Can we trust SL banks? PLEASE READ IT

LOL.

Well I was speaking to the Original intention.

If they were to say switch from Lindens to USD they could skim MORE than they do now, by claiming higher transaction fees were necessary to cover accounting expenses.

First off, who in their right mind gives their money to strangers just because these person/s open a struture they call a Bank or any other financial outlet?

I just can't see why people who do something as dumb as this but as they say there's one born every minute or is that every second?

Anyway, to all you guys who like investing or saving your money in a Bank. I've just opened a Bank called Cole's Money Bank. You can all desposit any amount you like by sending it to me, Cole Riel, anytime of the day or night as I'm open to receive all deposits 24/7. I will send you a statement every month so you can keep track of your cash.

You will gain interests after let's see..3 months. I'll notify you about your interest gained as soon as you've accumulated enough savings. Enough savings means, deposit mucho cash.

I mean hey, why not. These people here don't know me from atom but they didn't know the banker either or that other place called Ginko and they entrusted their money to them so why not me? At least some of you know me or of me from these forums, right? So I have an edge.

Good doing business with you.

I'm a real life investor I got experience in my investments, I already know that those banks system can't be trusted (I just lose 1000 L$ to confirm it).
People that invest large amount of money in those institutes make a big mistake, it's own their fault, but that's not the point.
I already say that those acts are a damage to the economy and to the growing of virtual world (of SL in this particular case), and I'm surprised that Linden'lab didn't notice too and don't make a move.
If the fraud is unpunished, may other frauds will came to take benefits (until even stupid people will learn enough), serious institutes may will found an other way for accomplish their business, people will not believe to virtual world anymore (SL in this particular case).
The SL belong to Linden Lab if they won't be responsible for any business between people they should clearly say that SL can't move economy even if it possible to do several task (many real university as other big company try to use the world for educational purpose)
Even auctions site are not directly responsible for what the user buy or sell, but they pose a minimum amount of rules to prevent chaos and coordinate both of part (buyer/seller).
If linden lab think to their platform as tool where real world economy can have a sort of interaction and where can be offered some kind of useful service, they should start to think of a real policy system.

If you insist on putting your money out of your account, make and register an alt. (it will cost you US$9.99), put your lindens from your account into the alt's account.

The interest rate is 0%. BUT you know exactly where your money is and you can get at it any time you want.

Using an alt to move money around between different (alt) residents works well, provided they are "old" enough not to trigger red flags when larger amounts of L$ are transferred.

And a correction: There no longer is any cost incurred by registering an alt. Although some KB articles still seem to suggest there is, this practice has ceased (for the time being).

I agree - there is no need for regulation of this activity.

This is because banks in a virtual world are virtual banks, the customers are virtual customers and the interest rate is a virtual interest rate. If people want to virtually invest virtual money in a virtual bank, given the very real risk of virtual fraud, then that is their choice. SL is a simulation, right?

~Snowman~

I agree - there is no need for regulation of this activity.

This is because banks in a virtual world are virtual banks, the customers are virtual customers and the interest rate is a virtual interest rate. If people want to virtually invest virtual money in a virtual bank, given the very real risk of virtual fraud, then that is their choice. SL is a simulation, right?

~Snowman~

I think the question is, taking ginko for an example, should someone be allowed to defraud people to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars and face no consequences?

You say that everything is virtual, but the money that was stolen by Mr Ginko was very real.

I don't think it's a question of whether someone should face consequences or not, the question is how someone is brought to face those consequences. If someone infringes copyright in SL, it is up to the individual to take legal action; LL will not police such things. In the same way, it is up to the residents that have fallen victim to fraud to take legal action.

It is still, at best, a simulation. Or perhaps LL should pay an army of furries to invade all of the Gorean sims and free the slaves - slavery is illegal right?

I think that the "real money" argument kind of falls flat when an "investor" makes the individual initial choice to convert real money into virtual money, whatever subsequently happens to that virtual money, even if it is with the intention of converting it back. Even LL does not guarantee that it will render USD for the $L in your SL account, so why on earth would they guarantee or regulate virtual banks?

Every Ginko investor voluntarily handed over their $Ls in resident to resident transactions, and I strongly suspect that very few of them did it without the lure of a ridiculous high return at the forefront of their mind.

~Snowman~

Right, but it greatly limits any potential ecommerce role LL/SL can play in an emerging "3D Web." Kinda futuristic at the moment, but it's ultimately a business decision LL has to make. (That same old song, "game or platform?"I suspect that the vast majority of *investors* were barely aware of the promised rate of return--but the vast majority of *L$s* were invested because of those returns.

Well, as that one case has shown us, (the one with the guy who took advantage of the land auction) the TOS is not all powerful. Just because LL says they don't have to compensate you, doesn't mean you can't take them to court and get it. It doesn't matter if you are defrauded on the internet, laws still apply.

While I agree that greed was probably the main factor for people putting money with ginko, he was fraudulently portraying his account as a "bank".