Generally, Banks are a bad idea when player run. You see a lot of scams that way and unless it's -huge- on the forums and most likely merchant run, it's way more likely to be a scam.
I just reported a player for this very thing and got an answer from the devs:
"Thanks for your report on player xxxx. It seems like he's just trying to set up a 3rd party service using some of the tools we give developers to extend the Glitch universe. Though these are always good to keep track of for potential abuse, it seems that he didn't mean any harm."
I have played so many games where there are what we call gold sellers (or whatever the currency in a particular game is) and all they do is spam you to buy their currency and charge real life money for the game money. They even trick you in ways such in how this player approached me per IM. Most times it is very tragic because the victim ends up getting their account stolen and by the time they get it back the person that has stolen the account has devastated the the hard work someone has put into the character(s) and the game.
I have seen this soooo many times and so I tend to be on high alert for such abuses. I will continue to remain aware and a bit skeptical when someone contacts me in this manner concerning a 3rd party service.
I agree with Elitia -- if you must join a player-run bank, preferably go for the larger or the already established ones. Otherwise, be careful, especially if you're one of their initial customers. Like the others in this thread, I have also observed similar scams in different online games. Usually, the complete low-level newbies are safe from active scammers, because well, they have nothing worth robbing, or nothing to loose.
Good point Lily why would we even NEED a bank? It is not like it fills our bags or slows us down due to weight, we don't have alts that we need to share our currents out with.... we have one character on the account only and as you said Lily we don't drop money on death.
The point of a bank in a case where one doesn't lose currants or become overencumbered- the entire purpose is the % return. You see this a lot with merchants who can get x% return to the account holders. It's basically letting merchants play with your currants instead of just their own. This can work, but more often than not, those deals seem too good to be true because they are. Not all scammers get caught. It's sad when there are legit merchants that want to do this, but if it seems too good to be true, it probably is :3
I'm confused by this whole thing...what do you need a bank for in a game? Doesn't your money just sit there in your virtual wallet anyway? I mean, it's not like people can steal your currents from you.
I'm not that familiar with MMO's, so maybe that is where my lack of understanding stems from.
I was fairly sure when I posted this thread that it was at best, an unofficial bank, and at worst, an outright scam. I was born at night, but not LAST night. The manner in which I was messaged was also strange - as soon as I entered the street I was messaged, too fast for fingers to have typed. Very bot-like. Use caution out there!
First of all, thank you for looking out for me Poppy.
Im Amprsand, and I was the one IMing some of you last night. Let me apologize if i upset any of you in any way, that was not my intent at all. I am a real person, (not a bot, I simply know how ctrl-v works :) ) and I was just trying to get the word out that my bank (First Bank of Ur) is now open. Feel free to IM me if any of you want any questions answered.
Again, I apologize for any trouble that was caused. And Shine Leonine, please dont call me dirty; you have no reason to believe I am, and glitchs are void of bodily odors anyway.
Honestly I looked at the website and it seemed pretty genuine. It's all about the % return and while I'm familiar with scams in other games, this has a different vibe. I was debating whether to use it but it wouldn't be worth it for me unless I put in around 100,000 to get the most in return. It just seems like something someone's doing for fun -- this is just a game, guys. The difference between this and other '3rd party services/scams' is that you aren't paying anything tangible -- just in-game money.
You could test it out with small amounts and see if he's good on his word, as well.