
On the 1st of February, Delabrae shared the story of how the members of the Elysian faction were scammed by their leaders to the tune of several billions of dollars. To cut a long story short, Hat and Mikka pocketed their members’ vault cash, sold the faction to mug, and then rode off into the sunset.
Except they didn’t, because the sun never sets in Torn City, and there are no shadows in which to hide. After the inevitable public outcry against their behaviour, Hat and Mikka turned up at a faction called Apocrypha owned by Hermaeus-Mora. Hermaeus-Mora is no stranger to scamming, having famously stolen $7 billion in lottery winnings from Ghostwizard in August last year.
Upon Mikka and Hat’s applications being accepted, HM’s faction was renamed to Vault Inspection Party, which some people found funny - especially as the presence of three known scammers raised questions as to how their vault permissions would be managed. Others were less amused by their antics, and when this alliance of outcasts came to the attention of Torn’s forum dwellers, all three were subjected to targeted attacks and bounties by the people of Torn City.
During this time, investigations by CRLF revealed that Elysian was actually a stolen faction to begin with. It appears that Mikka proposed a legitimate purchase of a faction called Eternal Horror back in 2019, only to scam the owners and take control of the faction without payment changing hands. This doesn’t really change what happened to Elysian’s members for better or worse, but it is nevertheless an interesting side note to this story.
Regardless, the playerbase came together to punish this trio of tricksters, and discussions were even had on how best to discipline them without wasting money. Happiness reducers, bounties, and messages of disapproval had no effect, so Equilibrium then went several steps further by using the bonus hit gained from their 25k chain to obliterate VIP - now known as Living Rent Free - much to everyone's delight.
But did this attack have any effect? Not really. As satisfying as VIP's destruction may have seemed, the three scammers have simply moved onto another faction, and I find it unlikely that Equilibrium or others will waste their chain bonus hits on them a second time. Mikka also has a company that he's using to employ Hermaeus and Hat, among others, and it also seems to be getting by just fine.
So is this proof that vault crime pays in Torn City?
Crime and Punishment
When major vault scams are performed, the community goes through a ritual set of behaviours. First, we see outrage and evidence spewed onto the forums, with bounties and attacks towards the culprits soon following. Then, the playerbase wrings its hands until raw, wondering how such awful things can be prevented in future, why the money was left in the vault in the first place, and why everyone who disagrees with your particular view is an undeniable piece of s**t.
And finally, just before the story peters out, we see criticisms of Torn itself, with calls for change made in the direction of the developers. At least we used to.
“Actually in recent history, I've not seen any more complaints or calls for changes to the game rules. That used to be very common, but now people accept it is part of the core game and that we have no jurisdiction over it.” - Chedburn
While we have seen the occasional suggestions thread demanding a change to the rules, most people have accepted that scamming is and must remain legal in Torn City. A recent poll run by CRLF found that only 26% (of those who replied seriously) wanted staff involvement in tackling vault crimes, with everyone else content to let the faction or the community punish the wrongdoers.
I'd wager most of those in favor of formal punishment are either young, or they've never been on staff. Scamming was once illegal in Torn, but some scams were effectively (if not formally) permitted after the introduction of direct trading, with LeukyBear pointing out back in 2008 that Torn would no longer intervene in certain situations as they had done in the past.
"If you choose to trade with any player outside of the trade function and you get scammed because of it, under no circumstances will staff get involved. You will not get anything returned to you and the person that does this will NOT be punished. This covers all items that can be physically traded. (basically anything that can be bought from Auction or Item Markets). This does not mean that scamming is legal." - LeukyBear, in 2008.
Except it did, because if certain types of scams were allowed to go unpunished, then scamming may as well have been legal. Grey areas like this only ever lead to confusion, which in turn creates more work for those who have to rule on such issues. Scams were later fully legalised to alleviate this situation, with the exception of vault scams, which were only made legal in 2010.
This decision was made when it became apparent that there were loopholes being created and exploited that allowed players to benefit from vault thefts indirectly, leading to lengthy investigations on each occasion. Our current Community Manager bogie explains more:
"Most notably around that time was a situation with a player called Valesh - if I recall correctly they had cash stored in the faction at the time where scamming was legal but faction theft was not. A leader sent all of the money to Valesh whilst they were offline, and they were then mugged for almost all of it - technically their cash - but was it stolen?"
