Scams & Cons Forum & the Beauty of No Verification

C'mon... its hard to believe scamming is this bad. I've been in world for awhile now and have yet to be scammed.

For some reason that makes me vision a scammer dressed like Wiley Coyote pulling out his "ACME Scamming Kit" with a paintbrush and bucket that paints a sign that says "THE ONLY MANAGER HERE IS CRUCIAL ARMITAGE OR WILEY COYOTE" ... or maybe painting a big fake train-tunnel entrance or something.


What is next .. Scammers that carry a full storefront with them and slap it up in front of the real one? lol

Count me into your list.

Did you miss the green "$Free Money$" prim scam? I saw tons of those all over the place.

Further, I imagine a competent scammer is going to look for someone who is brand new. You were born in February, which puts you outside the 30 day "cluelessness" window most of us experienced when we joined.

Not impossible in SL... The thing is, once this crap starts, if it isn't prevented it spreads.

You forgot my name in your list. I dis-agree with this move also. At least some accountability needs to be maintained... Maybe anyone wanting to make an Free account with-out a credit card should submitt an E-Mail Listing real world address and a telephone number and be notified in 1 week that they have been approved. This is one way to do it with-out a credit card and with-out the stupid paypal.

But if you want to use a Card, then there will be no waiting peroid (Just like it use to be)

... and for those people without a card or whatever ... make the account tie to your Main account somehow. Like, you log in with your main, then can sign up for an alt. That way its on record where it came from if theres a problem with it. ... and plus if you have a friend that wants to play you can "vouch for them" and sign them up, or whatever.


So that makes it easy for all of us that want REAL alts or have friends we'd like to introduce into SL.

Maybe LL doesn't WANT to have to hold people accountable. Seems to me they're taking more and more of a hands-off approach to all things involving theft/scamming.

It seems like what is bound to happen is that every content creator / designer is going to have to have a no exceptions policy to any sort of refunding, inventory pass snafus and what have you. Its really sad because it is the consumer that loses.

If we can't have a scams and fraud forums where we name names I suggest a mailing list or something where we all can be kept informed of perpetrators. Not everyone reads the forums or even every single post. I am so sick of all of these leeches and pathetic scum who are just here to suckle at the teat of the system to make a quick buck off the hard work of others. It sucks

This is only going to get worse with the unlimited accounts. I would hate to see many of the talented content creators pack up shop and leave because of these scammers and stuff, but really its getting to be like "whats the point?". I do this for fun. I don't have the time to spend all my days ensuring that some shithead isnt ripping me off.

So, what are the solutions other than the consumate pissing and moaning? Can we as residents track isp's and that sort of thing so that we could ban based on isp versus avatar?

One word...WOW.

When we've got citizens like Luna who have been here since June '03 with 0 forum posts and THIS is the issue that she comments on...it's time to look at the issue that she felt was important enough to finally speak up.

Interesting idea Luna.

Well I have a real world job and I like to eat sleep and do other things so I can't stay in my store at all times. By the time I would staff my store 24 hours a day 8 days a week I would have negative profit so it would just be easier to fly the big middle finger and call it quits.

Marketing people, not being fully human (I would place them somewhere around plantlife) only see the upside of anything. You would think King Phillip would realize what it is doing is long-term detrimental, no, wait...he's one of the biggest marketers of all. OK, you would think some of the saner lindens that are actually ingame regularly would see what is going on and raise the alarm. Apparently, they all buy into the same marketing line.

Looks like we're doomed to either dealing with scams, griefers, etc or leaving. I find it damn funny when I log in to see 'If you're contemplating a gridwide attack, your account and personal info will be given to law enforcement'. Excuse me? WHAT Account info? You mean the throwaway freebie email from places that hand them out like candy? Yeah, lot of good that will do the SA griefers with 1 day old accounts.

Yah Im about to do that for my store and no object creation too.

LL makes a decision that damages your business, and you're just going to "take your toys and go home"? That is sooo lame.

How many real world dollars do you suppose people lose to scammers before they catch on?

I still get emails from Nigeria now and then in my many business email inboxes, so it hasn't stopped some of them. I also get paypal spoofs phishing for my account info.

But I also have the email addresses of [email=spoof@paypal.com]spoof@paypal.com[/email], as well as the FBI's fraud investigation unit, and whether it helps or not I always forward these to people who might be interested. Just like I still file ARs with the Lindens even if I doubt anything will ultimately happen to the perp.

Perhaps players should track the scams, number/type/occurances, and next time King Phil gets a puff piece on a magazine, email the editors about the status of it (or if they have an online version of the article, post the info and links there). If LL wants to make the players suffer with fraud and grief, we should return the favor and deflate LL's PR when they get it?

I don't think we need verification SL wants to be the 3D net ok let any one on with any ID but give each parcel(website) internet grade access controls. Give IP bans MAC bans and restriction by age and unlimited length ban lists. This can even be done while protecting identity even better than the 2D web.

Ban current IP of account
Ban all IPs of account
Ban MAC of account

or conversely allow by IP/MAC

and for age add a check box Mature content verified adults only

we also need the restrictions on transactions that were suggested in another thread

I was referring to people being scammed in SL. Suppose someone gets scammed for 500 Lindens. That's 50 cents, maybe a little less.

Not that I disagree about the whole identity verification check thing, what makes all of you so sure the current (and upcoming) scams have anything to with ID verification (or the lack thereof)?

I got that Suezanne, but the way your question was asked it led me to wonder how many people outside SL still fall for email frauds. I know from personal experience they still do -- its why the scammers still try.

But like in SL, I'm not going to stop turning them in.

Mmm, an all-oldbies team of misfits against the masses.... wait, why does this sound familiar?

Oh yeah!



You know Toe Blake?

I just wanted to point out that there was a similar alignment of opinions on the ResMod issue, and that also got us nowhere.

I only have a couple of things to add that have not already been mentioned. For the record, I am 100% against the new account creation, for the same reasons everyone else is.

I just have to say that LL needs to really change things back, or else SLCC is going to be more awkward than it should be if everyone has such passion against the recent changes.

Until such time as LL is willing to relinquish the keys to the kingdom and give us complete control over this 'metaverse', I believe being the gatekeepers is one of their many duties as owners of this world.

While we've all been involved in spirited debate over large changes to the world these past few years, nothing, for me, radically changes the fabric of the world more than this lack of accountability. I've already witnessed some of its impact in-world (a pack of 6 recent teen-grid refugees breaking the TOS like you wouldn't believe this past weekend) but that was nothing when compared to rampant fraud and the potential impact on people trying to build their business/product/service in-world.

This isn't just taxes, land barons, the economy, dwell, etc. We're talking about a drastic change in the fabric of the world without any benefit to current residents. And if LL is convinced that more users == more income and that said income is vital to their staying in business, well, tell us that. There was a time when the call went out from Philip, and I plunked down my $159.95 to help SL stay alive because I believed in the product. Some of you oldbies I'm sure remember there was a time when the future was uncertain.

I want to believe...