Why scamming people?

[SamanthaPinkk]

Heya everyone, hope ya'll having a good day ^^

I was a victim of frauds before and got my L$ stolen when i was on my first days in SL, i didn't know much about the world so things happened and i got robbed, my friends told me to report what happened to LL and they'll do something about it, yet nothing happened, anyways i moved on and at least i got some experience now to avoid these frauds 

HOWEVER one of my friends recently joined SL and bought a decent amount of L$ to start his journey around here, and the next thing i know he got scammed and lost his L$, again LL didn't quite help us with this and couldn't recover the L$

 

My question here, WHY does these people (or bots maybe?) do these scams? if you report a scammer they'll usually get banned by LL within 3 days, so why do they bother?

i thought maybe someone can make few alt accounts for scamming then transfer the stolen L$ to their main account to get away with it, but later i found out LL can trace the L$ back to their main account and close it as well, so basically scamming and frauding is useless since you're eventually getting your account closed, so why do people keep doing this?

i heard from people who also been victims of these actions that some of them found weird objects attached to their avatars and found no transferring history of any L$, so they got robbed without even knowing where or to who the L$ is going, is it possible that these objects work as L$ laundries of some kind? otherwise i don't see any reason why would people keep scamming if their accounts will eventually get closed  

[Rolig Loon]

If you do a Google search for Willie Sutton, you'll find a reference to a reply that he apparently gave when a reporter asked him why he robbed banks.  Willie said, "Because that's where the money is."  Willie later denied having said that. He explained, "Why did I rob banks? Because I enjoyed it. I loved it. I was more alive when I was inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my life." So, why do people keep scamming newbies?  Because they get some perverse pleasure from doing it and seeing how long they can go without getting caught. And newbies are easy prey because they don't yet know whom to trust.  Personally, I don't understand that, but scammers do.

The best way to avoid getting scammed in SL is to follow the same basic rules that you follow anywhere else in the Internet.  Use your street smarts.  Don't share passwords.  Know who you are dealing with.  Don't agree to send money or anything else without knowing why.  And pay attention to common scams, especially phishing exploits.  If you believe that your account has been compromised, follow these instructions immediately >>> http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Account_Security

Edited August 1, 2017 by Rolig Loon

[Nalates Urriah]

When you ask WHY a person does anything you are asking a question that has aspects of human nature and circumstance. Without knowing the individual, there is no answer, just our projection of our thinking. Consider who you think such a thief is, where they live, and how. Then answer the following questions.

Are they in a poverty ridden country trying to feed their family? A hacker trying to gain status? A maladjusted person feeding a mental need? A North Korean military hacker stealing funds for Dear Leader?

Were any of these types of people in your first pass at who they are? There is your preconception. The reality is far more diverse than I have tried to convey.

[Lindal Kidd]

On 8/1/2017 at 0:01 PM, SamanthaPinkk said:

...My question here, WHY does these people (or bots maybe?) do these scams? if you report a scammer they'll usually get banned by LL within 3 days, so why do they bother?

i thought maybe someone can make few alt accounts for scamming then transfer the stolen L$ to their main account to get away with it, but later i found out LL can trace the L$ back to their main account and close it as well, so basically scamming and frauding is useless since you're eventually getting your account closed, so why do people keep doing this?

They do it because they get money out of it, of course!  Yes, sometimes bots are used, for example to read someone a script to try and play on their sympathy and get them to pay the bot some money.

Yes, LL can trace the $L back and block the scammer, but that doesn't mean that you'll get the money back, if it's already been spent or transferred out of SL.  But the scammers will often just make another account and carry on under a different name.  Linden Lab can implement a "MAC Address ban" to ban a specific computer from being used for SL, but they don't do this often, only in cases of really serious and repeated fraud.

On 8/1/2017 at 0:01 PM, SamanthaPinkk said:

i heard from people who also been victims of these actions that some of them found weird objects attached to their avatars and found no transferring history of any L$, so they got robbed without even knowing where or to who the L$ is going, is it possible that these objects work as L$ laundries of some kind? otherwise i don't see any reason why would people keep scamming if their accounts will eventually get closed  

This is one of the two nastiest scams in SL.  An object can be scripted to take money from your account, if it is rezzed in world or worn, AND YOU GRANT IT PERMISSION.  You might think no one would be dumb enough to fall for this, but if you're given an object that is called "$L 10,000 GIFT CERTIFICATE - Wear and Allow", a lot of unsuspecting victims will click the "Allow" button, and thus let the object take all their money.  However, there is ALWAYS this warning message, and there is ALWAYS a transaction history showing how much money was taken, and to whom it was paid.  Your friends probably simply didn't know where to look to find this information (Dashboard/Account/$L Transaction History).

The other really nasty scam in SL is phishing.  If you follow links someone posts in a group chat, private IM, local chat, or email, you can wind up on a phishing site that's pretending to be an SL website login page.  Enter your user name and password, and the scammer can then log in as you, and take all your $L.  They may even use your account to IM your friends and send THEM phishing links.  Since they think the offer is coming from a friend, they too trustingly give up their login information to the scammer.

Anyone with just a little bit of internet caution can easily avoid both of these scams.

I teach a class on Avatar Safety that covers these and many other Second Life hazards, on Sundays, 10 am SL Time, Caledon Oxbridge University.  It's free to attend!