Account under suspicion for transfer, but cannot get it resolved?

[thaliarayvyn]

TL;DR (because it’s long and yeah): my main account is 13+-years-old. Didn’t login until recently after about a decade. Account was placed on hold for no apparent reason after a month of play. Opened ticket. Calls. Got a ticket responded to finally. Asked by Liden to verify identity with series of questions I answered accurately minus potentially one(?)(due to the length of time since I created the account). Was told by Linden that the account was initially put on hold due to suspicion of sharing or transferring (so, got that answered) and that the answers I provided were not verifiable and was told to contact them if I remembered the account details or to just make a new account. Not looking for direct help through here via LL, just potentially anyone with similar experience that wants to share or veterans who might have some advice?

—

Description of events for those interested:

I apologize in advance, this is a long and probably wild one. And I want to recognize that I understand this a resident-to-resident forum. I am not looking for direct solutions from LL through here or direct answers on things residents obviously wouldn’t know, just potentially others who have come across this problem, long term veterans who may have helpful advice, and general experiences, etc. But, please, give this a read. I'm trying to include as much detail as possible in hopes of receiving the most accurate guidance or advice.

Firstly, this is an alt account. I do have written permission from a Linden (posted below) as of April 30th, 2020 saying I was welcome to make and use a new account. They are also aware of this account (also noted below). I made it several days ago when my main account was randomly logged out and put on hold (per the suggestion of a phone rep who said I may need to make a new account to to file a ticket, more on that later. This account is unused and this is the only activity on it). By "randomly", I do mean "randomly" on my end, without notification, warning or anything.  I woke up after a nap on Monday the 27th and logged into my viewer just fine and whilst I waited for my RL friend to sign in, decided to check my email on my phone, saw an email that the email address attached to my account was change. Went to make food (left my avatar signed in, parked on her home lot on her porch swing) to sit down and deal with what I suspected was an attempted hacking, not my first rodeo with receiving emails of that nature regarding accounts. Hacking happens all the time, especially for coveted games such as Second Life or World of Warcraft. Within those 20 minutes, I was logged out of my viewer "by administrator", and saw a new email stating my account had been terminated for "severe or repeated violations of TOS", that the was matter was closed and no other communication would be offered. 

Second that is important to this information is that my main account is over thirteen-years-old. I had not logged into this account for... *thinks* bare minimum, almost a decade.

Of course I was shocked when I saw this email of termination. I immediately tried to log into my viewer. No luck. Was given a link to contact support. So, I followed the link and it took me to watered down version of the site that let me open an appeal ticket, view my basic account information and view open\closed tickets.

I opened an appeal through my account and of course in my upset tried to dig around my limited access for a cause or a reason. I wasn't frantic or hysterical in my appeal. I questioned it and expressed how absolutely confused I was. That I spent my time in-game doing "PG things" such as shopping, avatar customization, home decor, hanging out at a coffee shop with my friends to listen to music and socialize, etc. That I could not, within reason, think of anything I had done, intentionally or not, that would constitute a termination without any warning or explanation. I even scoured over the TOS a few times before sending my initial appeal and could not think how anywhere I violated anything. I never received confirmation of this appeal ticket being filed. 

So, I anxiously wait. And dig around. Look at old tickets on my account. I see the closed ticket from April 17th-19th where I had a requested a spending increase on my account.
Then I see a ticket from April 18th that I did not send. It was a wild and belligerent message claiming "I" was scammed, and that "I" was going to contact "my" bank and cancel all charges unless they refunded "me" over $100, insults, and general bashing of the game. (I'm putting this in nicer terms than what was actually on the ticket, haha.) I never received automated confirmation of this ticket being filed. I've dug through my spam and trash on Gmail; nothing. Of course, again, I freaked. "I've been hacked and this has set off LL. GREAT." (Or my poo-head of a “roommate” decided to get onto my account and intentionally muck up things due to some unrelated household drama with my boyfriend). I immediately opened my ticket and noted my findings, stating that I do have roommates that may or may not have access to my account, that I did not make this ticket and now I was concerned for the safety of my financial and billing information. Again, not frantic, but I did try to note my urgency. I also immediately changed my email password and tightened security on my computer, etc. I also explained these actions I took on the note to the ticket. (* I feel like a little common sense should be used here. If I make a ticket praising the game and how excited I am about coming back and requesting a spending increase on my account and I'm awaiting a response regarding a spending increase, why would I reasonably turn around not 12 hours later and write such a harshly and horribly worded ticket and demand all sorts of crazy things and state that I was quitting the game? Just my opinion, though. I'm sure they deal with all types.)