"Then there were rumours flying that this was a plan by Valesh to double-dip, and just a whole conspiracy there, muggers claiming they had no knowledge of this setup, leaders claiming that they thought Valesh had asked to withdraw and Valesh denying - just a huge mess and all stupid." - bogie
Scams of all forms were legalised in the belief that doing so would improve gameplay, promote interesting in-game relationships, and reduce moderator effect on Torn. These reasons were repeated in a poll run by Chedburn in 2014 to see if the community thought we should reverse the decision and outlaw scamming once more. Two-thirds of the community voted in favour of allowing scams to persist, and so scamming remained legal.
The argument that anti-scam laws create too much admin is hard to ignore, as is Chedburn's point from 2014 that "if scamming was illegal, Torn wouldn't be purely Player to Player. There would always be a middleman holding everyone's hand." What happens in Torn should be due to the choices each individual player makes, not a set of arbitrary rules governing certain types of transaction.
With that being accepted by many, the onus now falls onto the community to punish scammers in accordance with their crimes. But is this actually happening? And has it ever? Current staff member and former scamming victim Cloudjumper shares their thoughts.
"Scamming is looked down upon, but there are plenty of well known scammers who have survived and thrived. You do need a thick skin to be able to see it through. Faction vault scammers are a different breed though, it makes it infinitely difficult to get into any respectable faction if you scam faction vaults and this is definitely not a viable strat if you are actually interested in playing the game long term." - Cloudjumper.
A History of Scammers
Hermaeus-Mora told The Times he was going to quit before he stole $7 billion from a player in his faction. But far from feeling guilty, he says that everything which has come as a result of his crime - the bounties, the attention, and the hate - has actually pumped new life into the game. And rather than acting as a punishment, HM says that some of the reprisals he's faced have actually had a positive effect.
"Consequences are relative to playstyle. 600mil stat gains later (FLEX). I did tell my little fan club that I was just a casual player but I think they have some issues. Medding out is easy and bounties have saved my faction from taking even a single bonus drop." - Hermaeus-Mora
Being permanently hospitalised is rarely a Torn death sentence, so long as you know how to deal with it - trading is one example of an acceptable playstyle that requires you to become all-too-familiar with the white screens of the hospital page. It is fair to say that the community's response to HM, Hat, and Mikka has had little effect on their gameplay or their outlook. As such, HM maintains he was right to rob GhostWizard, and I genuinely believe that there is nothing you could do within the confines of Torn City to change his mind.
Pictured: Hermaeus-Mora bounty and hospital time graph.
What's worse is that things are only going to get better for Hermaeus-Mora and those like him, as when we look back at ye olde famous scammers of yore, many of them are still active. Five years ago, we published an article covering a spate of scams that all happened within a few weeks of each other. Of those we mentioned, Jaiden appears to be the most successful player still active, with this level 85 player holding a networth of $700 million - $63 million of which was stolen back in 2017.
"I would like it to be known that whilst I did possibly maybe, who knows teach someone (who knows who) a lesson on not trusting people (yes I’m a teacher) I would like it noted that I also borrowed, permanently, the sum of TCD6.431 billion from DEHT back in 2017, after being made co-leader after a very long time of working my way up from the bottom (it took 3days) so that 67m or whatever, is minor compared to that. Yours faithfully, Scammer of The Year 2017." - Jaiden
Others mentioned in the article include Lungi--, who was later fedded for unknown reasons, Hedas and CHunger who were famous Vicoxan scammers, and the infamous Kapten_Klitoris, who even wrote an article defending scams in this very newspaper. KK’s end came when he was found to have been abusing an item duplication bug over the course of several years, but he managed to live a long and successful life as a scammer and high-profile citizen... before he went too far.
Cowkiller1337, a.k.a. Potion_Seller, was a contemporary of Kapten_Klitoris, and has changed their name on multiple occasions ever since. Cowkiller is still playing Torn without issue today, and as you can see from their bounty and hospital graphs, the attention they received as a result of their crimes has levelled off in recent years.
Pictured: cowkiller1137's bounty and hospital graph.
Another player who was accused of scamming in their early days was Ralucakiss84, a now high-level player who was known to have performed buymugs and poker mugs while building their initial wealth. Yet in a way, Raluca and all of those we've mentioned so far were low-level scammers. Some of them may have scammed more over their lifetime than one could take from a single vault theft, but such things are tolerated since they are spread out across multiple years and incidents.
