A PSA about supposed 'trading scripts'

[u/JesseRaen]

Hi all, Jesse here!

I've been seeing an uptick in conversation about scripts that allow people to steal your pets through a forced trade, which is really scary to read!

I'd like to reassure you that there is no feasible way for this to happen through the normal course of gameplay. We take these reports very seriously and investigate every time, but each time we do we discover that it was one of a number of other causes. We also regularly audit our code regarding trading, to ensure that no vulnerabilities exist. We just had our Head of Engineering do another audit of that code this week!

The most common causes we see are:

1. User downloaded scripts/extensions
   1. Players at some point download and install a file that modifies their client in some way. This is very common during seasonal events, where people will promise minigame cheats that allow you to collect the max currency each time.
   2. This is also possible from seemingly harmless installs that only provide visual changes. If you are giving a program access to your Roblox client then you are opening yourself up to that program doing whatever it likes with your client, including making trades outside of your control.
2. Screenshare falsifying
   1. This happens frequently on services like TikTok. While we verify actions between to users, we don't verify every single action that takes place inside your copy of Roblox. So a user screensharing on social media may be able to show you things that are not server-verified like changing their username, equipping pets they don't own, or showing things in a trade that aren't there.
   2. Players will initiate a trade with this person, and in-game will not see what is shown on their livestream. This is the point you should back out. What is shown in-game is what the server is verifying as the truth. But hopeful or trusting players will go through with the trade regardless because of what they can see on another user's screen, and then not receive the promised pets.
3. Player shame
   1. This is also very common. A player will fall for social manipulation, where they trust what another player is telling them and often ignore in-game warnings to do so. Then they realise they've fallen for a scam, feel ashamed of it, and so instead blame it on a 'script' or 'hack'

We will continue to take all reports very seriously and investigate them as we receive them, but I want to encourage you to spend less time worrying about the fearmongering that goes on around this and instead take your time, think through your actions carefully, and protect your account and your device to keep your data safe.

If something seems too good to be true, it often is! Nobody without ulterior motives is likely to make you 'trust trade' or 'prove yourself' or rush you into an unwise decision.

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[u/Mountain_Condition65]

If this was any other "company" I wouldn't believe a statement like this but coming from Jesse I feel super reassured and believe it 100% keep up the good work can't wait for week 3 of the Halloween event

[u/JesseRaen → u/Mountain_Condition65]

Yeah I've tried to be super clear that we aren't being dismissive. We react to reports like these seriously every time, even when they interrupt our weekends because if a vulnerability like this existed it would have a huge impact.

I don't share this to dismiss people, but because I want people to be focused on the ways they can fall victim to social manipulation and protect themselves from it, rather than cargo culting themselves into behaviours that don't help protect them.

[u/ResetReefer]

Thank you for the information! So if you show someone your inventory they can't force a trade through, correct?

[u/JesseRaen → u/ResetReefer]

Correct, there is no way for someone external to you to force a trade through without having some kind of access to your Roblox account/device already.

If you recall the few months where people were frequently getting trade banned for seemingly no reason after doing a trade, that was actually the result of our security on trading being too zealous! And a second of lag introduced during trading would trigger us to lock down the account and investigate what happened.

Now it has better tolerances so that doesn't happen, that wasn't the ideal outcome! But it does highlight one of the many ways we layer in security around this that requires a player (or 'client') to take action for something to happen.

[u/ResetReefer → u/JesseRaen]

Thank you for the response! You guys are awesome for all the work you put into making a fun and safe experience ❤️

[u/Guilty_Address3946]

Thank you Jesse! Hopefully this goes into an official Uplift debunks megathread. Players are so persistent that they didn’t click any links and the game is just open to sooo many vulnerabilities. It’s plain online safety and players need to realize this.
https://giphy.com/gifs/aWWygYz0UPR8CLMSls

[u/Strict_You7260 → u/Guilty_Address3946]

Happy cake day! :D

[u/Guilty_Address3946 → u/Strict_You7260]

Awww tysm!

[u/Elementrone]

Thank you so much for this PSA! I work in IT and frequent this subreddit every so often... I've mentioned on many comments/posts before how something like this (and similar claims) is not possible, to varying degrees of reception.