I then decide to call the after-hours account security number. I give my information, answer the security question and she takes my issue. She says she can't help with account issues over the phone, tells me how to open a ticket and states that if I cannot login or file a guest ticket, I should create an alternate account for means to communicate with support. Thus, this account was born. I just went ahead and made it just in case the representative was correct.

A little background:
As I previously stated, my main account is over thirteen-years-old. Back in our hayday of 2006-2007 we opened and closed accounts willy nilly (whims; sometimes we liked the name, sometimes we just got bored of the avatar itself. Boom. Trashed.). We also shared accounts. At that point in time, this was okay per the TOS. It was done openly and heavily. But, as far as I know, this is the only account of mine that survived. As for now, the account has not been logged into, like I said, for maybe a decade and as far as I know, the account has only recently been logged into by me.
 

Of course, after a day or two of playing and re-familiarizing myself, I recognized a lot had changed and I was going to have to purchase things to update my avatar to modern meshes and such. As the email address that was used to create the account no longer exists on the face of the planet, I went in and changed the account-associated email address to one of my current email addresses so I could reasonably receive documentations of receipts of card purchases and of MP purchases.

I was able to play and purchase things without any issue for over just shy of a month. I had the minor thing about the spending increase. That was denied, which was fine, their call. Didn't hurt to ask. The only thing I wanted to do that was a "big" purchase was switch from a Belleza body to a Maitreya body, hah. So, I wasn't exactly pressed. Disappointed, sure, but I could wait the extra week until the "financial relationship" status was a month old. NBD. After a few days, I was able to make a purchase of Lindens just fine. Got my body, woo!

Wednesday rolls around, and I hear nothing. I'm starting to get stressed about my account, financial and billing security. So, I dig around on forums and Google and see what others have encountered. Found the Better Business Bureau page and all the complaints. Not exactly good for anxiety, but did make me think that might be an option if all else fails. I then decide to try calling billing during operational hours. Gave my information, answered my secret question, gave my concerns. He was quite rude and said that I had to file a ticket via the email used the create the account. I explained to him the account is almost a decade and a half old, that I barely remembered what that email was. I even forgot I had created it until I updated my email address on my account. That the email no longer exists (I tried to regain access to that email), nor does the sever it was created on, hence why it was changed. He rudely said he'd make note of that on my account, told me to open a guest ticket, that's all he could do and hung up on me. 

I open a guest ticket with the email I used to update my account. I noted at the beginning of the ticket this was the instructions given to me by phone representative, and that I was copy-and-pasting the initial ticket filed through my account. Copy and pasted that, and then ended the new ticket repeating how confused and concerned I was and just how willing I was to get this sorted out in a timely fashion. 

Thursday afternoon comes and I've not heard anything. Mind you when I created my ticket regarding a spending increase (the only time I've contacted support, like, ever), it took less than 24 hours for me to receive a generic response, but a response nevertheless, from a Linden, so I was growing increasingly concerned as each day passed.

Thursday I decided to give the fraud line a call. While she couldn't tell me much as it wasn't her department, she was extremely nice and informative. Patient and understanding. (Shout out to Becky for being just the sweetest human alive, give her a pay raise!) She did say that this was through a different department and that department didn't have a telephone line. I would have to rely on my ticket. I asked her if on the off chance she knew how long it'd take because I'm concerned about my financial safety. Naturally she said she didn't know what the roll over time was for another department, but she'd make a note in my account. (Not sure what note, but, okay. A note is a note. It's activity. I'll take it.)

It took me two open tickets and 3 phone calls to finally get some answers. After ending that call, about 10 minutes later I log into my account to check ticket status and see a reply on my initial ticket made through my account (not the guest ticket). I did not get an email notification of a reply onto the ticket. Regardless, yay!