So what about the big names? The one-off vault villains of this year and yesteryear? There have been quite a few vault raids lately, and while some have a happy ending for the victims, many do not. Book-Wyrm took $900m from their faction in May of last year, and once more, the effects of retaliation upon their gameplay have been negligible.
"Lots of Bounties for the first month or so before completely dying down. Playing Torn was fine, lots you could get done in a 5 minute window in that first month, in fact it was rather helpful with almost a dozen merits in that time. I’ll also delete my account before I send back a single dollar." - Book-Wyrm
It's a different story for Deimos, who stole $10 billion from Unrelenting back in April 2020 shortly before the faction was deleted due to mass cheating. Deimos says he gave back a large chunk of the money he took, but the unfortunate timing of his robbery just before the faction's destruction meant that his crime was far more impactful than your usual vault heist.
"When it happened the vault was say half full from what it was supposed to have Zahid had used funds towards gambling n whatnot. This was told to me by bogie so when I rob the vault I took 10 where there should have been 20 or 15 I'm not really sure. I basically compounded the problem and with Zahid fedded, I held the spotlight for the whole mess." - Deimos
Deimos took a year out during 2021, but he is now back on his way to becoming an active member of a HoF top 100 faction. He may not have much of a networth to speak of having gambled the rest of it away on purpose, but from the outside looking in, you could be forgiven for thinking that Deimos faced no long-term in-game consequences for his vault theft. The truth is somewhat different.
"The game completely changes. 90% of the community detests you personally I felt like everybody just seen me as a piece of s**t and I played a lot I was very active and it got to me... The game just isn't fun anymore I don't have people wanting to talk to me even the friends I had before it all, changed. That's the worst part still friends but not really not what it was if that means anything."
Pictured: Deimos' hospitalisation and bounty graph.
Deimos is no longer the player he was before he robbed Unrelenting, but this is partially due to the fact that he has twins and a newborn to look after in real life - children cannot be fed with Donator Packs, as many have discovered. Deimos admits that his training lifestyle isn't really affected by the hospitalisations and retaliations he still receives to this day, so it appears the biggest impact of this theft has been on the personal relationships he had with his old friends and factionmates.
Speaking of the old Relentless boys, how is Batman doing these days?
"After years in the thankless position of family leader I am finally having fun again. Logging in no longer seems like a chore. In terms of retaliation it has essentially been non existent excluding Noobestassasin with a flight delay and 3-4 attacks. The thing about bullies is they don't bully people that push back. Surely if I joined a company, or faction with weaker members they would target said weaker members." - Batman
It is only three months since Batman dramatically held the entire Monarch faction to ransom, and yet even with this incident fresh in our memories, the blowback has already waned. Everyone knows that Batman wasn't your typical vault thief and had his own reasons for doing what he did, but I think we all expected a powerful unit like M to punish him in perpetuity for his crimes. This hasn't happened, and Batman thinks he knows exactly why - because M's leaders are no saints themselves.
"Hank actually stole the faction from Ghosty when he forced a separation (which was exactly my initial intent). You have flex (also in monarch) who emptied FTW's vault, including members' money. To be clear I scammed Monarch as a faction/family, not a single member had their finances impacted. Also scamming, while obviously scummy, is well within the rules. Cheating of course is not and the history of a lot of Monarch members is well documented."
"There have also been high profile scammers that eventually integrated themselves back into factions, ra1der and dekloren as prime examples. They might not have been faction scammers but previous to Monarch scammers in general were taboo in HOF factions. People will make exceptions when the pros outweigh the cons. Look at how hard Rgiskard and Hank sold their souls to be #1 again." - Batman
The Dirty Conclusion
I don't think we need any further evidence to prove that scammers are tolerated in Torn. In fact, given the heights some have risen to, I would argue that the scammer playstyle is somewhat aspirational, with little to be gained from reversing one's position after the fact.
Take Guyguy123, for example. Formerly known as Flywho404, this player stole $16 billion from their faction and briefly spent time in Vault Inspection Party, only to return the money, post an apology, and head back to their faction a few days later. This player will always be distrusted in Torn City regardless of what they do, but if they'd kept the money, they'd be a distrusted player with $16 billion in the bank.
Batman has also been offered multiple positions in other factions since he left M. Unfortunately, he knows that his former factionmates will take action against any who employ him in the near future. And since eventually, Monarch's hatred for Batman will pass, he has little to gain from returning anything he took from the faction.
