Help Me!!! I have just been banned for NOTHING

Hi Guys,

I have just been banned for what I THINK is "fraud" ;

"this email is notification that Linden Lab has terminated your access to the Second Life virtual world due to severe or repeated violations of the Second Life Terms of Service or Community Standards. Your Indiana Exonar account and alternate Second Life accounts have been made permanently inaccessible.

"Violation: Terms of Service - Fraud: In the event that Linden Lab suspends or terminates your Account or this Agreement as the result of fraud, you shall receive no refund or exchange for any unused time on a subscription, any Land Use Fees, or any Linden Dollars (L$) that you hold."

I have NEVER committed ANY fraud whatsoever on Second Life, and I have NEVER griefed any other resident whilst in Second Life. Because I live in Ireland, I have purchased Linden Dollars via Paypal, and ONLY via Paypal, through the Linden Exchange. This is completely unbelievable!!

Any advice would be most welcome - should I phone them?? Would it make any difference??

Indiana

Are you premium? Could you use live help?

Yes, call.

Oct 2008 join date and already banned?

Yeah, if you're innocent, then you need to take a stand. Remember sugar, don't let yourself fly off at whoever answers the phone. Ask them to compare the IP address. Hopefully you'll get this fixed and whoever did commit the fraud will suffer the consequence.

LOL remember sugar as in "be sweet".

Only LL can help you, so yes, call or write for an explanation. Good Luck.

It's an ALT created today no doubt, as his main account & ALTS are banned under that email a/c and would not be able to get into RA

Yeah, I have just called them, and I cant use my real SL account on the forums because I have been banned...the guy said that it SHOULD be sorted in the next 12 hours as I have lodged an appeal...he thinks its because some other resident gave me a fraudlent item or something but I don't think thats right because I cant remember ever accepting something from somebody that I didnt know...its really upsetting because I had L$3800 in my account, plus all my friends and clothes (((

Thanks for replying, guys xx

I do hope this does get sorted for you!

don`t buy L$ from ebay

I agree - don't do it.

But will it get you banned?

I bought some a long time ago before I realised how easy it was to buy direct from LL. I guess I was lucky. The L$ were transferred immediately and the exchange rate was excellent.

However it was a scam. the guy did 2 or 3 honest transactions just to get some positive feedback, then failed to deliver on all subsequent transactions until eBay put a stop to his actiivities

I've spoken to the LL fraud department a few times and I've always found them to be very helpful so if you really did nothing wrong I'm sure they'll sort it out.

Sadly, it doesn't have to be a fraudulent item, it could be some L$ that got passed on to you via the pay option (found in your profile, via the pie button on yourself or any objects you own). LL has a bad habit of freezing all accounts involved in what they think it a bad transaction. Which is why some con artists tend to pass the L$ onto some innocents, to either give 'em a chance to recoup some of it OR to get others in trouble along with them.

Which is a pity, since it makes doing business in SL just that much more chancy.

Oh hard luck! I have heard this happens often and that is really not good. there should be contact with someone before banning. Please do make a stand about this and try and get Lindens to be aware of the upset it causes. Its scares me that after investing something in the region of $2,000 US in Second Life that it could be possible for me to just have my account terminated like you did.
good luck!

I agree, there should be an online, or even in-world, fast-track process for people to appeal bans and present evidence in their favour.

OK, there are lots of griefers and TOS violators who deserve a ban, but that doesn't help innocent people who get banned either through an error or through a malicious AR by another resident.

You can use Skype - should cost less than telephoning USA from Ireland.

Once again guys, thank you soo much for your replies - I have NEVER bought L$ from anywhere other than Paypal (never ebay or anywhere else), but what I do remember is that some random girl gave me L$50 which I immediately returned to her as it was unasked for and I already had more than enough L$s..I am awaiting a response from my appeal to them, and if it is rejected then I am going to phone them back and give them a bit of my authentic Irish temper!!

Indiana xx

/me has no SL experience with PayPal but... Can you actually buy L$ through PayPal?

Like, does PayPal directly sell L$ or are we really talking about buying L$ through Lindex using funds from PayPal?

something I have wondered...

If I was banned today as the OP was, what would happen to my rezzed objects in world? I rent land on a private estate so LL couldnt reclaim the land.

What would happen to my inventory?

Assuming my business remains in place, what happens when people try to buy stuff and transfer L$ to me? Would the transactions be denied or would i see the L$ once my account is restored?

Any idea?

Stuff rezzed in-world would still be there, as long as LL didn't deem any of them to be 'bad'. Bad stuff they would make go away.

I suspect (but don't _know_) that your account balance and inventory would live on, even though the account itself was disabled.

Try paying Starax a few L$ or dropping him an object to see what happens. He wasn't banned but the account is inactive and doesn't show up in search. (rez an object he made and check the Creator to get to his profile)

Yes, Sindy I bought the L$ through Lindex using funds from Paypal as I didn't want to use my credit card...I know there will be people reading this who will insist that I must be involved in some sort of fraud as people do not get banned mistakenly, but from the bottom of my heart I swear I have not...everybody should be aware that this can happen to you at ANY time, and that any real money you have spent, or friends that you have made, or objects that you have built can be taken away from you instantly...I think the lesson is you should not get too emotionally involved with people you meet on SL, treat it as a game for it can be ended at any time

xx

Ok. TY!

/me hopes you get stuff sorted out with the Lindens. Just remember that the person you're talking to on the phone probably isn't the one who pushed the button on you. Have patience.

No, not directly. It can be used as the payment method, but the actual purchase is done via the LindeX or perhaps the exchange formerly known as SLX.

No, this seems to be happening to quite a few people lately. It's possible you have fallen victim to the riskAPI thing which flags up dodgy looking money trails - that L$50 you got paid and sent back. I think it might be a fully automated process, and so no human being is even aware of what has happened until after the suspensions. The trouble is, there is no way of declining a payment, so innocent people get burnt. The blog post about it only really says to be suspicious of large amounts, though. If we are supposed to contact support for every unsolicited payment, however small, they are going to be kept pretty busy!

here's the link to the blog post:

http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/01/17/if-it-sounds-too-good-to-be-true%E2%80%A6/

Only the Lindens will be able to tell you for sure, and communication really is not their strong point. I hope this gets sorted out soon.

A few weeks ago, I was running a photo contest, in which each prize winner received 10,000L. There were two winners, so 20k quickly left my account and went to two other avatars. BAM...instant ban. I got on with live help and explained that it was prize winnings and they allowed me to change my password and let me back in on the spot.

If you can use live help at all, this is the fastest and cheapest approach.