So recently I was approached by someone who appeared to have a good reputation on roblox, with 15k followers and owner/developer of several games that I’ve heard of or even played in the past. They offered to buy my group and the game in it for $15k, and after some chatting I agreed. He convinced me to trust him into handing over the group first, and then proceeded to block me. (Yes I know I fell for the oldest trick in the book I’m not proud of it)
I’ve contacted Roblox support, and they told me that I should’ve used the “Official Methods” of trading on their platform. There aren’t any “Official” ways to trade games/groups on roblox. They also told me that they won’t do anything unless his account gets reported for scamming and then they find proof on their end, despite me sending them my discord DM’s with the individual. I have a sizable community on discord and a lot of us have since reported his account, but no action has been taken on Roblox’s end. We have also found proof that the individual has done this to other people in the past.
I’m wondering if there is anything more that I can do on my part. The individual that scammed me is not going to update the game anymore, and disabled comments on the game’s group. Now he’s just sitting there letting it make money for him while people spend money that they think is a game in beta that will be receiving future updates. (He told me in DMs that he had a team and would continue development, main reason I took the deal because I am a solo developer)
Edit: Filed a DMCA claim and got the stolen game taken down
Edit2: Roblox emailed me saying that they took the stolen game down by mistake and that they can’t “adjudicate intellectual property disputes between two parties”. Isn’t that the entire point of a DMCA, someone is using your intellectual property without permission? Then they sent me a link on how to archive assets as if I still had permissions to the stolen game. Absolutely ridiculous.
I assume you probably used some form of off platform communication thingy to arrange the deal, in that case there isnt much you can do, nor is there anything roblox will do.
Sad truth is if you make deals, or do commissions, or anything like that off of roblox, roblox will not do anything about it, as they dont have proof to prove the user did such things.
File a DMCA takedown against the group/game. This will require you to submit your personal information. If they counter your DMCA, they will submit their own information; this will enable you to begin formal legal action against the thief.
There is no other way to solve this. This is not a dispute between you and Roblox, it is fraud and breach of contract between you and a third party.
Get a consult with a lawyer (this will usually be free), ask for their advice on next steps; it is worth it given this involves over $15,000 dollars.
Usually people sign contracts for these kind of deals. However, with a signed contract there have been some cases where people haven’t followed through with their part of the deal. The best and only way to take action is with a lawsuit. This would be the only way you could ‘get back’ at the person who stole game/group. (I think this is what Roblox means by “Official ways”)
Although please note that even without a signed document, if you have chat records proving you made an agreement, that is a legally binding contract, and you can still take action.