The Linden asks for identifying information to ensure they are communicating with the owner. This is obviously fair.
Q1: what is the answer to your security question,  *insert question here*?
Q2: In what city, state and country did you create the account?
Q3: In what city, state and country did you last log into the account?
Q4: If you have any alt accounts, what are the names, and security questions and answers to those accounts.

I answered all of these. Q1 was simple, if I didn't know that answer I'd be a horrible human. The only one had trouble with was Q2. The year I created my account, I traveled A LOT. Mind you, this is over 13 years ago, as well. I answered the question with 90% certainty. I even noted on the response that it had been 13 years, so my memory may not be spot on. Q3 was easy, I haven't moved from my boyfriend's house where I am currently on doctor-order medical quarantine as I have multiple debilitating chronic illnesses (some of which also effect my memory). Q4 was also simple enough to remember, this account. I explained why this account was made and gave the identifying question and answer that was requested.

An hour or two later I received a response stating (again, did not get an email notice of a response on the ticket),

Quote

 

"Thank you for responding to our account verification request. 

Linden Lab placed the account on hold when it was discovered that the account may have been shared or transferred to another user. 

Account Sharing/Transferring is a violation of the Terms of Service: https://www.lindenlab.com/tos

Because account ownership has not been verified, we are unable to discuss, modify, or otherwise take action in regards to the account. If you recall the account details in the future, please contact us again. 

You are welcome to create a new Second Life account, using your correct details at registration.

Best Regards,

Dakota Linden

Second Life Support

Linden Lab"

 

(At least I know now why the account is on hold. Suspicion of sharing or transfer. So, knowing a reason is nice.)

*slams face on keyboard* And that leads me to here. The ticket was closed. I opened a new ticket referencing the closed ticket, explaining again that the account is nearing a decade-and-a-half old. I don't remember my exact location on any day 13+ years ago, let alone a specific date and time of a location 13+ years ago. It was an average day. Just like most days... I'm not going to remember it, because nothing significant happened to mark that date on my memory.  I know generally where I bounced around to throughout that year. But, specific dates, goodness no. And to remember the location of where I was when I opened an account 13 years ago? Goodness! I can't even tell you what month I created my business email last fall. I just know it was in the fall. And don't ask me if I was in the town I worked, in the town I live, or in the town my boyfriend lives.

I explained that I would have no qualms with starting a new account, but as I am partially disabled and on a very limited income, me decided to purchase things for this account was a special (and honestly, calculated; there were other things I wanted to buy) treat to myself in order to quell the stress of quarantine and a global pandemic, and that I just cannot simply afford to "start from scratch". I have offered to send copies of my photo ID (which matches the card they are charging) and "anything and everything" I can do.

They had no problems charging me for a whole month, even up until virtually the very hour my account was placed on hold. Why am I being dismissed and treated like a hacker when I'm sitting here essentially begging them to let me play and give them money, begging them to let me prove I am who I am. 

Like, I am so confused and hurt right now. I'm mad at myself that I chose to treat myself to a game with friends instead of spending the money I spent on, say, some makeup, or something. I thought, "what's the point of treating myself to clothes or makeup when I have no reason to wear them? With a game, I'll get good use out of this money spent because I'll be having fun and socializing." 

I just want to know if there's any advice, help, sage wisdom? Anything? Anyone who's had this happen to them before? I've never broken TOS of anything before. And the only time I've had to honestly deal with any game customer support that required account ownership identity was when my brother died and I requested to take over his account (he loved WoW so, so much and was so proud of his character) so I wouldn't lose his account forever, so they had me send a photocopy of my government ID. But, something like this? I just don't know what I'm dealing with. And it's honestly scary. Because if my account was compromised somehow, my financial and billing information is right there. No, they can't access the account now, but they could've at some point. 

Ugh, I am so sorry. I just don't know where else to turn... 

XOXO~
Thalia.Rayvyn

Edited May 1, 2020 by thaliarayvyn
clarifications, typos, etc. added tl;dr

[Alwin Alcott]

you have to be a LL, this post is possibly not going to work out very well.
Normally when a account is banned/terminated, you'r not allowed to re enter with a new one. As soon the red lights turn up, this one will be terminated too.

