Received a legendary weapon by mail - an accident or deliberate?

[shawnps.5061]

First off, I immediately returned it to the sender. My initial thought was that they must have intended it for someone else. But I never got a "thank you I completely messed up" or any other response from the original sender. That made me think more about it after the fact, particularly because there was nothing in the message other than the legendary weapon. So I searched online to see if this happened to anyone else. A number of reddit posts claimed that the poster or someone they knew had it happen to them. And many of them indicated that they received temporary account suspensions. It wasn't clear why but I'm guessing its the belief that someone paid for a GW2 item outside of the GW2 ecosystem. Having valuable items only go one way makes that plausible. That's question one - if you get something via mail can you be suspended for it? And question two - why would someone do that? What would they gain by sending something worth almost 2,000 gold to a complete stranger vs. sell it on the TP? Its not like I had to send it back. Heck I could have just left it in my mail and ignored it.

[Zok.4956]

43 minutes ago, shawnps.5061 said:

That's question one - if you get something via mail can you be suspended for it?

It's possible if the email was from someone who was involved in RMT (real money trading) and if you don't return the email to sender.

 

44 minutes ago, shawnps.5061 said:

And question two - why would someone do that? What would they gain by sending something worth almost 2,000 gold to a complete stranger vs. sell it on the TP?

They maybe sold it for real money or for gold (to not pay the TP tax) to someone and then sent it to the wrong account.

 

[illuminati.8453]

That was nice of you to return it.  Most people would have kept it.  Usually that sort of transaction is done to avoid TP fees.  

[XSevSpreeX.2143]

Both of the above posts are plausible: RMT occurring in which you were the incorrect receiver, or a legitimate trade between players performed to avoid TP fees in which you were, again, the incorrect receiver of the purchased item. It could be someone/a bot trying to troll you and get you suspended, but there's nothing for anyone to gain from that or no way for them to know the consequences of you accepting the item, so it's unlikely to be the case.

[Danikat.8537]

I agree with everyone else. It's almost certainly a mistake that they sent it to you and it was meant for someone else. There's no way for you to know why they were mailing a legendary weapon, but whatever the reason you did the right thing by sending it back.

Real-money trading (RMT) is one possibility - People sell GW2 items and gold for real money, which is against the game's rules, in many places illegal (since all GW2 items, including ones on your account, remain legally the property of Anet) and often involves other illegal practices too. It gets really crazy sometimes with ties to organised crime, people trafficking and modern day slavery. Also things like stealing accounts from their customers once they stop buying (counting on people using the same password for their site and the game) to strip them and sell their stuff to other customers.

Another possibility is someone legitimately selling a legendary for gold outside the Trading Post to avoid the fees (which can be hundreds of gold for valuable items). This is a 'grey market' - Anet know it happens and it's allowed as long as it's not tied to illegal practices (like RMT) but they don't support it, which is why there's no direct trading menu. The buyer sends the gold (either all in one or half before and half after) and the seller sends the legendary.

The third possibility is that it was a gift. I've done it twice, where a group of us get together and make a legendary weapon for someone. One person has to contribute all the account bound parts and make the final weapon but other people can contribute materials and gold. Once we sent it with a message because it was a surprise birthday gift, but the other time I suspect the mail was blank because we were all together having an in-game party when it was sent, so they'd been told in chat they were getting a gift.

Slight variation on the gift option - some player run events and competitions include legendary weapons as prizes. In fact the first topic in the Community Events section of the forum right now is a guild called The Gamer Haven giving away legendaries.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Lots of streamers give away Legendaries, as well.  Could have been a typo/game fills in names in mail?  🤷‍♀️

[Sobx.1758]

You could have asked the person who sent it to you, nobody else has any way to know.

Edited April 13 by Sobx.1758

[Hsanrb.1570]

I probably would have contacted support without removing the item from the mail, this might actually be the first sign that some else's account got compromised and would help prevent it if there are more accounts in whatever the latest scam is. Responding back to the seller (whether by sending the item back, sending a message, etc) would be a red flag to let the person who actually hijacked the account know they've made an error and either stay clear of the account or to expedite the process of removing all the gold/gems/items before its locked down.

Maybe its an error and the user intended to give it away, but 99% of the time its the former.

[Lucy.3728]

3 hours ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Could have been a typo/game fills in names in mail? 

