Putting clear prims over vendors

I've just been passed a note saying that the mentors have been discussing a guy who is putting clear prims over vendors and therefore taking the money and of course no object being delivered as it's not actually paying the vendor.

Whereas I can see this is feasible if people have left build on, is this for real, or is it a hoax? A guy has been named in the note but I don't like the idea of people having their rep ruined like this.

I've heard of this happening, and also on ATMs. Please don't give people ideas, though.

turn on view transparencies lets get this guy

It's been done before, that's an old tactic. That's also one reason why stores normally have a short autoreturn, or build turned off entirely.

I'd rather hear its a happening thing to defend myself than stay ignorant. Socratic logic would say if no one knows tell all. Even though it may seem like your giving the bad guys idea's if all know they (bad guys) can be more easily discovered and banned permenently from sl and all would benefit.

Autoreturn was invented for people like this. Most stores I go to have it on for one minute.. long enough to rez the box and take things into inventory.. not long enough to take peoples money.

Old, old tactic and very, very annoying for business owners and buyers. One time, I even saw one on top of a pyramid scam thing! *snerks* Okay, that one WAS funny, but still.

:\ yes, even been done at events over contest boards!! :\ (happened to me long ago at events i was hostessing... :\ uess they were putting 'blocks' over other people's names to try to force votes for themselves.) for people paying mon, it can be a good thing to doublecheck and make sure the vendor's creator is who is named in the 'payment' box.

I had a non scripted clear pyramid covering a pyramid scheme in Loepa for near 12 months so no one would get suckered by it.

I wouldn't be suprised if some little delight was doing that.

I would subdivide the areas that the venders are in and switch off building in that area, just remember to set the boarder to atleast 15m from the venders, that will stop people from creating boxes and putting them on the boarder, also I would recommend disallowing object entry, and set a auto-return of like 3 minutes or something.

I did the same with a pyramid thingy on my block, i reported it, then box'd (no script) it to stop newbies falling for the scam.

imo the best thing to do with pryamid schemes is to report 'n' box

1) Report it (explain, inc screenie, tell them the creator)
2) Put a 1m (~6.5') x 1m (~6.5') box around it with no texture at about 40-50% transparency
3) keep an eye on it/ban the creator from your land.
4) if its still there within a week, R.T.S
5) if it comes back, rinse and repeat

Most of these shop owners/creators are paranoid enough thinking everyone is after them, don't tell them this too.

Isn't this a bit unnecessary to say? Some shop owners are paranoid but not "most". Putting up auto return isn't paranoid either. This is something that HAS happened.

I remember seeing signs at Xcite about this.. "Make sure you're paying Javiar.." deals.

Also around the same time I remember seeing the police blotter saying people were getting _warnings_ for this kind of thing. Of course, the blotter's never given a lot of detail so I may have misunderstood.

Hey, paranoids can have enemies too.

i hate when unscrupulous people do this stuff. ugh.

after communicating with the store owner, can't you (together) go into your transaction histories and AR the thief with your evidence of the scenerio?

How about if I say, some of most? No good either?

Well, as one of the (many) store owners on the Forum, I should take offence at your remarks.

Which, of course, I'm sure is your intention.

"Do not feed the trolls" seems to apply here.

No offense meant, really. But I do like calling them as I see them. And this is the way I see it.

"Instead of warning the people of an actual, identifiable, and documented threat so that their irrational fears can be focused and turned to doing something useful, let them remain both ignorant and vulnerable."

That sounds about like how you see it. Strange attitude for a screw. Not so strange for a politician.

It's not just the paranoid merchants who are vulnerable--it's their bold and noble customers too, right?

And in any case, it would seem best to give the paranoid something concrete to focus on--something they can actually do something about--perhaps replacing some of that free-floating anxiety.

As long as merchants are cleaning this up, they may want to take a close look at any boxes they've put out for sale with a hovertext script. Unless you know what every line of that script does and why, the prim needs to be replaced and such a script must never be used. (It's really not just hovertext--that's just where the scam has been most popular, historically. One should never use any script in a for sale item without careful inspection.) I can explain the scam here if you catch me in-world sometime, but this is one area where discretion may be warranted.