Edited May 1, 2020 by Alwin Alcott

[thaliarayvyn]

If you read the whole post (I know it’s a long one; I’m sorry), I have spoken to LL in a ticket reply and they did say I was welcome to create a new account. The response is copy and pasted into my OP. But, thanks for your concern. 

[MirandaBowers]

50 minutes ago, thaliarayvyn said:

They had no problems charging me for a whole month, even up until virtually the very hour my account was placed on hold. 

I read through your entire statement, this line stood out to me. It is unfortunate that the timing of this happened after you had already begun investing new money into your account again. And by the sound of it, it seems like you're just "sorry outta luck" 

[Alwin Alcott]

2 hours ago, thaliarayvyn said:

If you read the whole post

so in short .. instead of that wall ... you couldn't prove it's your account... thats all. So yes LL will not help.

[thaliarayvyn]

3 hours ago, Alwin Alcott said:

so in short .. instead of that wall ... you couldn't prove it's your account... thats all. So yes LL will not help.

I thought context was important? Normally responses are “not enough facts, so obviously something is amiss”. I’m new to the forums, I was just trying to seek advice from anyone who may have run into this before, or people who have been on for ages who might have some advice. I’m sure I’m not the only one who logged on after ages during a global pandemic and ran into issues.  
 

Had I merely posted, “so I can’t prove my identity, anyone got advice?” I know my first question(s) would be to elaborate or to explain how I got to that particular point of needing to verify. Or be accused/assumed to be a hacker. 
 

Like I said, I’m just looking for anyone who may have also had some experience with this (firsthand or witnessed someone else go through it) and can offer their experience as I've never had to deal with support before (and boy, have I read horror stories, especially when I came across the BBB page on Google) and I feel like a fish out of water. Naturally any person is gonna want explanations and help, especially when a lot of their time, care or money is put into something. I think that’s relatively understandable? 
 

Not here to argue or be snarked at. Just thought this was a way to reach out to other users, that’s all.
 

I appreciate your response, though, and should I seek advice in future from fellow users, I’ll use one sentence and just wait to explain when asked in the comments. 

Edited May 1, 2020 by thaliarayvyn

[thaliarayvyn]

2 hours ago, MirandaBowers said:

I read through your entire statement, this line stood out to me. It is unfortunate that the timing of this happened after you had already begun investing new money into your account again. And by the sound of it, it seems like you're just "sorry outta luck" 

Yeah. And I know the only thing I can do is just ... wait and hope for the best. But, I’ve also seen so many helpful people here and people sharing experiences, I figured it may be worth a shot since I’m certainly not the only person in the world re-logging during this pandemic.

And, it’s hard not to laugh and feel like, perhaps, better questions could be dreamed up than just “where were you on X day, a bazillion years ago?” Yknow? 😅

And maybe I’m naive in thinking that knowing the answer to my secret security question (which is the whole point of a secret security question, no?) should be sufficient in moving to the next step? 

hahaha. Just... I wanna cry and I wanna laugh. 😅

[Theresa Tennyson]

3 hours ago, thaliarayvyn said:

They had no problems charging me for a whole month, even up until virtually the very hour my account was placed on hold. Why am I being dismissed and treated like a hacker when I'm sitting here essentially begging them to let me play and give them money, begging them to let me prove I am who I am. 

Because you basically told them in so many words that the account was compromised. The ticket that somebody else took out shows that. You can say what you've been doing, but how do you know that you know everything the account is doing? You're saying the equivalent of:

1) "My car is leaking gas and shooting off sparks!"

2) "Why won't you let me drive my car?"

The answer to that is that nobody should be driving that car. And they shouldn't be driving it regardless of how much they spent on it.

[thaliarayvyn]

9 minutes ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Because you basically told them in so many words that the account was compromised. The ticket that somebody else took out shows that. You can say what you've been doing, but how do you know that you know everything the account is doing? You're saying the equivalent of:

1) "My car is leaking gas and shooting off sparks!"

2) "Why won't you let me drive my car?"

The answer to that is that nobody should be driving that car. And they shouldn't be driving it regardless of how much they spent on it.

Good analogy and understood completely.

