It's normal to request personal informations in Support Contact?

[Cleomes]

Good evening every one!

I'm facing a real dilemma 🤨 about "security questions" from people of Support Contact of Linden Lab and I would like to know if these requests are regular or not. Let's go to the situation:

Four days ago I made 2 questions to support about be a premium member and I imagined the answer would be simple and easy, like "yes you can or no you cannot"... just like that... but for my surprise the person of support system said to me that before any answer, it would be necessary to check if I'm the owner of the account and this procedure was to  in order to maintain the safety and security of my account!

The questions made from Support was:

What is the answer to your security question: <Removed for safety>

From what city, state, and country did you register the account?

From what city, state, and country did you last log into the account? 

If you have an active alternate account, what is the name of that alternate account? (If you recall the Security Question for that account, please also provide its answer)

 

My questions to Support was:

 

1 - If I decide to not longer be a premium member I'll lost my Land? The current size is 1024sqm.

2 -  I have a store in Marketplace, so I have to be a premium member to keep my store in Marketplace?


Now tell me, my good people, It's really necessary to give this "personal and security " informations just to receive this simple questions? My questions is not a general one questions? If I give the answers in someway I'll not be providing to a complete stranger tools to maybe use this informations to others purposes? When we access the Support Contact we have make a login right?And I understand the only the real owner have the password to do it, right? So again... I really did not understand the positioning of the attendant of Support. Should I be worry? Should I inform someone? Is this a standard procedure?

I'm sorry to bring this topic here, but I'm really concern about this situation and would be a great relief to know if I'm concern for nothing or if I have reason to be concern.

In advance I want to thank you for the kind words!!!😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

Edited February 25, 2020 by Kristin Linden
Removed for privacy concerns

[Talligurl]

All I know is that you can have a store in the MP with a free account.

[ItHadToComeToThis]

Well...yeah. I mean, imagine if they didn’t ask those questions and you weren’t actually you.

Your first question is in regards to YOUR premium account and YOUR land. Whilst the answer might be a simple yes, LL might want to look at your account to see how long you have left on premium to give you a more detailed answer with a timescale. Thus in this hypothetical situation they would need to verify that you are you.

Your second question is again referencing something to do with your account, while the answer is simply “free accounts can own a store and being premium is not a requirement”. LL may still need to access your account details.

You sound ever so confused as to why they would be asking you these questions but ponder this. What if they didn’t ask?, what if they just gave out account information without security verification?. Now you could argue “but I’m sending the request from my account!” to which LL might answer “well, how do we know that, you may have been hacked and some malicious individual is trying to obtain information in regards to your account”.

In this world, never snub any kind of account security. It’s there for a reason and you would be a lot worse of if it didn’t exist.

[Lindal Kidd]

I think you are probably OK, although I consider it very intrusive and suspicious of LL to require this information to answer a simple question, and I have not encountered it before myself.

First, make sure you're actually talking to LL.  Is the email from an account at secondlife.com?  Can you find the author's name and profile (e.g. Nosey Linden)  by logging in and doing a People search? 

Assuming that is all OK, and it probably is...back to the questions they asked.

These questions are typical, if they checked your logins and the place you are logging in from is not the location where you registered the account initially.  It sounds as if they are trying to make sure the account hasn't been stolen by a phisher.  Giving the answers won't compromise your account security unduly...you can always change your email registration and secret question-and-answer.  DO NOT under any circumstances give your password.  (LL employees will never ask you to.)

Now...on to your actual questions!

As a Premium member, you are entitled to up to 1,024 sq. m. of Mainland without having to pay a monthly tier charge.  This land can be a regular Mainland parcel, a Linden Home, or a combination, as long as the total is less than or equal to 1,024 sq. m.  The way the system is set up, you CANNOT downgrade from Premium to Basic until you first sell or abandon all your Mainland holdings.  So yes, you'd lose your Mainland holdings.  This does not affect any land you are renting on a private estate.

On the other hand, everyone is entitled to one, and only one, store on the Marketplace, whether you are Premium or not.  You won't lose your store.

[Bree Giffen]

It sounds like LL support is using two-factor authentication which is basically to just verify once with your username and password and verify second with your other user-information. The reasoning behind this is that a hacker could get your password but it's unlikely that they will know your secondary information. It's just extra security. Be sure that you are talking to LL support by going directly to the website. It seems that Lindall has answered your question too...

[Alwin Alcott]

This kind of simple questions are perfect for the Answers section; they don't require any personal info and so can be answered by your fellow residents. (i dare to say, in basic things we know even a lot more than the support portal)

However i do understand support needs info for some account related questions, this specific case could be handled a lot simpler.. and so ...fáster.

 

[Zzevir]

Yes you lose the plot if you stop being a premium. 

