I've been playing the game for a couple years now, and have been enjoying the game. Every now and then, particularly on the beginning planets and the Spacedocks, people will repeatedly ask in general chat for someone to use their referral link. They say that if they do so, the people who use it will be paid X amount of Credits as thanks.
I recently allowed myself to be tricked by one such bribery. The person in question used a character with what I should have seen as an obvious throwaway name, this person offered ten million credits to use his referral link. Rather than be properly suspicious of what in hindsight is an obvious ploy, I accepted and went offline to use his referral link. When I returned to the game, I discovered that this person blocked my character to prevent further communication, and to avoid paying what was promised.
My own foolishness aside, I have been hearing about this problem a lot lately from other players, particularly new players. This kind of greedy, malicious behavior only serves to damage trust in the community. Players should not scam each other, but neither should we indulge their actions. I'm writing this post so that others can use my experience as an example, and to let others who have been scammed this way know that they are not alone in the silly mistake.
The only reason this behavior is not actionable, is because there is no negative consequence to the person being tricked. You don't lose credits, items, or anything of value; the only this harmed is that player's ability to trust other players in the game. I hope this thread proves helpful to at least some people out there.