I’m trying to figure out the loose gasket and have made what adjustments I can do on my end (obviously use full password for Windows and not just a PIN, changed all my passwords not just things that access SL, upped Windows security/firewall). But, if your mechanic refuses to inspect or throws away the key to the vehicle so you can’t make appropriate fixes within the vehicle, how are you to know your next vehicle won’t end up in the same condition somehow?

And it seems that this car is still turned on and has a stack full of cash in the window  (IE: financial and billing information on the account and SL public profiles state if you have payment information on file.)

(I don’t know, I’m bad with cars hahaha. Hopefully that made sense?)

Edited May 1, 2020 by thaliarayvyn

[kiramanell]

1 hour ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Because you basically told them in so many words that the account was compromised. The ticket that somebody else took out shows that. You can say what you've been doing, but how do you know that you know everything the account is doing? You're saying the equivalent of:

1) "My car is leaking gas and shooting off sparks!"

2) "Why won't you let me drive my car?"

The answer to that is that nobody should be driving that car. And they shouldn't be driving it regardless of how much they spent on it.

 

That's silliness. Accounts do get hacked, from time to time. And informing LL that you think your account is being hacked, in however many words, is most certainly not a reason to get punished for, or see it used against you! In fact, it's a pro-active, prudent action, even when you were able to undo potential damage yourself (like email-addresses being changed and such). And accounts do get restored. That too is normal, and well within common professional business policy guidelines among the several gaming communities at least I am part of.

And your car analogy is hopelessly flawed, really. You're saying the equivalent of: "You admitted your car was stolen, therefore you can never have it back!"

It doesn't help she can't answer all verification questions, true that. And maybe they're simply referring to the repeated account sharing (which, if I read her right, was allowed at some point, but no longer is).

At any rate, have a little heart. If this had happened to me, I'd be devastated too.

Edited May 1, 2020 by kiramanell

[thaliarayvyn]

1 hour ago, kiramanell said:

That's silliness. Accounts do get hacked, from time to time. And informing LL that you think your account is being hacked, in however many words, is most certainly not a reason to get punished for, or see it used against you! In fact, it's a pro-active, prudent action, even when you were able to undo potential damage yourself (like email-addresses being changed and such). And accounts do get restored. That too is normal, and well within common professional business policy guidelines among the several gaming communities at least I am part of.

Yeah, I mean, I’ve seen updates on accounts being successfully restored when potentially compromised several times on the forum here. So here’s to hoping? Of course I’m sure it came with some conditions and a lot of diligence and assurances on the behalf of the user to ensure it doesn’t happen again, after all we *are* 100% responsible for anything on our accounts. (Not like I asked to have my “car stolen“, though. Haha. And even with the best alarms and security, it happens.)

1 hour ago, kiramanell said:

And your car analogy is hopelessly flawed, really. You're saying the equivalent of: "You admitted your car was stolen, therefore you can never have it back!"

I think both analogies work, depending on how you look at it? But, I do think your analogy is a bit more to the crux of my issue, haha.

 

1 hour ago, kiramanell said:

It doesn't help she can't answer all verification questions, true that. And maybe they're simply referring to the repeated account sharing (which, if I read her right, was allowed at some point, but no longer is).

I agree, my ability to potentially only answer 3/4 questions with 100% positivity isn’t the best. But, like I said. Ooooold account. Ages since last login, let alone created it. Plus, if they’re going off IP data from 2007, couldn’t that be flawed? I know ages ago, when you looked up an IP, it wouldn’t show your location, but the location of the ISP. Or heck, I could’ve been registered as merely one town over when I was logged and not know it. 
 

And yeah, you read correctly. Account sharing happened looooong before it was ever even a part of TOS. I’m sure it’s always been frowned upon, but actually in the TOS at that point in time, it was not (it still goes on today so...). And it was mostly innocuous things. “Hey, check that for me while I’m at work”. Haha. Nowadays, account sharing is viewed vastly different in society. So, I definitely wouldn’t be willing to do it now.
 

edit: I guess I should clarify: the account sharing from a decade and a half ago didn’t come up in the ticket until my most recent ticket (after the previous one was closed). Which hasn’t been acknowledge by LL yet. So, that’s not the cause of their initial suspicion of sharing/transferring. 

1 hour ago, kiramanell said:

At any rate, have a little heart. If this had happened to me, I'd be devastated too.