"I think in general faction scamming is treated appropriately by the community. Like with anything else there will always be exceptions/double standards and in general time heals old wounds. I would recruit me but I am biased in my hatred for Monarch. Admittedly though if I was neutral I would likely pass...I wouldn't say it is a path people should strive to follow." - Batman
Hermaeus-Mora, meanwhile, admits that even they wouldn't steal from their friends, although he contends that each scamming incident is unique and cannot be judged against another. He believes that those who donate to scam victims are pathetic, and the only thing they should be sent is a box of tissues and some comical bounties.
"Torn is supposed to be ruthless! Stealing from friends is different, this is something that people get very upset about. Do I think it's abhorrent? Not really... I personally couldn't care less if someone's a scammer, that's between them and the victims. People who get involved in that s***e are the worst of the Torn community. Soft, flakey, and self-righteous tragic virtue signallers." - Hermaeus-Mora
Many will disagree with HM's sentiments and his crimes, but eventually, the community's indifference towards him and every other vault scammer will validate their actions nonetheless. Deimos appears to be one of the few people who are still suffering major consequences to this day, but even he finds himself in a good faction with the opportunity to make new friends - and enemies.
Double standards, waning interest, or the good old progression of time itself will eventually erase the memory of Torn's most notorious citizens and their dirty deeds. Meanwhile, those extra billions will remain useful, as there will always be other scumbags willing to trade with them or take them under their wing. This is true in the real world, so why would it ever be different in Torn?
"While people's feelings may get hurt it is in essence no different then a well orchestrated buy-mug, it simply requires more social capital to pull off. Furthermore, in considering Torn a crime game, it becomes clear that there is a greater tolerance for anti-social behavior as role-play, within the scope of the game we as players are characters, some play their character on the forum, others play their character in through chat, others through hustles or scams, in the end it is all gameplay within the game." - KingKongUn
Heck, even having your name listed as a scammer by hundreds of people doesn't seem to do much to trouble your gameplay. Here is a list of the top ten players in Torn City who have the word "scammer" listed as their reason for being added as an enemy.
1371383 (aka Youngblaze) - 217
cowkiller1337 (aka Potion_Seller) - 176
realistassasin - 138
Al1m_121 - 124
Darkmaxxaroni - 113
DiabolicalDave - 97
IceColdCola - 86
Hermaeus-Mora - 66
Mike-Ray - 49
Holepuncher - 49
Many of these players are still active today, and those who left us were able to maintain a strong history of activity in spite of - or perhaps because of - their notoriety long after their crime was committed. The community’s memory is short indeed, and while the formation of Vault Inspection Party has served to extend the punishment of Hermaeus, Mikka, and Hat for longer than usual, one day the attacks and bounties will cease. Because they always do.
"The reality is though, as much as scammers seem to want to be remembered for being infamous - they either quit and fade into obscurity, never to be remembered again, or people just move on. I guess such can be said of many things. Scammers like YoungBlaze or Scoobydoo were the big names 10-15 years ago, but I doubt more than a handful of people would recall that." - bogie
Being memorable can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you want to achieve. This is to say nothing of the morality of such acts, but we have to acknowledge that scamming is a highly profitable and therefore legitimate way to enjoy Torn City. And if we have to touch on the moral side of things, I think the main reason many people despise vault thieves above all others is because there is simply no art to it.
Faction empires fuelled by extortion and threats have as big a financial effect on other factions as a vault theft does, they just take place over a longer period of time and require more skill, intelligence and dedication to pull off. A faction vault theft requires one lapse in concentration or judgement, one act of malevolence, and bam, billions of dollars representing thousands of hours of effort are gone in an instant.
This is why vault scams are so devastating to those on the receiving end, and yet so attractive to those who perform them. Cheating in a regular video game often quells your enthusiasm, since it reduces the sense of achievement you feel when you continue to play, and has no other consequences other than making you bored. This isn't true of a Torn City vault scam.
Here, a big-time vault scam feels like an achievement precisely because it has consequences. A faction heist is a cruel punishment indeed for those whose time and money have been stolen, but for the scammer, they are able to save years of grinding and piss off hundreds of people with one click of a button. And all of this comes with little in the way of consequence if you're willing to lay low and handle the heat.
Is it any wonder, therefore, that big time scams are so popular, so much fun, and so devoid of repercussions that even The Duke tried it once?
Sorry, Twice.
But recent events have led me to conclude that there is another, unofficial way to play Torn. A path trod only by those brave or stupid enough to embrace chaos. For while many are keen to experience the life of the faction warrior, the business mogul, and the criminal kingpin, only a select few choose to experience the life of the outcast, the pariah, or the villain.
