Account Disabled - No Warning, No Given Reason

At around 4PM on Friday, I attempted to login to my SL account page, and got an error message telling me that my account has been disabled, and to call them to have the issue resolved.

I called, got a quick answer. The CSR proceeded to ask me a few peculiar questions regarding one of my friends, and eventually told me to file a ticket with verifiable Real Life information (driver's license, ID, etc.).

I provided the ticket with such credentials, and just want some possible explanations as to what could be happening here, and if a similar situation has happened to anyone else.

I do have a feeling this is some sort of Alt hunt, and would be more than happy to pay 20USD for the two alts that I actually DO have. I just thought that the Knowledge Base was dependable on the fact that it states LL will not charge for a "few" extra accounts--but will charge upon multiple account creations to help "upkeep the accounts for me."

But could there be something else? Could I be in trouble for something I am not aware of? Give me some thoughts on this, if you will.

I doubt that it's anything like an alt hunt. There must be millions of them, and they aren't going to spend time on each one individually.

I can see that, but it still gives me that feeling. Not only has my account been disabled, but the aforementioned friend's account has been for quite sometime now. And even more recently, there have been even more disabled accounts popping up around me. All of them are real people that I know in Real Life, and it just seems to be a bit random.

I digress though. If it were indeed an alt hunt, they would surely be looking at IP connection logs on my homeset sim, would they not? Most of the people I know in-world all have their homeset in the sim I manage.

So I dunno. Got any ideas on what it could be?

There is no possible way for any of us to know or really to even guess, you know that, right? That said...since you askde us to anyway,

Maybe they think all of those people are you.

Maybe one of the accounts those SLers are linked to in real life, did something horrible - in real life.

Enough said? (And again, PURE conjecture!!) I dunno why people ask strangers to guess, since none of us know any more than you do - less, really. But there ya go.

As a matter of fact I DO know. And this is exactly what I am asking for. I'm not looking for an actual answer, I'm hoping to get THAT from the horse's mouth.

But I have already known people to have their accounts disabled without ever getting a reason for it, only to be re-enabled a week or so later. This is quite more widespread.

I'm not looking for a semantic debate, or for anything to get personal; just general speculation and any tips from others who have had a similar situation.

That's what I gave you - with a qualifier at the beginning since I didn't have more to offer than that. Not sure why your reply seems angry about it.

My account was disabled once, with no explanation. I phoned support and they told me it was because someone had spent 'stolen' money on one of my products. They took the money back out of my account and let me access SL again. Who knows when (if ever!) I'd have found out why and what to do about it if I hadn't been the one to call.

The fact that you've done that and you're none the wiser suggests that perhaps it's to do with an ongoing investigation and they're not in a position to share the details. I dunno - perhaps it's worth calling again and explaining that having your account suspended with no explanation isn't acceptible and you'd at least like some reassurance on the matter or an idea of when you'll get access back again, even if they can't give you all the details.

I'm not suggesting you'll get it, but it'll give you something to do while you wait

I'm sorry if it seemed that way, but I got a bit of that same "angry" feeling from your post. I replied in kind.

Excellent suggestion. Thanks! But unfortunately they decided to do this just before the weekend, so I raised a comment on the ticket with such thoughts.

Another friend of mine, the sim owner, has posted a Jira feature request inspired by my issue. This could help others as well.

https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-3311

I wasn't angry with you. Just trying to explain fully, and I'm over-tired. Too tired to sleep so I am keeping busy here for a bit. Lol

I guess I was puzzled because the reasons we'd come up with are probably the same you can or have come up with. But that's it, confused, not angry, no reason to be.

I'd re-read the TOS and CS rules and I think there is a part in there somewhere about certain real life investigations being taken very seriously.

From what I've read in various forum threads, it does seem that the 'stolen money' reason is a common one and, since you come across people being banned, it may be that one of the people around you is up to no good.

Well socializing while sleep-deprived has always proven nothing but disaster for me. xD

I understand that confusion, but seeing as how (okay, irony ahead) even after almost 2 years with this account, this is all still new to me; I still would like any others who have had similar experiences to step forth and share them so that I might have a better chance.

And yeah, I've been analyzing the heck out of those 2 pages. I fail to see myself qualified in any way to have my account suddenly halted like this.

This would be very interesting, because I would never expect it from anyone around me. But hey, thus is the internet, right?

And these are all disabled accounts that I speak of, not bans. How I understand it, is that a ban or suspension denotes a direct breach of ToS/CS while an account being disabled denotes a breach of security.

I treat routine password changing almost like a Quarter-Annual tradition. I usually do it every 4 to 6 months. Once this is resolved, I will be changing it early, for sure.

Well it needn't have been anything *you* did - just an association, or even a hint of one, say from renting land to someone who did something amiss, and they might want to check it out. If the person was using SL for real-life illegal purposes, some of which might require federal investigations.

That's what I was hinting at. But it's just a suspension (I know - 'just') right? Sounds like they put you on pause to check something out. Their asking you for your real life info seems to hint at a real life investigation of some type but again - just pure conjecture.

Guilty by association. That's comforting.

Well I did leave out a couple important pieces of info, which is why I completely understand the confusion. I'm just a bit paranoid over releasing information I shouldn't be.

The sim I help manage, is Dinosaurs Park. We have a rather close-knit group of staff and we usually try to nip any foreseeable problems with people in the bud before they get ugly. This of course doesn't cover Real Life matters, but is why I would be rather surprised if one of us was found guilty in Real Life of some crime.

And yes, it does seem to hint as such to me as well.

Yeah 'just'. I would frankly find this amusing if so many people (possibly 150(!) or so) wouldn't have been so negatively affected by this event.

Yep sounds like a friend associated with you has committed a crime or severe abuse on the grid. Possibly Money fraud and now asking for you to prove who you are .
Typical Shoot first. ask questions later.

LOLOLOL

Lindens and Secondlife
without ALTS + BOTS + Campers + and fakes would be a desert planet

With the number of other accounts you mention also being disabled as well, I'd have to agree with others that it sounds like LL is following a dirty money trail. If true, they may not tell you until after its all cleaned up. Could also be that LL found one of your friends to be underage and they're trying to determine if others (including you) were knowingly complicit, or just kept in the dark about it all. I've also heard about them banning friends and alts of suspected account hackers, copybot users, content thieves, and sexual ageplayers as a precaution and to determine involvement. Is hard to tell at this point though.

you all did not happen to be married to a certain woman in Tokyo known as The Black Widow Divorce Killer?
she gains access through love and marriage then when you divorce her*runs her finger across her neck*ffft it's certain death to the account.
thats the best guess i could come up with