Thank you for your kindness and your input. It’s greatly appreciated. I apologize if I’m wordy, I do like to be thorough. Even if it’s more information than needed, it’s best to be as transparent as possible rather than have to repeat something multiple times.  Especially when seeking help/guidance/whatever, be it from technical support team or a community.  

Edited May 1, 2020 by thaliarayvyn

[Beth Macbain]

I'm pretty damn attached to my account. If something horrible happened and my account was compromised, I trust that LL would work with me to resolve it and not simply ban poor Beth Macbain forever. 

To me this feels like a game of telephone gone terribly wrong and little bits of the story got lost en route to @Dakota Linden, who I've found to be quite reasonable. I understand your frustration and sadness... I would be utterly devastated in your shoes. With the world being on lock-down, this has to be an issue that is coming up multiple times with older residents attempting to return to SL, and I know there are many people who don't have access to an email account from 13 years ago. 

I didn't read this as her saying that she willingly shared her account with anyone - she shares living quarters with others and it's possible that someone else accessed her account without her permission or knowledge. She was honest about that. She doesn't know for a fact that it happened, only that it's potentially possible. 

If she (you - I keep switching between talking directly to you, and to the others who have chimed in) is able to confirm the answers to most of her questions, as well as perhaps providing additional information such as what credit card she uses... I don't know. It feels like there ought to be a solution for this other than just completely terminating her account. 

No, LL won't discuss this one the forums, and this thread will most certainly be closed, but I do hope that Dakota, or perhaps @Kristin Linden, will reach out to you privately to discuss this and hopefully find some resolution.

Good luck!

[Theresa Tennyson]

1 hour ago, kiramanell said:

 

That's silliness. Accounts do get hacked, from time to time. And informing LL that you think your account is being hacked, in however many words, is most certainly not a reason to get punished for, or see it used against you! In fact, it's a pro-active, prudent action, even when you were able to undo potential damage yourself (like email-addresses being changed and such). And accounts do get restored. That too is normal, and well within common professional business policy guidelines among the several gaming communities at least I am part of.

And your car analogy is hopelessly flawed, really. You're saying the equivalent of: "You admitted your car was stolen, therefore you can never have it back!"

It doesn't help she can't answer all verification questions, true that. And maybe they're simply referring to the repeated account sharing (which, if I read her right, was allowed at some point, but no longer is).

At any rate, have a little heart. If this had happened to me, I'd be devastated too.

Now put yourself in the position of someone at Linden Lab - here's someone who:

1) Suddenly starts using an account after not touching it for 10 years.

2) Wants an increase in the amount of money they can spend.

3) Has previously given others access to the account.

3) States that someone else using the account who apparently was already spending money isn't authorized to do so.

4) Has no access to the original E-mail account that was used when it was created.

5) Can't remember where they were when they created the account.

I should make it perfectly clear that I feel the OP is sincere and honest.

However, someone who wasn't would be doing basically identical things to what the OP is doing.

[ChinRey]

57 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

I'm pretty damn attached to my account. If something horrible happened and my account was compromised, I trust that LL would work with me to resolve it and not simply ban poor Beth Macbain forever.

Yes but as Theresa pointed out, we have to accept that it's not always possible for them to sort it out, especially when an account has been inactive for so long.

I've been in a similar situation myself, trying to reactivate my original SL account. Even though LL couldn't help I had had the impression they really tried their best.

[thaliarayvyn]

44 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

I'm pretty damn attached to my account. If something horrible happened and my account was compromised, I trust that LL would work with me to resolve it and not simply ban poor Beth Macbain forever. 

Oh yeah, saying I’m attached is an understatement. Haha. After sometime many years ago, I switched to The Sims because it was all the rage. I went back to that several times. Attempted maybe 4-5 years ago to try SL again, but just wasn’t feeling “the vibe”, at that time. Enter pandemic and me getting sick/put on quarantine and boredom ensured. I started created sims and sharing them with my friends. They decided to go back to SL and begged me to. I finally agreed, haha. Took a few guesses on my account and cycling through old passwords I remembered (ah, the good old days of universal, one word passwords lol), but I rejoined. Got my avatar set up and really honestly fell back in love. The advancement of how intricate you can be with avatars is truly unmatched in my opinion.