Read on, as we look into the history and reality of Torn’s controversial fourth playstyle.
The Scammer.
Elysian Fleeced
On the 1st of February, Delabrae shared the story of how the members of the Elysian faction were scammed by their leaders to the tune of several billions of dollars. To cut a long story short, Hat and Mikka pocketed their members’ vault cash, sold the faction to mug, and then rode off into the sunset.
Except they didn’t, because the sun never sets in Torn City, and there are no shadows in which to hide. After the inevitable public outcry against their behaviour, Hat and Mikka turned up at a faction called Apocrypha owned by Hermaeus-Mora. Hermaeus-Mora is no stranger to scamming, having famously stolen $7 billion in lottery winnings from Ghostwizard in August last year.
Upon Mikka and Hat’s applications being accepted, HM’s faction was renamed to Vault Inspection Party, which some people found funny - especially as the presence of three known scammers raised questions as to how their vault permissions would be managed. Others were less amused by their antics, and when this alliance of outcasts came to the attention of Torn’s forum dwellers, all three were subjected to targeted attacks and bounties by the people of Torn City.
During this time, investigations by CRLF revealed that Elysian was actually a stolen faction to begin with. It appears that Mikka proposed a legitimate purchase of a faction called Eternal Horror back in 2019, only to scam the owners and take control of the faction without payment changing hands. This doesn’t really change what happened to Elysian’s members for better or worse, but it is nevertheless an interesting side note to this story.
Regardless, the playerbase came together to punish this trio of tricksters, and discussions were even had on how best to discipline them without wasting money. Happiness reducers, bounties, and messages of disapproval had no effect, so Equilibrium then went several steps further by using the bonus hit gained from their 25k chain to obliterate VIP - now known as Living Rent Free - much to everyone's delight.
But did this attack have any effect? Not really. As satisfying as VIP's destruction may have seemed, the three scammers have simply moved onto another faction, and I find it unlikely that Equilibrium or others will waste their chain bonus hits on them a second time. Mikka also has a company that he's using to employ Hermaeus and Hat, among others, and it also seems to be getting by just fine.
So is this proof that vault crime pays in Torn City?
Crime and Punishment
When major vault scams are performed, the community goes through a ritual set of behaviours. First, we see outrage and evidence spewed onto the forums, with bounties and attacks towards the culprits soon following. Then, the playerbase wrings its hands until raw, wondering how such awful things can be prevented in future, why the money was left in the vault in the first place, and why everyone who disagrees with your particular view is an undeniable piece of s**t.
And finally, just before the story peters out, we see criticisms of Torn itself, with calls for change made in the direction of the developers. At least we used to.
“Actually in recent history, I've not seen any more complaints or calls for changes to the game rules. That used to be very common, but now people accept it is part of the core game and that we have no jurisdiction over it.” - Chedburn
While we have seen the occasional suggestions thread demanding a change to the rules, most people have accepted that scamming is and must remain legal in Torn City. A recent poll run by CRLF found that only 26% (of those who replied seriously) wanted staff involvement in tackling vault crimes, with everyone else content to let the faction or the community punish the wrongdoers.
I'd wager most of those in favor of formal punishment are either young, or they've never been on staff. Scamming was once illegal in Torn, but some scams were effectively (if not formally) permitted after the introduction of direct trading, with LeukyBear pointing out back in 2008 that Torn would no longer intervene in certain situations as they had done in the past.
"If you choose to trade with any player outside of the trade function and you get scammed because of it, under no circumstances will staff get involved. You will not get anything returned to you and the person that does this will NOT be punished. This covers all items that can be physically traded. (basically anything that can be bought from Auction or Item Markets). This does not mean that scamming is legal." - LeukyBear, in 2008.
Except it did, because if certain types of scams were allowed to go unpunished, then scamming may as well have been legal. Grey areas like this only ever lead to confusion, which in turn creates more work for those who have to rule on such issues. Scams were later fully legalised to alleviate this situation, with the exception of vault scams, which were only made legal in 2010.
This decision was made when it became apparent that there were loopholes being created and exploited that allowed players to benefit from vault thefts indirectly, leading to lengthy investigations on each occasion. Our current Community Manager bogie explains more:
"Most notably around that time was a situation with a player called Valesh - if I recall correctly they had cash stored in the faction at the time where scamming was legal but faction theft was not. A leader sent all of the money to Valesh whilst they were offline, and they were then mugged for almost all of it - technically their cash - but was it stolen?"
