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Estate Land - Is this how it works?

Desmond Shang
Guvnah of Caledon
Join date: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 5,250
11-18-2007 08:06
From: Lana Tomba
Hmm where to start. Ive been in Second Life for a little over three years..have learned how to build..little scripting..made some money, done some buisness with people and yes..sad to say, made some enemies..but most of you know..when someone doesn't suit you..how they act..or what they say to you isn't what you would call "nice"..it's pretty easy to spot.

This is a warning to those scripters builders managers etc. out there who might be fooled by a shiny new promise and yea even a contract offered to them for working for a "big estate firm" in Second life.The type of firm where the owner has 80 plus sims and a rather large "team" of ppl working for them that they like to call "family". The type of Second Life Corp. that rents out SIMS to unsuspecting buyers.

I recently fell prey to a scam...a very malicious..methodical thought out scam being perveyed onto Females avatars and usually (women in real life) who excel in scripting..building ,managing etc..and who will gladly take on a job with the promise of a new home and a parcel of land to place it on for free..or even large quantities of $Lindens etc etc etc.

Sad to say I had known the owner of this virtual estate firm for over two years. Last year they had a bout with depression, drinking..whatever..blamed it on the ex-RL GF and took a vacation (so to speak) from second life...leaving many many renters in a bad way. Renters not having estate rights..not being able to add friends to groups etc.(Renters messaging me of all people The compnaies architect, asking where the h*** the owner was)This was the first time i had noticed anything (out of place ) in this "friends" behavior.

I had been hired by this virtual estate firm to build for one of their clients who had payed a nice little chunk of change to start their own "stock exchange"..later to find out after my build sat for three months (unused) that the owner (my friend) who had been M.I.A. was supposed to be doing the scripting for this "stock exchange".It was never finished and the build dismantled.

Also..older friends of this guy than I, started falling by the wayside...messaging me to tell me they weren't "one of his slaves".."they needed to be paid"..and "they did not work for free."Then they would quit.

Needless to say..even though the promises of a computer for better connectivity..the promise of a house and parcel of land to set it on had not been delivered..(5 months after those promises were made). I stood by my friend. No work had been sent my way involving this Virtual estate firm but i had begun to drum up a little bit of buisness on my own.

Then..my friend decides to come back..his sebatical finished..his SL buisness in shambles ( because of his neglect) but his mind clear and focused on what he wanted..the direction he wanted to take the company and the Jobs he needed to be done. (by me)...we discussed a major project of building an 5 SIM urban headquarters for his estate firm . I quoted him my low price per sim and we were off.

Now..this is where things get tricky. This friend came to me telling me he wanted to collar me.I am a sub in SL and was Master-less. i thought a great deal of this man..He is physically attractive..good head on his shoulders..intelligent...and we shared a lot of common interests..(it seemed).I told him I wanted to wait and see because i really couldn't trust someone who could just up and leave without a moments notice. He concurred and paid me for my firsts month work..told me we would discuss the collaring at the end of the month. I agreed and set to building his little 5 SIM empire.

After a month of hard grueling work.....developing two SIMs and working on the 3rd 4th and 5th SIM..catching this guy with other females on my pose balls..on my furniture that I had used as an investment in this "company".After countless meetings of hearing how great the build looked..how good the buisness was doing..he fires me and takes on a new GF(of course i was thrown to the side)...he banns me from the estate...kicks me from all groups associated with with his estate..tells everyone i was a loose end...a pathetic woman who imagined his attentions towards me and a psycotic jealous bitch...and did this all before a majority of the build had been transferred to his inventory by me.

Initially..I felt as if this was just..two people not compatible for each other?...but after a few weeks of doing my homework and remembering buisness associations of this guy..adding 2 + 2..i came to a slow realisation this is his modus aperandi..this is how he operates.

Theres several clients and ex-employess and ex-2+ year friends of this man that are not on his "A list"..anymore.(since theyve been used up.) He has some very shady buisness dealings with people who have bought 10 + SIMS from him that have been implicated in major money scam schemes..stock exchanges going bad..$Linden Exchange holding Companies that have bellied up..all these people have ties with this man. he has more disgruntled employees who he owes money to than are currently working for him.