 

48 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

I didn't read this as her saying that she willingly shared her account with anyone - she shares living quarters with others and it's possible that someone else accessed her account without her permission or knowledge. She was honest about that. She doesn't know for a fact that it happened, only that it's potentially possible. 

Oh, goodness no! The thought of sharing accounts or passwords of any sort to me now is just out of the question. Even for help. If I can’t find my answer on YouTube or a forum and have to turn to in world help, I usually ask the friend to come over to help and show me. Or now due to quarantine, make a quick video of them doing it and send it to me. Honestly, with the tech we have today, there’s no need to share account information with anyone. There’s always a better way.

And yes. I do have several “roommates” (I am currently temporarily living with my boyfriend during this duration of the virus) who quite possibly had access to my computer without my knowledge. There was unrelated drama going on with one of them and my boyfriend, and we both wouldn’t put it past him to have done something sneaky and clever out of spite when we were asleep. The drama is over and he moved onto something else, but if it was him, shewww. ::angry face:: definitely don’t trust him now, regardless. (TMI, I know. I’m sorry.)

58 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

If she (you - I keep switching between talking directly to you, and to the others who have chimed in) is able to confirm the answers to most of her questions, as well as perhaps providing additional information such as what credit card she uses... I don't know. It feels like there ought to be a solution for this other than just completely terminating her account. 

And I am more than willing to do that. It’s kind of hard to remember things from last week, let alone exact locations 13+ years ago. I have all the information I could possibly need, including my card(s), government-issued ID, bank statements, email confirmations of purchases, etc.

 

59 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

No, LL won't discuss this one the forums, and this thread will most certainly be closed, but I do hope that Dakota, or perhaps @Kristin Linden, will reach out to you privately to discuss this and hopefully find some resolution.

Oh, yes I know LL cannot and will not discuss things publicly. That’s for obvious privacy concerns. Which I totally get and respect. I also understand their user volume most definitely has gone up. Articles have been written about it. So, I’m trying to be patient whilst still workshopping solutions in a timely manner, and of course, in way that doesn’t result in me losing access completely. 
 

Thank you so much for your reply and understanding. It means so very much to me.

[AdminGirl]

I would have thought bank documents linking to the payment information on your account would have been considered as some form of evidence. For lack of a better idea, maybe keep trying to remember the answers to those security questions. Anyway, so sorry to hear what you're going through

[thaliarayvyn]

52 minutes ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Now put yourself in the position of someone at Linden Lab - here's someone who:

1) Suddenly starts using an account after not touching it for 10 years.

2) Wants an increase in the amount of money they can spend.

3) Has previously given others access to the account.

3) States that someone else using the account who apparently was already spending money isn't authorized to do so.

4) Has no access to the original E-mail account that was used when it was created.

5) Can't remember where they were when they created the account.

I should make it perfectly clear that I feel the OP is sincere and honest.

However, someone who wasn't would be doing basically identical things to what the OP is doing.

I don’t think it’s all totally without reason. And many things have very plausible and real reasons. I’m back because of a world pandemic, as are a lot of people. I’ve come across so many people talking about how they had nothing better to do than to sign back in after however long, haha.

 

2) the spending increase, I kinda glossed over. I met some Resident 1 or whatever limit and got a notification about it in game. Confused, and actually scared that maybe my card issuer had put some sort of stop on payment or something because, you know, new charges. I opened a ticket as suggested, asked what it meant, and if there was some way to clear that up. Got a generic response that it was safety practices and something about “30-day financial relationship status”, which how it was worded and on that night, I wasn’t quite comprehending it that well. I replied and asked if it could be increased by $50, explained why (as I had just come back blahblahblah update to new meshing blahblahblah). They responded clarifying what the terminology used meant and it made sense, and I left it at that. A week away would’ve made 30 days, NBD.

