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The discussion below was originally posted by Dennar

<b>Dennar:</b> There have been several Flint's on LS over the years. There is the "Red" Flint who gained some fame from his being red. But the other famous Flint, and in my opinion much more well known, was the Blacksmith.

The one who's in game and real life wedding was featured in magazines and the NY Times.

The one who Blackthorne made an appearence ingame to marry and had 5-6 Seers present.

The one who's charity and kindness made him known to almost all players of UO at one time.

Well it seems another person of special needs is running around Lake Superior claiming to be Flint FireForge returning to UO and asking for handouts and loans. Then reporting back that someone is killing him and the blessed items were lost.

The real Flint this guy claims to be has the guild tag OLD on all of his characters.

The imposter also runs with icq number 193641374 and has icq handle of raistlin.

Please do not fall for this persons scam.

Well more on the story. I met the guy in game. He also claimed to be the original Cookie Monster and as he was calling me a trammie I reminded him that the house he partially scammed is next to mine in trammel. I guess that makes him a trammie.

After about 10 mins of delays he offers to gate me to felucca--I guess he thought I was a newbie and cant see a gank coming. Funny thing is I had some dealings with the original cookie monster. He was a pk without much mercy but he had honor. He would pk you but I dont think he would ever scam you.

He told the person he scammed that the guild EWOK killed him and uninsured and unblessed his items. So he was trying to blame EWOK in his scam. Later tonight he tells me hes these other people.

Let me point out his char names that I have seen are NOT Flint FireForge. He claimed that account was lost and he had to start all over again. In his scam he was loaned an Ethreal and some gold as well as fronted a house for only a down payment. He claimed that when he went to felucca he was attacked by EWOK and all his blessed and insured items, and the several checks worth a million each dropped and he could not repay the debt.

After he was confronted here on the boards and by me in game at an auction last night more of the truth came out.

<i>Flint Fireforge is not the only character name that has been used by imposters to gain gold and other items from unsuspecting players. It is not uncommon to find imposters attempting to get friends to "loan" gold and items, only to lose them.</i>

<b>Ishmael of BoC:</b> I was one of those "scammed" by this loser. Thing is - he didn't have to say he was Flint Fireforge or anyone else - I would've helped out any returning player the same way. I could care less about the items I gave him, but he ripped off my friend also ... For now, all I can say is - what a sorry excuse for a man.

<b>Selrath, Stratics LS Reporter:</b>Yea, I ran into him a while back... figured it out real quick when he didn't seem to remeber certain things that flint would more then likely recall...i also ran into a guy claiming to be be DamageInc a long while back, but its prolly unrelated.

<b>Galen's player:</b>Probably not, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were.
I am told that I have an imposter too (someone claiming to have purchased my account), but I haven't seen it yet. (It would not be the first time. Anyone remember the dude pretending to be me who would summon the Skeletal Dragon in Doom? Flint, if this is your first imposter, welcome to the club.)

I have also been told that a prominent Lady M camper has an imposter as well. Whether the incidents are related or not, there's clearly more than one imposter out there.

<b>Demininis:</b>...a few weeks ago someone said they were me and scammed one of my friends out of a crimson cincture. So I know that this isn't the only case other people are doing the same thing.

<i>Some effective suggestions came up for dealing with the impostor problem.</i>

<b>Rupert Kye of Brittania Cartel:</b>Considering the ability our characters have had in Sosaria and how important reputations were to be and are still to a degree, why EA never set up unique names...from day one...and it wouldn't be hard to go ahead and do it now... as characters are deleted or accounts go inactive no more dupe names permitted...

Arjuna of LS:Now to switch back to the topic at hand. I hate to say it, but it's frankly not worthwhile lending something precious to you even if it's to someone who's a good friend. You can give stuff, but lending causes too much grief too often....Giving is much better than lending because giving you decide in advance you can do without something. ...

Will Punkbuster be able to catch these kind of cheats? Or will we raise our concerns and recommended solutions to the development team until the Imposters are stopped?