Faking your death

[Sam1 Bellisserian]

I'm curious as this discussion came up recently and it got me to thinking.  Do you know of anyone that has actually faked their avatar's RL death for whatever reason instead of just creating an alt and having the main avatar just disappear and not log in?  Maybe it was because they got way too involved with someone in RL and needed to make sure they didn't come looking for them or for some other reason.  I supposed if they really wanted people to think they were actually dead then they would cut ties with everyone but well...some people aren't good at keeping secrets. LOL

A long time ago in another game I knew of a girl who said she had cancer and somehow got people to send her money. This was before paypal and venmo and all the cash apps so I think they actually sent her money in the mail.  She then had someone come online and tell everyone she died.  She then created a new persona and tried to get back with the group but she was soon caught.  Turns out she didn't have cancer and she was very much alive.  Interestingly enough people forgave her and let her back in the group.

[Orwar]

   I have heard of such cases from some of my friends who has been in SL longer than I have, along with more recent cases of people claiming to have memory loss and that they don't remember who their SL partners were ... But still knew how to log onto Second Life, interestingly.

   There are of course people whose fate may be unknown to me; a fair few people over the years that never logged back in. A few of them I've heard rumours about, such as a creator and store owner who was very helpful and supportive when I first set out to get into SL photography, but it's difficult to confirm such rumours - and SL does have its fair share of rumours. 

   This last year especially has been thick with people going missing though. People taking breaks, and quite a lot of people having left the forums, it's hard to tell whether it's related to the pandemic and something happened to them, or if they just got sick and tired of the tension around here. Some of them I do have contact with either in-world or through Discord, others I don't know where they've gone. 

   It's not easy to know how to react when it happens. Just the other day someone was breaking down in a group chat because their SL partner hadn't logged on for over a month and they didn't know what to do with themself. That is something I have experienced, and the first time it happened, I waited for three months before finally deciding to take a break from SL. The last time it happened ... Well, she's been offline for thirteen months now. I've dated since, but I've felt pretty turned off of the whole SL relationship thing.

[Rowan Amore]

I'm quite sure it's happened in the past and will.continue to happen.  Unless you have some RL contact info, there really is no way to know for sure.  Just recently, I noticed someone hadn't logged on in over a month.  Someone who was on everyday.  I did know their RL name and location and found out that they had indeed, passed away in February.  

[Lewis Luminos]

I haven't knowingly encountered anyone who has faked their own death but I do know someone who, after the actual death of his SL partner, faked being the "grieving widower", fleeced funds from his friends (including myself) to travel halfway round the world to her funeral - and decided to buy himself a fancy new motorbike instead.

I hope he crashed the damn thing.

 

[Silent Mistwalker]

1 hour ago, Lewis Luminos said:

I haven't knowingly encountered anyone who has faked their own death but I do know someone who, after the actual death of his SL partner, faked being the "grieving widower", fleeced funds from his friends (including myself) to travel halfway round the world to her funeral - and decided to buy himself a fancy new motorbike instead.

I hope he crashed the damn thing.

 

Didn't some of that go down on SLU? I seem to remember a thread or two like that.

[Rat Luv]

Not directly but this happened to a friend of a  friend and apparently it REALLY messed them up. I won't go into too much detail but it involved the grieving person actually flying to another country to visit a grave that didn't exist

I have also heard of people scamming others for money for urgent treatment, saying they needed to take time off SL to recover, and then appearing on an obvious alt a few days later and being caught out...but luckily I never directly experienced that either.

An SL friend died and her family logged on to close to her account, so I can imagine how devastating it is to go through that and then find out someone was lying. 

Which all makes somebody saying they're Philip Linden's cousin not seem so bad 

 

[Sorciaa]

Edited March 23 by Sorciaa

[Polenth Yue]

Nobody that I know well has done this, but I have seen some cases in communities I wander around. It's not a unique thing to SL either. There was a case last year of someone who was pretending to be a Native American academic on Twitter, who allegedly died due to long covid complications. Like a lot of these cases, there were odd details that didn't match up. Once people starting on the trail, they just kept finding more. People doing this often find it very hard to remain uninvolved with the other identity, which eventually exposes the whole thing.