I'm glad someone from Uplift themselves is here to say it themselves! Hopefully leads to less of these claims going around.

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[u/heidjebjeidj]

This is a great reminder. It’s good to know that the uplift staff is active and is aware of all the current scams that people are falling for! Thank you for what you do!

[u/CoolBruhhhhh69]

Hey Jesse! Thanks a lot for this, it makes us all feel so much better and safer about trading! I have come across a ton of videos where people use scripts in trading hubs, and do trades without losing their own stuff but acquiring the pets of the person who made them and offer.

Is that possible, in any way? It makes me really wary about the trading hub. I can share examples, if you haven't come across them!

[u/JesseRaen → u/CoolBruhhhhh69]

I have seen so many of these videos and every single time they end up being manipulated in some way, either through clever video editing techniques or (more frequently) alts/friends acting as the 'scammed' party.

[u/CoolBruhhhhh69 → u/JesseRaen]

Thanks Jesse ❤️ I'm not scared to use the trading hub now ☺️

[u/ResetReefer → u/CoolBruhhhhh69]

Right? Hearing it from the source gives such a sense of security 😊

[u/Puzzleheaded-Sector2]

Tysm Jesse!! I love this game :) also does this count for the trading hub glitch? I see people often saying they pressed decline yet the trade went through which I think is a genuine glitch that should be fixed if it really does exist

[u/JesseRaen → u/Puzzleheaded-Sector2]

We've repeatedly looked into it and without a video of it happening there's nothing more we can do. In the code, there is no way that pressing 'decline' can ever send a confirmation, that's just not how the game works. If it was possible, it would happen consistently, so we now need to see an actual video of what is happening when a player does that to give us any leads to go on.

Until we get that, I have to chalk it up to user error, especially because there are pop-ups in the trade hub that don't offer a confirm step. Like when you put up a trade and someone confirms it, where the pop up is just explaining to you that the trade happened - with no confirm step. It's possible that a user there is closing that window thinking the button is a decline and just being incorrect about what they did.

[u/WiredCortisolButler → u/JesseRaen]

There is a video though

[u/JesseRaen → u/WiredCortisolButler]

Of the 'decline' button being pressed and then the trade still happening? Could you link me? It's possible someone else from the team has already seen it (it's not me who usually investigates) but it's possible they haven't so I'd rather pass it on

[u/WiredCortisolButler → u/JesseRaen]

https://streamable.com/yhxwyu

[u/stitchgor3 → u/WiredCortisolButler]

im confused what is this meant to show?

[u/kzero0 → u/stitchgor3]

uh... reported someone for no reason?

not worth watching, saved you a click

[u/AltruisticRent1217 → u/WiredCortisolButler]

This shows nothing other than you randomly going to a person’s profile and reporting them without showing any trade happen beforehand? Absolutely not what Jesse is talking about? 🤷🏼‍♀️

[u/Dear_Lab_6449]

❤️❤️❤️

[u/trisaurus_trops]

hearing this from an uplift staff gives me much more reassurance, ive been scared to play since I dont want this to happen to my pets, but seeing as it can only happen through being scammed or getting scripts reassures me a lot. thank you jesse!

[u/thesznz]

Thank you for the clarification on these things, scripts are a very nerve racking thing! Thank you Jesse and the rest of the ADM team for working on things so carefully!

[u/Choice_Use_6268]

I actually have a question something similar like that my sister recently got hacked were not even sure how but when a trade happened she never was in the game so we were confused because Roblox didn't warn her since she has two step verification. Does anyone have any info on how that might've happened it was only on adopt me when she entered on a Saturday she noticed most of her pets were gone and saw "she" had made a trade but she never did so she freaked out. Is there any script for that? Apparently "she" traded most of her pets to someone.

[u/JesseRaen → u/Choice_Use_6268]

The most common way this happens is someone asking if they can draw her avatar, encouraging her to send over what I believe is a .har file (or some other file) that ultimately contains the cookies that Roblox uses to know if someone is already logged in. That way the player can access her account without ever using her password or triggering 2FA.

