Have you been Scammed in game?

After camping at a casino situated in Lasiocampa on saturday and raising my seat rate by buying lotto tickets at L$50 a go to get a L$2 per ticket seat increase per ticket than after spending to get a rate of l$50 per 10 mins as advertised i happily and perhaps naively camped for over 12hrs amassing l$3591. I decided to leave and when i did surprise surprise i did not get paid. On speaking to the owner i was accused of being a scammer and lying both of which i certainly am not.

The details etc i have now reported to abuse and following the TOS iam not going to name names in the forum neither am i going to post any further to this thread.

However this incident got me thinking, How many of you reading this have been ripped off or not been paid etc. etc. so my thoughts turned to how do we pass this information around so that others do not make the same mistakes as i have so with this in mind i am looking to create a list of peoples experiences here in SL with the non-payers and the ones that make you out to be the liar and cheat when its clearly not.

I would love to hear from you so please do drop me a notecard in game with your experiences and i will put them all together and have it freely available for people to read from various locations. Its time for the decent folks of SL to get together to ensure these people cannot continue as the information about them is out there in SL.

Please do bear in mind that this will not be a platform for deformation etc. i just want your experiences so that others do not fall prey to the many scams and con artists that co-exsist with us decent folk.

I look forward to helping equalise the playing field so that we can enjoy an honest game.

Notecards only in game i will not be posting further to this thread.

Thank you for your time

Why post this if you're not even going to look at it?
Plus this idea leaves the door WIDE open for rumors of bad business stuff from one company against another.

I didnt say i wasn't going to look at this just not get into the crazy flames that could arise from postings and i have asked for peoples experiences in game to collate the individual is responsible for the content of their experience.

Im looking for individuals experiences with details of companies, casinos etc. places to beware of because they dont pay what they say they will as in what happened to me the other day.

hope this clears it up

Well I can't get in-game, but I have a few to tell you. One of my (ex)friends ordered a baby from a popular baby place in SL, now known for their bad business practices. I'm sure there's a thread that is about about 8-9 pages long, 2-3 pages back in this sub-forum. Also, as co-owner of a casino we get accused about once a month for not having fair games. If you ask the people who win, they say the games are fair, if you ask the people who lose, the games are rigged. I don't think this is a good topic to start.

Um. Those sound alot like personal attacks.
Yeah. The Camping Chair racket is a lose-lose situation.

Which is why iam starting the list so people can be aware of the perps and then they can choose wether or not to use these places, informed choice

Well, I had an incident just last night. A friend of mine wanted to deed some land for our group but was having difficulty adn I offered to assist. We were doing a transfer and she set the price to 1$ but forgot to set it just me to buy. A guy swooped down immediately (the sim was empty at the time) and purchased it.

Now, I understand that this is not an illegal act, but when the situation was explained to him I exoected him to do the right thing. He did not. My friend and I both contacted some Lindens, but they expressed that there wasn't much they could do either. We also filed abuse reports. Legal or illegal, I think that most agree that this is a despicable practice. My friend was VERY distraught and was even considering leaving SL.

I sent an IM to my calling card list (which is quite huge) and requested that my friends IM the guy and try to convince him to do the right thing. Evidently, this guy had numerous allts and a reputation for being unethical. Well, my friends responded (overwhelming probably) and within 1/2 an hour, he returned and set the land back for her to buy.

It is very reassuring to know that when the system fails us, that as friends we can stand together and apply pressure to change behaviour. To all who answered my call, thank you.

Yes, I have.

Everytime I buy something that looks cool in a pic and then buy it to find out that it looks like shit.

Everytime, when I use to buy mainland, unless it was from an auction but even that was gamed. (I no longer buy mainland land)

Everytime, I went to a club for a so-called contest, when it was clearly the last person to show up like 5 min before the contest ends that was always the winner. (I no longer go to clubs)

Everytime I played those randomly placed slot-machines. (okay maybe I wasn't scammed just bad luck)



Many, many more but I learn from these scams and now I'm the wiser. It would take a really good scam to get me to fall for it (i think)

Exactly apply pressure to change behaviour if the non-payers, scammers out there see that they are being named and shamed then maybe slowly but surely things may change or at least less people get conned and friends are so helpful in spreading the word about these dodgy businesses preying on the un-informed

First off I know some people do get scammed. But making a list from one side of a story is so wrong in so many ways. It could easily be gamed. Someone and their friends put someones name on this list and effectively have gamed the 'list'. Hearing one side of a story is always faulty. We have Abuse Reports that can be investigated which would include both sides of a story. We as players would only hear one side of a story. Even in SL no one is guiilty until proven so. I for one could give such a list zero credibility.

Then as a responsible co-owner of a casino im sure you have no problems showing people that you run a fair place i find fully intergrated honesty in all things works at all times in business and personal life and the liars, cheats and scammers fall flat on their faces if you are honest with them and personally i think this is a fantastic thread to start and i revoke my earlier "I will not post to this thread"

Hi Toy, i accept what what you are saying and yes there is a chance of abuse if not careful so to avoid this situation arising when i receive a card from someone telling me they have been scammed i will firstly go to the person that has been accused and offer them the chance to give their side of the story this i will include in with the complaint. Whatever is said to me. I will be honest at all times and as long as i know i am being honest to others thats all that matters to me.