After finding out from him that his Real Life job as an IT engineer manager/consultant for a banking investment firm hasnt contacted him in over a month ( he supposedly was so good that he was "on call" as a "last line of defense";) for this Firm in SanFrancisco, He doesn't pay me..gets a 6 month visa and runs off to Europe..asks this new GF to go with him(where he's getting the money to do this..well who knows).

Thing is..this "new SL GF"..well she has a radio station in SL..and is offering him free air time for advertisement for his virtual estate company..so..he's moved on to his next Victim. I have posted this..not to mention his name..not to assasinate anyones character..not to be a flaming post..but to simply make a clear and dangerous warning to all builders and scripters and managers out there. "This guy is still out there".

If anyone knows someone or is someone who deals with this type of buisness..building for...or scripting for or managing for..a Virtual Estate Firm in Second Life. Feel free to contact me. or "simply read my profile". We can discuss details in MSN or yahoo or voice or skype for all i care(just as long as you get the jist of who it's safe to work for and who not.). But please do your homework. I was taken..fooled...and i would really hate to see this continue to happen again and again and again as this guy perpetrates this internet fraud on lonely talented females out there in the real world.

If you are reading this and know who I am talking about..you have been burned by this crook..please feel free to leave a post with your experiences..but i would like this post to remain viewable...no names please.

All i can say is..it was a VERy "surreal" experience for me.

One of the afore mentioned Estate owners needs not be mentioned..please see my profile for further details.


What amazes me, is where anyone would find the *time* to plan anything evilly methodical with 80+ sims!

I don't have time to even casually grief a noob or two, and I've got less than half of that number of regions...
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Steampunk Victorian, Well-Mannered Caledon!
Rene Erlanger
Scuderia Shapes & Skins G
Join date: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 2,008
11-18-2007 08:53
From: APinkSwan Beauchamp
Just had to weigh in here......The very short list has been given here, so you really should take a look at more than what is posted here. Some great property management companies are out there, but may not promote themselves on the forums...:)

Also, some that have been mentioned here may have done right by some and not by others. I am not going to bash any of those mentioned, but just know that there are various opinions and experiences....Do your homework and get references...:)

In response to Lana....I second her evaluation....:)

Take care,
Pink


Agreed- there are several out there that don't visit or promote themselves on SL forums.
A good way to research is to speak to a few tenants/residents....and also read the PI Covenants too (some can be too restrictive) and how long they have been in business for.
Marcel Flatley
Sampireun Design
Join date: 29 Jul 2007
Posts: 2,032
11-19-2007 05:39
Since it is impossible to have a list of reliable estate owners, without missing a few, its never going to be a fair list. Of course a well-ment list, but giving reliable estate owners a disadvantage when not on the list. To name 2 names I have some experience with:

Azure: Did some buying and selling of land there, which made me some nice lindens, and made me decide I dont like being a landbaron after all ;) They are a big company, not expensive, easy system to pay tier (the best i saw so far), and long enough in the business in my opinion to rely on them. Still have a nice parcel there that I call home.

Ecstacy Realty: Just rented my first parcel there. What I like very much, is that one buys a parcel for first month rent price, which gives you ownership right away (terraforming, access lists, just like real ownership). Owner Steve doesn't sell any land, only rents out, so you can never loose any money on it. Important to mention is that the rent prices are not higher then many other place have as tier rates.
The fact you can only rent, adds for me to the credibility of the owner. And a fast count of 20 islands makes me think he is there to stay for a while.

Nice anecdote: In one of the classified, Steve Mahfouz (Ecstacy) mentioned very low rent prices for the remaining unrented parcels. Since I was looking for a new parcel to establish my business and home on, yesterday evening I decided to give it a try. Found a perfect sized parcel, but the rent price was not according the prices he mentioned in the classified. Even though he promised in that ad to reprice parcels that were not yet adapted, I decided not to wait untill he came online, but to take the risk and payed the first month (I really wanted the parcel :) ). After that i sent Steve an IM and a notecard with an explanation, and this morning I got a refund of the 3k I payed too much. The fact he responded so fast only added to my belief that Ecstacy belongs in the list ;) As soon as I got my parcel set up, you are all welcome to check it out LOL
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