 

No you don't lose your market place store if you aren't a premium member. 

 

And I don't even want to know your mother maiden name. 

[Syo Emerald]

The things people bother support with...

[Linda Reddevil]

Rule of thumb is that if you initiated the call and they ask those questions then you're OK to answer. It's for your protection! What if your simple non-account specific questions turned into more account specific? Also, there is no where you can call nowadays that doesn't ask you security questions first and to verify your identity, so I don't really understand why you felt so put out. 

[Alwin Alcott]

8 minutes ago, Linda Reddevil said:

What if your simple non-account specific questions turned into more account specific?

they could ask it when that got relevant connected to the question. For such simple answer as this required it's badly overdone and taking double time that could been spend on others.

[Sister Nova]

It must be a new procedure, all I’ve ever done is to set up payment on each occasion I’ve made an account premium.

[Cleomes]

10 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

I think you are probably OK, although I consider it very intrusive and suspicious of LL to require this information to answer a simple question, and I have not encountered it before myself.

First, make sure you're actually talking to LL.  Is the email from an account at secondlife.com?  Can you find the author's name and profile (e.g. Nosey Linden)  by logging in and doing a People search? 

Assuming that is all OK, and it probably is...back to the questions they asked.

These questions are typical, if they checked your logins and the place you are logging in from is not the location where you registered the account initially.  It sounds as if they are trying to make sure the account hasn't been stolen by a phisher.  Giving the answers won't compromise your account security unduly...you can always change your email registration and secret question-and-answer.  DO NOT under any circumstances give your password.  (LL employees will never ask you to.)

Now...on to your actual questions!

As a Premium member, you are entitled to up to 1,024 sq. m. of Mainland without having to pay a monthly tier charge.  This land can be a regular Mainland parcel, a Linden Home, or a combination, as long as the total is less than or equal to 1,024 sq. m.  The way the system is set up, you CANNOT downgrade from Premium to Basic until you first sell or abandon all your Mainland holdings.  So yes, you'd lose your Mainland holdings.  This does not affect any land you are renting on a private estate.

On the other hand, everyone is entitled to one, and only one, store on the Marketplace, whether you are Premium or not.  You won't lose your store.

Thank you very much!!! You really helped me!

[Linda Reddevil]

58 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

they could ask it when that got relevant connected to the question. For such simple answer as this required it's badly overdone and taking double time that could been spend on others.

If they didn't ask, there'd be a post about the many ways you could sue LL for not verifying who you are. Again, there is no number you can call, in this day and age, that your identity isn't verified FIRST! 

[Alwin Alcott]

13 minutes ago, Linda Reddevil said:

If they didn't ask, there'd be a post about the many ways you could sue LL for not verifying who you are. Again, there is no number you can call, in this day and age, that your identity isn't verified FIRST! 

please keep it a bit real, the question was in no way related to a account.

[Linda Reddevil]

38 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

please keep it a bit real, the question was in no way related to a account.

Thought I was but hey, you can read into it what you want.  Btw, it's to "AN" account.

[Alwin Alcott]

15 minutes ago, Linda Reddevil said:

Btw, it's to "AN" account.

i can reccomend you the same as the one who told that yesterday too

 

[Seicher Rae]

You called them. You don't think they already have your information, so if they were up to no good they couldn't already be doing it without your call? Guess what? If you deal with the public at all, you learn that often when a question is posed as "I think this is a pretty simple question..." that it often turns out not to be. AN (oy, really folks?) answer can lead to another, more complicated question. At that point it is necessary to delve into the account. It doesn't always happen, but it can. Also, pretty sure LL is still using another company to handle their CSR issues, and there are protocols in place. A CSR can get seriously "hit" in a performance review if they do not follow the protocol exactly. You called them, so time for you to have a little patience while they do their jobs.

[Cindy Evanier]

I am quite happy with them asking security questions but also the questions you were asking them aren't really questions you need to bother support with.  The answers are easy to find on the forums or knowledge base

[Linda Reddevil]

28 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

i can reccomend you the same as the one who told that yesterday too

 

You're not hurting my feelings or going to get a rise out of me. I voted for the guy and will again. I appreciate your attempt though. Lol

[Seicher Rae]

Ew.

[So Whimsy]

Double Ew.

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

Triple ew. 

[Selene Gregoire]

*plonk*

[LittleMe Jewell]

3 hours ago, Linda Reddevil said:

  Btw, it's to "AN" account.

Alwin is not a native English speaker.

 

But hey, we haven't had the grammar police out in a while, so what the heck.

 

[Linda Reddevil]

15 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Alwin is not a native English speaker.

 

But hey, we haven't had the grammar police out in a while, so what the heck.

 

Gee, so kind of you to explain and give your two cents. It's a good day!  🌹