3) I didn’t state that someone else was using the account and spending money. There was a ticket opened that I didn’t have email confirmation of nor even knew about, that was short-lived. And once I saw this, I made sure to go through every statement charge and correspond it with the receipt emails that I always mark into a “confirmed” folder just in case some digital card fraud ever did happen (I do do a lot of online shopping, seeing as my illnesses prevent me from getting out a lot). The ticket was basically them screaming (I mean, screaming and not nice at all) that “I” (them) was scammed by a landowner and that “I” (they) were going to put a stop to all charges through “my” card. Once I found this, a day after my account had been put on hold and I was trying to dig around and find out why, I directly pointed it out. And made to sure to be clear it wasn’t me or done with my consent and that upon finding this, I immediately changed passwords to emails, my computer, and did all kinds of cache and cookie clearing, etc. Just to be safe. Also, no card issuer in their right mind is going to look at a statement with multiple charges that didn’t automatically flag fraud and not suspect at least *some* of them are legitimate. Yknow?

4) do you have access to email accounts made a decade and a half ago? I mean, I have screenshots that show that account no longer exists on the face of the planet. So, that much isn’t hard to prove.

5) again, kinda like the previous one. How many of us can remember exactly where we were 13 years ago on a specific date? And certainly, without question, know exactly what our IP was logged as at that time. For newer accounts, sure I can see this being somewhat reasonable of a question. But, I don’t know about something as simple as remembering a precise location that happened before I was even old enough to drink.

I should be clear with you that in no way am I attempting to be argumentative with you, :). It is a wild turn of events in short span of a week. But, isn’t that typically how these things go? The chain of events starts and BAM, you're not sure what’s going on anymore. Haha. Oversights can happen, especially when you feel you are being safe and you feel comfortable 

 

I do so appreciate your honesty and your support. It means very much to me.

Edited May 1, 2020 by thaliarayvyn

[thaliarayvyn]

41 minutes ago, ChinRey said:

Yes but as Theresa pointed out, we have to accept that it's not always possible for them to sort it out, especially when an account has been inactive for so long.

I've been in a similar situation myself, trying to reactivate my original SL account. Even though LL couldn't help I had had the impression they really tried their best.

If I felt that LL was trying their best, I could get that. And I can understand and I respect their diligence to privacy and security. It does seem a bit dismissive to me, though, that because one out of four questions may have not been exactly right and the ticket was closed. And to me, the least important question, at that. Where I was 13 years ago upon making an account for a game, yknow? I feel that if most questions are answered properly, it could be within reason to ask for photocopies of an ID, the card attached on the account that shows your name or last four digits of the card, or bank statements, email confirmations.
 

I mean I have seen other topics on here relating to regaining access to their accounts and LL has asked for photo ID or a photocopy of their credit card on file. One person was absolutely unwilling to do this and was complaining it was an infringement of his rights or something. I thought *that* post quite silly (although, informative of what not to do). And found it quite an easy and reasonable request on LL’s part. Idk.

 

Hahaha. But, honestly, something other than, “so, hey. Where were ya?”. Especially not for something a bazillion years ago. XD I thought that question quite silly at first, and really did have to think on it. But, hey, I don’t know how LL keeps IP data. I’m surprised it’s kept that long, to be honest.

But yes, frustrating indeed. Sigh. And thank you for your input and sharing your experience with me. I truly do appreciate it!

Edited May 1, 2020 by thaliarayvyn

[thaliarayvyn]

27 minutes ago, AdminGirl said:

I would have thought bank documents linking to the payment information on your account would have been considered as some form of evidence. For lack of a better idea, maybe keep trying to remember the answers to those security questions. Anyway, so sorry to hear what you're going through

No, I’m trying to wrack my brain. Heck, I didn’t even sign up for Facebook until 2008, I don’t think (I’d have to check on that one). But, as I explained, I bounced around a lot. So, recalling specific dates is definitely not an easy task. I wish they would ask for bank statements or anything like that. That much I have on hand, because 1) I half expected that to be their request and 2) records. Always keep records of digital financial stuff. Haha.

[Kristin Linden]

Hey there!

Unfortunately I will have to close this thread as this is not a topic that is appropriate for discussion on the forums.

While I understand the frustration regarding this issue, please know that we take the security of our Residents' accounts very seriously, and in cases where we have reason to believe that accounts have been shared/transferred we must be absolutely sure we are speaking to the original account owner before considering releasing it. The last thing we want is to release an account back to someone who did not originally create the account.

If you have further information that is relevant to your case, you are more than welcome to contact us again by submitting a Support Case.