This is about informed choices and lets be realistic, how many people that have been conned here and then reported it to abuse to have had there money returned and told of the outcome? Not many methinks

So yes i agree everyone here is innocent till proven guilty, i just want people to be able to make informed choices and more integrated honesty from all sides

As to giving the list zero credibility then that is your right and i accept that

First off, you cannot set yourself up as judge and jury. By going to the other party you are accepting the claim originaly told to you. If the other person chooses to ignore you then what? They would be added to the list simply based on one side... You do not have access to the chats or whatever in your hands so you are judging based on one persons word.

Informed based on what may be a slanted list? Lets say the one accused gives you their point of view and is very convincing, would the accuser be added to the list based on your decision? If so you are setting yourself up as judge and jury. Wouldnt the accused also be well within their rights then to AR you for harrassment?

I dont know all the workings of abuse reports, I never have all the info involved all I do know about them is they are taken seriously and investigated.

Let me say this scammers disgust me and I am in no way supporti ng them in my posts. It just concerns me that that this idea would perhaps do what it is trying to prevent.

I base my financial decisions in SL with people who have gained my trust. One miss move could ruin someone, who may be innocent, reputation in SL. I could never involve myself in anything that may cause that to someone.


Perhaps word of mouth, maybe that would be better than a black list, dunno. I like the idea of somehow preventing scammers to take advantage of anyone and always willing to listen. The problem being nothing is perfect. Just dont o0pen yourself to problems Lord

I do not support the use of blacklists either, but the abuse report system DOES fail people. In my case, i resorted to word of mouth, spread very quickly. I saw the manner in which some of my friends responded. The asked the perpetrator for his side of teh story, politely asked him to do the right thing, and told him that they would never do business with him if he didn't.

Again, when people scam, it isn't that the Lindens CAN'T do anything, it's that they won't. It is for this reason that we sometimes have to take action ourselves.

I am not setting myself up as judge and Jury. The person tells me they havent been paid etc. i accept that as their word if the person thats been accused ignores me then i will just put that down i will include copies of my chat logs etc when i contact them that is what will go into the list there will be a card for the complaint and one for the reply from the other person. Therefore if someone doesnt want to speak to me then fine that is what i will put that down then people reading the list can make there own assumputions.

I cant see how a chat with someone can be classed as harressment though

Im sure abuse reports in the main are taken seriously however it doesnt take much reading in the forums to see that they dont always work so as long as i conduct myself with fully integrated honesty and openess then if people dont want to read the list or disbelieve me then thats their choice.

I will put whatever is said to me from both sides down then its up to others to make their choice based on wether they believe me to have reported honestly what has been said to me.

Yes, the system does fail at times as all sytems do.

Personally I like the way you handled it Patrick

Camping for 12hours was your first mistake...

As I said very silly but then i trust what people tell me till proven otherwise and then i never make that mistake again and ensure no one else does either

He's probably not the first to make that mistake,and almost certainly not the last either, but at least he wont make it again.

Personally I've avoided scams so far *touches wood*.

However last night, I did buy an object, only to find it does not work as advertised.

IM'd the creator, and got a response. The line taken was to send me another one, it didnt work either, and a third, no joy there. Instructed to reset the scripts via the tools menu, tools, no joy again.

I offered to grant creator rights to TAKE the object back (it was no transfer), that was refused.

Asked for a refund - blatantly ignored.

Needless to say I will not be buying anything from that vendor again, or any associated them.

I'm not mentioning names, places, items involved etc,just quietly telling people in private. Same as I do when I pass on positive recommendations. Only this time it's a recommendation to "avoid like the plague".

That said, there are some brilliant designers and vendors out there, who well beyond the call of duty to maintain their products and product customer service, and they are to be applauded. Those I buy from again and again :¬)

It will come down to a privacy issue, even LL doesnt step over that line concerning AR's and many other things. Doing what your suggesting is stepping over that line.
Tred softly grasshopper

Hmmm, well I'm still fairly new to all of this and perhaps do not know enough to comment - but I will add my thoughts...and they way I do business.

First of all, I am not commenting on any casino's or camping places - if i enter one and use the servies - then I treat it like I would in RL - click and hope for the best!

But adding my comments re vendors - I am not sure if there are guidelines set for selling in SL - I have not paid much attention...If there isn't then things are left open to abuse I guess from both the buyer and the seller.

As a provider of a service myself in SL then I try to be ethical and if someone does not like what they have paid for then I do not charge.

I guess the morale of this story is to read any disclaimer set and understand it before using a service and if you dont have one - then make one!

I will you can be sure of that Master

I will say this, if you intend on keeping chat logs and making them available to everyone you must again tread lightly on that subject. According to the community standards you have to get permission from the people that you are copying please note section 4 of the big 6 under the community standards:

If I am interpreting this correctly, it doesn't mean posting conversation logs from a remote monitoring of conversations but posting or sharing ANY conversation logs without consent is a massive no no. And you are setting yourself up for AR's for not following the community standards.

I personally am one to reserve judgement about others until I have contact with them. I wouldn't avoid a merchant, etc. like the plague if I saw them on a "scammer list". If I have a bad experience with someone I just don't do business with them again. And yes this has happened to me in the short time that I have been playing the game. Do I feel scammed? No, the merchant just has horrific customer service and I won't be buying anything from them again.

yah know, i had food once, from this restaurant, and it had a mosquito in it. I quit eating food and now i'm ok.

Actually they started a spreadsheet of the results of the BJ tables. They were destined to find that it was rigged, yet, after he was done, we didn't hear back from him. I guess he found out he was wrong. There is no real way to show it's not rigged without showing the code.