"Then there were rumours flying that this was a plan by Valesh to double-dip, and just a whole conspiracy there, muggers claiming they had no knowledge of this setup, leaders claiming that they thought Valesh had asked to withdraw and Valesh denying - just a huge mess and all stupid." - bogie
Scams of all forms were legalised in the belief that doing so would improve gameplay, promote interesting in-game relationships, and reduce moderator effect on Torn. These reasons were repeated in a poll run by Chedburn in 2014 to see if the community thought we should reverse the decision and outlaw scamming once more. Two-thirds of the community voted in favour of allowing scams to persist, and so scamming remained legal.
The argument that anti-scam laws create too much admin is hard to ignore, as is Chedburn's point from 2014 that "if scamming was illegal, Torn wouldn't be purely Player to Player. There would always be a middleman holding everyone's hand." What happens in Torn should be due to the choices each individual player makes, not a set of arbitrary rules governing certain types of transaction.
With that being accepted by many, the onus now falls onto the community to punish scammers in accordance with their crimes. But is this actually happening? And has it ever? Current staff member and former scamming victim Cloudjumper shares their thoughts.
"Scamming is looked down upon, but there are plenty of well known scammers who have survived and thrived. You do need a thick skin to be able to see it through. Faction vault scammers are a different breed though, it makes it infinitely difficult to get into any respectable faction if you scam faction vaults and this is definitely not a viable strat if you are actually interested in playing the game long term." - Cloudjumper.
A History of Scammers
Hermaeus-Mora told The Times he was going to quit before he stole $7 billion from a player in his faction. But far from feeling guilty, he says that everything which has come as a result of his crime - the bounties, the attention, and the hate - has actually pumped new life into the game. And rather than acting as a punishment, HM says that some of the reprisals he's faced have actually had a positive effect.
"Consequences are relative to playstyle. 600mil stat gains later (FLEX). I did tell my little fan club that I was just a casual player but I think they have some issues. Medding out is easy and bounties have saved my faction from taking even a single bonus drop." - Hermaeus-Mora
Being permanently hospitalised is rarely a Torn death sentence, so long as you know how to deal with it - trading is one example of an acceptable playstyle that requires you to become all-too-familiar with the white screens of the hospital page. It is fair to say that the community's response to HM, Hat, and Mikka has had little effect on their gameplay or their outlook. As such, HM maintains he was right to rob GhostWizard, and I genuinely believe that there is nothing you could do within the confines of Torn City to change his mind.
Pictured: Hermaeus-Mora bounty and hospital time graph.
What's worse is that things are only going to get better for Hermaeus-Mora and those like him, as when we look back at ye olde famous scammers of yore, many of them are still active. Five years ago, we published an article covering a spate of scams that all happened within a few weeks of each other. Of those we mentioned, Jaiden appears to be the most successful player still active, with this level 85 player holding a networth of $700 million - $63 million of which was stolen back in 2017.
"I would like it to be known that whilst I did possibly maybe, who knows teach someone (who knows who) a lesson on not trusting people (yes I’m a teacher) I would like it noted that I also borrowed, permanently, the sum of TCD6.431 billion from DEHT back in 2017, after being made co-leader after a very long time of working my way up from the bottom (it took 3days) so that 67m or whatever, is minor compared to that. Yours faithfully, Scammer of The Year 2017." - Jaiden
Others mentioned in the article include Lungi--, who was later fedded for unknown reasons, Hedas and CHunger who were famous Vicoxan scammers, and the infamous Kapten_Klitoris, who even wrote an article defending scams in this very newspaper. KK’s end came when he was found to have been abusing an item duplication bug over the course of several years, but he managed to live a long and successful life as a scammer and high-profile citizen... before he went too far.
Cowkiller1337, a.k.a. Potion_Seller, was a contemporary of Kapten_Klitoris, and has changed their name on multiple occasions ever since. Cowkiller is still playing Torn without issue today, and as you can see from their bounty and hospital graphs, the attention they received as a result of their crimes has levelled off in recent years.
Pictured: cowkiller1137's bounty and hospital graph.
Another player who was accused of scamming in their early days was Ralucakiss84, a now high-level player who was known to have performed buymugs and poker mugs while building their initial wealth. Yet in a way, Raluca and all of those we've mentioned so far were low-level scammers. Some of them may have scammed more over their lifetime than one could take from a single vault theft, but such things are tolerated since they are spread out across multiple years and incidents.
