Yes, Landbots screw us once again, so keep cheering them on!

presumably not, but i suppose privately owned estates are too risky for bots to indulge in this kind of fraud. the estate owner could keep the bot's money, and return the land to its original owner - something Linden Lab absolutely will not do.

that's why i would expect this con to be far more prevalent on mainland than private estates anyway.

Private estate owners don't need to be clever or use bots to perform this sort of scam. They can sell land and then use the built in tools LL gives them to steal it back.

Private estate owners don't need to be clever or use bots to perform this sort of scam. They can sell land and then use the built in tools LL gives them to steal it back.

Well for all you land bot supporters... Here is the latest unethical use of landbots.

Well most people are aware of how landbot users have been using the bots fast buying ability to take advantage of human and or latency errors. For example someone lists land for sale, lag or error causes the person to miss a number, bot comes and buys in a split second, or someone is trying to sell land to a friend or group land and a bot jumps in and auto buyers faster then the person acually standing on the plot can even move the mouse to click the buy button. But thats old news to most of you. If not see this thread = /327/7a/176533/1.html

Well now one bot user is using the bot to bait and switch residents. For example, The land is set for at 4400L. This is a decent deal, people land. The bot uses it's faster than human speed to quickly change the price to 44000L in hopes the person who clicks buy doesnt notice the extra number because the prices look similar on a glance, or else they are lagged to the point that the buy window doesnt update until it's to late and they have paid 44K for 512 meters of land. Bait and switch is an old dirty trick I've seen a few times in the past but ad the bots abilty to change the price faster than any human can change it, and it becomes a more effective dirty unethical method to take advantage of people.

So bring on your arguments of how a few bot dealers give back errors, or that this is the new way sl will be and bots are just more effective, But this type of speed and power should not be allowed when it can and obviously IS being used to take advantage of others. Or at least not be allowed for this type of unethical use. This week I've heard of 3 people getting taken with bait and switch, and 1 friend lose half a sim when trying to sell to a friend, on top of all the similar situtions that have been happening last few months.

the last two posters failed to notice one thing: the confirmation dialogue will show the wrong amount of money. Because the price is changed by the bot at exactly the 'right' moment, the buyer confirms one money transfer when a different, much higher money transfer takes place. This is not about people not paying attention. This is about people getting conned.

I meant, on private estates, there is always the final step of going through the island owner. Right?

OK, firstly that only works if the estate owner is not operating the scam. Secondly, let's say the renter sets his parcel for sale for L$1 and flips it to L$500,000 while you buy it. How do you propose the estate owner would solve this problem? You still lost 500k but you own the land.

Fact is the risk of this happening is twice as high with private land since there are two people who can rip you off. One of whom is totally immune to accusations of theft since he ultimately owns the land.

FORGET the scenario with the island owner ripping you off.

I'm not asking about that.

I'm saying, if the island owner is above board, IS there any way of someone else ripping you off?

Because I believe it has to go through the island owner before it is final.

Therefore, the island owner could make it right. Right?

coco

FORGET the scenario with the island owner ripping you off.

I'm not asking about that.

I'm saying, if the island owner is above board, IS there any way of someone else ripping you off?

Because I believe it has to go through the island owner before it is final.

Therefore, the island owner could make it right. Right?

coco

No, not at all. You own a sim. I own a parcel on that sim. I set a parcel for sale very cheaply. Someone else comes and buys that parcel but as they do so I change the price to L$1,000,000. That person then pays a million lindens for a small piece of land. I have a million lindens the person has the land.

I guess the estate owner needs to be made aware of the scam quickly to make sure he/she doesnt sign off on the deal without realizing it was a scam and the person didnt agree to pay that much.

Well for all you land bot supporters... Here is the latest unethical use of landbots.

Well most people are aware of how landbot users have been using the bots fast buying ability to take advantage of human and or latency errors. For example someone lists land for sale, lag or error causes the person to miss a number, bot comes and buys in a split second, or someone is trying to sell land to a friend or group land and a bot jumps in and auto buyers faster then the person acually standing on the plot can even move the mouse to click the buy button. But thats old news to most of you. If not see this thread = /327/7a/176533/1.html

Well now one bot user is using the bot to bait and switch residents. For example, The land is set for at 4400L. This is a decent deal, people land. The bot uses it's faster than human speed to quickly change the price to 44000L in hopes the person who clicks buy doesnt notice the extra number because the prices look similar on a glance, or else they are lagged to the point that the buy window doesnt update until it's to late and they have paid 44K for 512 meters of land. Bait and switch is an old dirty trick I've seen a few times in the past but ad the bots abilty to change the price faster than any human can change it, and it becomes a more effective dirty unethical method to take advantage of people.

So bring on your arguments of how a few bot dealers give back errors, or that this is the new way sl will be and bots are just more effective, But this type of speed and power should not be allowed when it can and obviously IS being used to take advantage of others. Or at least not be allowed for this type of unethical use. This week I've heard of 3 people getting taken with bait and switch, and 1 friend lose half a sim when trying to sell to a friend, on top of all the similar situtions that have been happening last few months.

the last two posters failed to notice one thing: the confirmation dialogue will show the wrong amount of money. Because the price is changed by the bot at exactly the 'right' moment, the buyer confirms one money transfer when a different, much higher money transfer takes place. This is not about people not paying attention. This is about people getting conned.

So . . . this can happen only on the mainland?

coco

But the landbot snatched it up as soon as I hit sell. Well, with the mass attendance that showed, one of the land reseller just hit "buy" before he paid attention to what he was buying just to beat everyone else. So, instead of him buying the $5450L strip lot that the landbot snatched up, he bought the $7000L 512 lot (this was the going rate at the time).

Well, that reseller said he made a mistake and bought the wrong lot and couldn't make any money on it and that he would give me 100L to return his money for my inconvenience. Well, I told him, he does know "All Sales are Final". He said yes.

But since he was polite about the entire situation, I agreed to give him his money back. he put the land back up for sale at 100L cheaper and I bought it back.

I don't think I'm reading this right. So you sold the land for 5450L$ and bought it back for 6900L$?

And the landbot made 1550L$? nice work if you can get it!

Bait-and-switch is illegal in California (and I think in every state in the United States). Using Second Life to violate the law is supposedly a violation of the Terms of Service.

Victims of bait-and-switch should start reporting Linden Labs to the California Department of Consumer Affairs. Submit a copy of the Second Life Terms of Service; a screen shot of the land advertised price; a screen shot of the land actual price; and a brief but clear explanation of how the money exchange works. When a few of those pile up, I bet there will be an investigation into Linden Labs' business practices.

It would be nice if Linden Labs acted on these issues proactively, rather than waiting until they are threated with litigation. But that's their choice. Keeps the lawyers in business...

I'm glad Sarah reported it, and hope someone has taken Strife's advice to report it directly to LL ASAP.

I think LL will address this egregious exploit as quickly as they can. This kind of programming problem does take longer than an hour or two to fix though.

We need to keep pressuring LL about this as it is going to erode their future sure as donuts taste great and go to my hips.