Extortion attempt in SL...

Extortion attempt in SL...

Thought I'd share this experience with everyone.

I introduced my SL girlfriend to a resident I had only recently met, thinking nothing of it. When we left him to go off exploring, he sent her a gun as a "gift" (she loves guns), which made her feel awkward considering she had just met this guy. She thanked him for it, and asked him what she owed him for it (to be polite), to which he replied "Don't worry about it, unless you have 499l's" She didn't want to feel like she owed him money, so she sent him the 499l's. He then IM'd her again and said it was actually 200l more than that, so she gave it to him. It's worth noting that the gun was a low prim piece of crap which he obviously found for free, which makes him an even bigger scumbag.

Needless to say, I got back to him and "convinced" him to give her all her money back, and my GF gave back the gun. I personally would not have offered the guy anything for it if it was a gift, but my GF is a much sweeter soul than I, and I know many of you might get scammed in a similar way if you're not careful.

Anyone have similar stories?

*edit. changed Linden to resident. sorry for the confusion.

Okay... the Lindens (as employees of Linden Lab) have an actual code of ethics (publicly posted) which they're required to follow (unlike us) so I'm calling bullshit on your entire story.

You must never accept anything from anyone in SL - I did that when I was "younger" and I was griefed.
Trust NO ONE. To quote Henry VII - "if my left hand knows what my right hand is doing I will cut off my left hand"
Lindens follow codes (as message above) - did this guy CLAIM to be a Linden or have name of Linden?

Y0u are saying a Linden tried to scam your Girlfriend?

Are you sure this was a Linden you were talking to? Seems to me to be a bit unprofession for an administrator to be giving out guns as gifts and accepting L$ for payment or gifts.

As proof, you should have your girlfriend print out the transaction history highlighting the transactions that happened. You may find that it wasn't a Linden at all.

Every Liason I've come across is not allowed to accept money from residents - although they are allowed to purchase items from residents.

Even if its a trivia game that gives out L$25 prizes, my experience has been they're not allowed to accept it - even if they're playing along.

Is it possible this individual wasn't actually a Linden?

Yeah, tell the rest of us who he is and we will all go with our guns and shoot the bugger - err just jokes (I think)

I'm not sure I really see the issue here at all, and certainly not extortion. People give stuff to others all the time in SL. Your girlfriend could have just said "thank you" and moved along. Instead she offered to reimburse the giver who then told her how much it was. Perhaps the extra $200L was because he/she remembered the price incorrectly at first? Seems to me that you both should learn to accept gifts more gracefully and be less suspicious. Sounds like it was simply an akward exchange that was misinterpreted. As the old saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished.

That's not extortion. At no point did he threaten anything bad would happen to her if she didn't pay.

It reminds me of this guy who lived in California in the turn of the century (that one, not this century). He placed a small ad in the local newspaper. All it said was "last day to send it your dollar", plus a post box number. He didn't become an instant millionaire, but he was damn close. And no one could sue him for anything, since he hadn't actually promised anything at all in his advert.

Some people really are dumb enough to give away their money, with no promise of compensation, when asked.

ahm, some people call regular residents "lindens" just as some people call L$ for "lindens" - this doesn't mean it is a Linden by defualt

sorry everyone...noob mistake. I thought we called citizens of SL Lindens. Stupid.

I meant resident. Just some guy.

hehe Linden has become a generic term like Kleenex and Band Aid ?

LOL

We're called "residents"

Another classic noob mistake is overlooking the possibility that your girlfriend might turn out to be "some guy."

don't be a dick and calll people stupid who fall into traps like this. This asshole took advantage of my GF's good nature, and it could happen to others.

go fuck yourself if you have nothing costructive to add to this. I shared this story so people could learn from it.

Think that might not be extortion but the following is: There is a resident, initials GJ, who is sending dance balls to people. If they accept all of their money is transferred to her account. I trust she is banned now but if not, be aware.

i wouldn't call this an extortion attempt he just thought possible she was "rich" and decided to take advantage of her offer for lindens (the money kind) is all. Its actually pretty hard to extort money from people in this game as its not a game where you can do anything really physical to another avatar and anything that can be done is easily gotten away from.

I had a guy decide he was gonna cage me and ask for money lol he even stalked me somehow (dont know how) I ported from the cage and went to my property and banned him then i never saw him again

In any event with most situations in SL there is usually a pretty easy way out because of the way the thing is set up. Mute works for just about all of those spammer things just need to do it properly and porting works for most other things

Also most of these guys hang around long enough that you can put in a nice detailed abuse report with photos and everything.

In your case it looks to me if she had not offered him money he would not have asked for more

so that is the lesson here dont offer anyone any money unless you know who they are also dont accept gifts from strangers as there are a few scripted items out one of which if you click it or accept it or something it will empty your account (can't remember the exact details but its something that was around a week ago)

Its kinda like the real world if you don't know what it is dont touch and dont take candy from strangers

Well, in that case, it was well and good that your girlfriend got her money back. If he wasn't a nice enough guy, he could have said "no" on the refund and there would have been nothing that could have been done.

Linden = administrator/employee of Linden Labs, will have a last name of Linden.

linden = currency of Second Life

resident = player in Second Life, will not have a last name of Linden.

Livinda Goodliffe = showing herself out the back door.

Warda is pointing out that people are -- in the end -- responsible for their own actions. The person who scammed your girlfriend is immoral for sure, but it is true that he did not 'extort' her, as no threats were made.

Personally, I hate guys like the one who conned your girlfriend. They are the same type of person who put out "Learn how to earn money" pyramids that charge you L$50 and give you a pyramid to distribute and take money from other people who want to "Learn how to earn money". But he did not threaten or extort.

Royce dont be offended by the smug Blog Trog attitude on resident chat. You just have to get used to it.

oh really? Do you know for a fact maybe out of experience? gesh give it a break will you .

Thanks for your response.

You know what happened here though, that could happen to others, and why it is extortion to a certain degree? My GF believed this guy was a friend of mine (as did I), and so didn't want to offend him, which might offend me. It was a very sneaky, and underhanded thing to do, and I'm glad he was smart and gave her her money back.

BTW...there are many ways to "hurt" people online if you know what you're doing.

You shared your girlfriend's story. What we're hearing is your second-hand version of it.

These forums are so much more fun when Strife is afk.

Second Life solipsism...great.

What do you even mean by that??? Go away. I was there when it happened. The guy owned up to it when I confronted him, and gave back the money.

It happened the way I said it. that's it.