So what about the big names? The one-off vault villains of this year and yesteryear? There have been quite a few vault raids lately, and while some have a happy ending for the victims, many do not. Book-Wyrm took $900m from their faction in May of last year, and once more, the effects of retaliation upon their gameplay have been negligible.
"Lots of Bounties for the first month or so before completely dying down. Playing Torn was fine, lots you could get done in a 5 minute window in that first month, in fact it was rather helpful with almost a dozen merits in that time. I’ll also delete my account before I send back a single dollar." - Book-Wyrm
It's a different story for Deimos, who stole $10 billion from Unrelenting back in April 2020 shortly before the faction was deleted due to mass cheating. Deimos says he gave back a large chunk of the money he took, but the unfortunate timing of his robbery just before the faction's destruction meant that his crime was far more impactful than your usual vault heist.
"When it happened the vault was say half full from what it was supposed to have Zahid had used funds towards gambling n whatnot. This was told to me by bogie so when I rob the vault I took 10 where there should have been 20 or 15 I'm not really sure. I basically compounded the problem and with Zahid fedded, I held the spotlight for the whole mess." - Deimos
Deimos took a year out during 2021, but he is now back on his way to becoming an active member of a HoF top 100 faction. He may not have much of a networth to speak of having gambled the rest of it away on purpose, but from the outside looking in, you could be forgiven for thinking that Deimos faced no long-term in-game consequences for his vault theft. The truth is somewhat different.
"The game completely changes. 90% of the community detests you personally I felt like everybody just seen me as a piece of s**t and I played a lot I was very active and it got to me... The game just isn't fun anymore I don't have people wanting to talk to me even the friends I had before it all, changed. That's the worst part still friends but not really not what it was if that means anything."
Pictured: Deimos' hospitalisation and bounty graph.
Deimos is no longer the player he was before he robbed Unrelenting, but this is partially due to the fact that he has twins and a newborn to look after in real life - children cannot be fed with Donator Packs, as many have discovered. Deimos admits that his training lifestyle isn't really affected by the hospitalisations and retaliations he still receives to this day, so it appears the biggest impact of this theft has been on the personal relationships he had with his old friends and factionmates.
Speaking of the old Relentless boys, how is Batman doing these days?
"After years in the thankless position of family leader I am finally having fun again. Logging in no longer seems like a chore. In terms of retaliation it has essentially been non existent excluding Noobestassasin with a flight delay and 3-4 attacks. The thing about bullies is they don't bully people that push back. Surely if I joined a company, or faction with weaker members they would target said weaker members." - Batman
It is only three months since Batman dramatically held the entire Monarch faction to ransom, and yet even with this incident fresh in our memories, the blowback has already waned. Everyone knows that Batman wasn't your typical vault thief and had his own reasons for doing what he did, but I think we all expected a powerful unit like M to punish him in perpetuity for his crimes. This hasn't happened, and Batman thinks he knows exactly why - because M's leaders are no saints themselves.
"Hank actually stole the faction from Ghosty when he forced a separation (which was exactly my initial intent). You have flex (also in monarch) who emptied FTW's vault, including members' money. To be clear I scammed Monarch as a faction/family, not a single member had their finances impacted. Also scamming, while obviously scummy, is well within the rules. Cheating of course is not and the history of a lot of Monarch members is well documented."
"There have also been high profile scammers that eventually integrated themselves back into factions, ra1der and dekloren as prime examples. They might not have been faction scammers but previous to Monarch scammers in general were taboo in HOF factions. People will make exceptions when the pros outweigh the cons. Look at how hard Rgiskard and Hank sold their souls to be #1 again." - Batman
The Dirty Conclusion
I don't think we need any further evidence to prove that scammers are tolerated in Torn. In fact, given the heights some have risen to, I would argue that the scammer playstyle is somewhat aspirational, with little to be gained from reversing one's position after the fact.
Take Guyguy123, for example. Formerly known as Flywho404, this player stole $16 billion from their faction and briefly spent time in Vault Inspection Party, only to return the money, post an apology, and head back to their faction a few days later. This player will always be distrusted in Torn City regardless of what they do, but if they'd kept the money, they'd be a distrusted player with $16 billion in the bank.
Batman has also been offered multiple positions in other factions since he left M. Unfortunately, he knows that his former factionmates will take action against any who employ him in the near future. And since eventually, Monarch's hatred for Batman will pass, he has little to gain from returning anything he took from the faction.