This is so blatant and I can not even comprehend it anymore. If I want to send something from one account to another, I have to use the friends list. It's very short.
Because if I start typing the name in the recipient field, it suggests all kinds of people, but not primarily those from my friends list oO

Same thing if I want to send a gift to someone in the store (bought for gems). I don't even know all the people who are listed as possible recipients.

It's easy to make a mistake with the numbers at the end.
That's why you should only use the friends list or invite someone to the group and then right-click.

[Tinker.6924]

OP, you are an honest person and the world needs more like you. 

[Garrison Storm.3046]

All of the mentioned possibilities are plausible, but while it may seem like case of the wrong sender, given you weren't expecting it, it also seems like an unbelievable coincidence, doesn't it? 

If that were the case, it means someone either mistyped an intended name that happened to be yours (and auto-fill only happens with people on your contact list), or they mis-clicked on your name from a contact list, or while picking you out of a crowd...  I mean, possible, sure, but would be a crazy coincidence wouldn't it? .. and given the stakes involved?  I would be more inclined to think it was a legit giveaway from a guild/streamer... I know of one guild that gives those away frequently, or maybe simply you caught the eye of someone, through your looks or actions... While it is a generous offering, in-game wealth is relative... That said, one would think that there would some kind of message attached... But I would also assume some kind of friendly acknowledgment with your return of the item, if it were in error...

Very strange, but as has been mentioned, a follow-up to the player would be the only way to know for certain... and in absence of clarity, kudos to you for having the integrity to return with knowing for sure!

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

When I am mailing items to my alt account, and I type the first few letters on the account Display Name, other Display Names  auto-fill and they are not part of my 'Friend's List'. 

[RoseofGilead.8907]

1 hour ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

When I am mailing items to my alt account, and I type the first few letters on the account Display Name, other Display Names  auto-fill and they are not part of my 'Friend's List'. 

Yeah, it'll autofill with names from your Friends, Followers, AND from any Guilds you're in, even if they're not a Friend or Follower.

[jokke.6239]

Good on you for returning it

A free legendary is not worth a seared conscience

[Danikat.8537]

14 hours ago, Garrison Storm.3046 said:

All of the mentioned possibilities are plausible, but while it may seem like case of the wrong sender, given you weren't expecting it, it also seems like an unbelievable coincidence, doesn't it? 

If that were the case, it means someone either mistyped an intended name that happened to be yours (and auto-fill only happens with people on your contact list), or they mis-clicked on your name from a contact list, or while picking you out of a crowd...  I mean, possible, sure, but would be a crazy coincidence wouldn't it? .. and given the stakes involved?  I would be more inclined to think it was a legit giveaway from a guild/streamer... I know of one guild that gives those away frequently, or maybe simply you caught the eye of someone, through your looks or actions... While it is a generous offering, in-game wealth is relative... That said, one would think that there would some kind of message attached... But I would also assume some kind of friendly acknowledgment with your return of the item, if it were in error...

Very strange, but as has been mentioned, a follow-up to the player would be the only way to know for certain... and in absence of clarity, kudos to you for having the integrity to return with knowing for sure!

Bear in mind this has only happened to the OP once and no one else has claimed it's a common occurance. A crazy coincidence happening a few times in a pool of hundreds of thousands of people over the course of more than a decade isn't that surprising. (I mean we now know super rare black lion chest drops have a 0.3% drop rate and there's at least a few hundred of each in the game.)

It's less surprising when you consider the OP's account name starts with Shawn, which is a fairly common name. There's 16 accounts that start with Shawn just among the minority of players who have visited the forum. So it's not hard to believe someone wanted to mail another Shawn and got the wrong one.

(Signed someone with an unoriginal username who has often been mixed up with other people using the same one.)

Edited April 15 by Danikat.8537

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

3 hours ago, RoseofGilead.8907 said:

Yeah, it'll autofill with names from your Friends, Followers, AND from any Guilds you're in, even if they're not a Friend or Follower.

Thanks for that information; I did not know this. 

[QueenKeriti.5176]

I had someone randomly send me a legendary weapon once. Sent it back because I don't like unsolicited high value items sent to me from random people, especially since I have no way to know if it isn't a mistake or someone trying to engage in some kind of RMT or something. :| Found out later they were trying to "thank"(???) me for commanding AB every day multiple times a day but did not put that in the mail or anything. Wouldn't have accepted it anyway because, again, unsolicited high value item from a random person, and it was weird. :x

It is very easy to autofill the wrong name, though. Sending people things from the gemstore is fraught with peril. 😂😭I triple check names before mailing/buying things.