It happening while she wasn't logged in means that someone must have had access to her account in some method to log in. Even when we're modifying someone's savefile we have to spoof their account to log in as them to do it and we control the savedata!

[u/LadyLixerwyfe]

Thanks for this, Jesse!

Do you guys know if players are using scripts in the Hauntle? Multiple times I have seen player 1 pick a door, someone else uses a cell phone, and it reveals a ghost behind the door player 1 picked. Then player 1 somehow moves from that door to another. It’s weird

[u/JesseRaen → u/LadyLixerwyfe]

Yeah probably. I don't know how much security we put into player position

[u/IWantAnswersAccount]

Oooh, I'll get my Friend to upload a video about this so others know. It was very frightening to see all of those reports and I told people to play in private servers. Thanks for the reassuring post!

[u/New-Air7056]

Thanks for this update Jesse! Super appreciate it.

[u/No-Stranger7046]

A bit late to the post but is it possible for you to make a video statement on tiktok or Instagram? I've been seen adopt me creators make videos spreading more misinformation and their vids getting thousands of views.

I feel like a lot of adopt me players don't use reddit or discord but use tiktok or instagram and this message would be good to say there as well.

[u/sl33py_prxncess]

Yeah I do not trust ANYTHING any players tells me in this game ever

[u/Rich_Equipment7244]

How is the botting scripting situation during Halloween vs sugarfest?

[u/Fair-Taste-4875]

I'm really happy to hear this! Now I can trade without being scared of people using cheats, thank you Jesse! I do have one ''content creator'' who might be worth looking into, I came across them on youtube by the name ''Shxdrag''. They have videos in which it looks like they're using scripts to scam people, and they're encouraging people to download the scripts they made, I don't know if that is bannable, but it might be worth it to look into them.

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[u/EthanLandryFan]

Thanks for the clarification ! Heard about those forced trade scripts, been nervous to even trade people at all because of it

[u/Murky-Specialist8626]

Thanks for the info jessie ^{^}

[u/Artistic-Prune1419]

thank you :>

[u/Sea_Camel5816]

I think part of the reason is because so often people will get bombarded with others calling them stupid and telling them they should have known it was a scam, its their fault cuz they were "greedy", etc, etc. If people were nicer I doubt as many people would feel the need to lie about it. Remember, people can be gullible and it hurt THEM. No one else. So show some empathy instead of immediately assuming they were a person whos eyes turned to money and twirled their mustache

[u/JesseRaen → u/Sea_Camel5816]

A fun fact about scams in general. People who believe they're too smart to fall for them are often the most susceptible to them! Their belief that they're too smart to be tricked often means they don't back out when they should because it would mean admitting to themselves that they were tricked.

Was reading about this when some woman gave her life savings over to a fake CIA agent or something a while back.

[u/Sea_Camel5816 → u/JesseRaen]

Yes, thats true too! Overall its just mean to judge someone for getting scammed and puts out an energy you wont want back if it ever happens to you, its like people forget even popular scams not everyone is going to know about and even if they do they might not spot that its the same thing thats happening to them, theres so many reasons people could fall for scams, I dont think it should have to be some elaborate thing no ones heard of for them to get any sympathy

[u/Otterfrog]

Hey Jesse my beloved pets were stolen from me out of the blue yesterday, I’m not sure how someone got into my account I have been able to go back into my account and secure it these pets were very sentimental to me and it kinda just hurts to see them gone as some of them were gifts I’m still not sure how someone got ahold of my account and got past my 2 step verification but all these pets were not for trade. And then I come back after making dinner for my family to see eveything gone it was really disheartening and I’m still very upset About it

[u/Effective-Spread-608]

Hello Jesse, it is true that there is a script that auto accepts and I have experienced this. Someone would trade a player and as soon as the tab opens you will see both sides accepting without even having something in the trade. The user however has enough time to decline and nothing would happen. For me, someone traded me and added my pet on their side and it was accepting for both of us like I said before. It looked like they were giving me a pet for free, but when I long pressed on the pet, it was the same name as my pet and the same friendship level. I have no idea what it is, but my younger sisters experienced it too.