"I think in general faction scamming is treated appropriately by the community. Like with anything else there will always be exceptions/double standards and in general time heals old wounds. I would recruit me but I am biased in my hatred for Monarch. Admittedly though if I was neutral I would likely pass...I wouldn't say it is a path people should strive to follow." - Batman
Hermaeus-Mora, meanwhile, admits that even they wouldn't steal from their friends, although he contends that each scamming incident is unique and cannot be judged against another. He believes that those who donate to scam victims are pathetic, and the only thing they should be sent is a box of tissues and some comical bounties.
"Torn is supposed to be ruthless! Stealing from friends is different, this is something that people get very upset about. Do I think it's abhorrent? Not really... I personally couldn't care less if someone's a scammer, that's between them and the victims. People who get involved in that s***e are the worst of the Torn community. Soft, flakey, and self-righteous tragic virtue signallers." - Hermaeus-Mora
Many will disagree with HM's sentiments and his crimes, but eventually, the community's indifference towards him and every other vault scammer will validate their actions nonetheless. Deimos appears to be one of the few people who are still suffering major consequences to this day, but even he finds himself in a good faction with the opportunity to make new friends - and enemies.
Double standards, waning interest, or the good old progression of time itself will eventually erase the memory of Torn's most notorious citizens and their dirty deeds. Meanwhile, those extra billions will remain useful, as there will always be other scumbags willing to trade with them or take them under their wing. This is true in the real world, so why would it ever be different in Torn?
"While people's feelings may get hurt it is in essence no different then a well orchestrated buy-mug, it simply requires more social capital to pull off. Furthermore, in considering Torn a crime game, it becomes clear that there is a greater tolerance for anti-social behavior as role-play, within the scope of the game we as players are characters, some play their character on the forum, others play their character in through chat, others through hustles or scams, in the end it is all gameplay within the game." - KingKongUn
Heck, even having your name listed as a scammer by hundreds of people doesn't seem to do much to trouble your gameplay. Here is a list of the top ten players in Torn City who have the word "scammer" listed as their reason for being added as an enemy.
1371383 (aka Youngblaze) - 217
cowkiller1337 (aka Potion_Seller) - 176
realistassasin - 138
Al1m_121 - 124
Darkmaxxaroni - 113
DiabolicalDave - 97
IceColdCola - 86
Hermaeus-Mora - 66
Mike-Ray - 49
Holepuncher - 49
Many of these players are still active today, and those who left us were able to maintain a strong history of activity in spite of - or perhaps because of - their notoriety long after their crime was committed. The community’s memory is short indeed, and while the formation of Vault Inspection Party has served to extend the punishment of Hermaeus, Mikka, and Hat for longer than usual, one day the attacks and bounties will cease. Because they always do.
"The reality is though, as much as scammers seem to want to be remembered for being infamous - they either quit and fade into obscurity, never to be remembered again, or people just move on. I guess such can be said of many things. Scammers like YoungBlaze or Scoobydoo were the big names 10-15 years ago, but I doubt more than a handful of people would recall that." - bogie
Being memorable can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you want to achieve. This is to say nothing of the morality of such acts, but we have to acknowledge that scamming is a highly profitable and therefore legitimate way to enjoy Torn City. And if we have to touch on the moral side of things, I think the main reason many people despise vault thieves above all others is because there is simply no art to it.
Faction empires fuelled by extortion and threats have as big a financial effect on other factions as a vault theft does, they just take place over a longer period of time and require more skill, intelligence and dedication to pull off. A faction vault theft requires one lapse in concentration or judgement, one act of malevolence, and bam, billions of dollars representing thousands of hours of effort are gone in an instant.
This is why vault scams are so devastating to those on the receiving end, and yet so attractive to those who perform them. Cheating in a regular video game often quells your enthusiasm, since it reduces the sense of achievement you feel when you continue to play, and has no other consequences other than making you bored. This isn't true of a Torn City vault scam.
Here, a big-time vault scam feels like an achievement precisely because it has consequences. A faction heist is a cruel punishment indeed for those whose time and money have been stolen, but for the scammer, they are able to save years of grinding and piss off hundreds of people with one click of a button. And all of this comes with little in the way of consequence if you're willing to lay low and handle the heat.
Is it any wonder, therefore, that big time scams are so popular, so much fun, and so devoid of repercussions that even The Duke tried it once?
Sorry, Twice.
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