I have known people who have really died. The real ones outnumber the fakes, so I try not to be distrusting of such announcements unless they have things that don't add up.

[Lindal Kidd]

I have personally known one person who faked a severe illness in RL to get sympathy and money contributions in SL. I have known one person who had their partner fake their RL death (or at least, the evidence points that way.)

This...I'll call it a scam...has existed since way back to the days of internet chatrooms.  It's a despicable trick to play, and the lowest level of Hell is reserved for those who do it.

[LittleMe Jewell]

Roughly a week after my one and only SL partnering & wedding, the guy told me that he had been in a terrible car accident and had a head injury that was severely limiting his activities - and the headaches from said injury also made it difficult for him to spend more than minutes here and there on the computer, and thus in SL.  Therefore, he decided that it was unfair to me to stay partnered when he'd be able to spend so little time here with me -- so he unpartnered me.

Interestingly enough, he had a rather miraculous recovery in a week or two and was able to be on SL as often as before.  Soon after, I found out that he was hooking up with my maid of honor -- and apparently had started doing so the day after our wedding. She was the type that would send RL pictures and talk on the phone and such -- I wouldn't. 

[YuriaVodka]

Not in SL but back when I was living in Korea I dated a guy in RL who ghosted me by faking a near death experience from a car crash, went MIA for more than a year, all my calls and texts unanswered, no traceable activity on social media, cannot be seen anywhere, yadda yadda so I blocked him then all of a sudden calls me from a strange phone number explaining everything complete with (fake) hospital photos. Silly me felt so sorry at first but I was already kinda seeing somebody new so I just told him I was glad that he was alive and all that. Not to sound like a weirdo but I believe the universe or whatever shows you the truth and unmasks people who do not have your best interests at heart in unexpected ways, long story short I found out from a forum for foreign girls living in Korea that he was married and had a wife and kids in another city, and that I was not the only one he tried to scam. I am not badmouthing Koreans as I am Korean myself (US born), and I know this is not unique to Korea, but this seems to be the norm there and I still get soul-crushingly sick to my stomach every time I hear a girl crying about her k-drama Prince Charming disappearing without a trace...

[Mercedes Avon]

I've known of one person who attempted to fake his death - faked a fatal illness - but he was discovered before he got a chance to die.

Edited March 24 by Mercedes Avon

[Lewis Luminos]

15 hours ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

Didn't some of that go down on SLU? I seem to remember a thread or two like that.

Yes that'll be the very same one. I've actually forgotten the guy's name now but the lady who passed was Mabb Dilweg. She was a good friend to me in my very early days in SL, when I was working shifts and logging in mostly during Aussie-times. 

[Silent Mistwalker]

2 hours ago, Lewis Luminos said:

Yes that'll be the very same one. I've actually forgotten the guy's name now but the lady who passed was Mabb Dilweg. She was a good friend to me in my very early days in SL, when I was working shifts and logging in mostly during Aussie-times. 

Mabbs  😢

I've forgotten his name too. It's the least he deserves for what he pulled.

🤗

[Ina Fairport]

Yes, I have known someone who faked her death.in SL Long time ago.
It was a guy who roleplayed a lesbian. Friends made a memorial for her without knowing that it was all fake.



 

[Cougar Sangria]

On 3/23/2021 at 10:19 AM, Orwar said:

  It's not easy to know how to react when it happens. Just the other day someone was breaking down in a group chat because their SL partner hadn't logged on for over a month and they didn't know what to do with themself. That is something I have experienced, and the first time it happened, I waited for three months before finally deciding to take a break from SL. The last time it happened ... Well, she's been offline for thirteen months now. I've dated since, but I've felt pretty turned off of the whole SL relationship thing.

This happened to me after a 5 year partnership.  Logged in last December 19, 2019 and never heard from again.  E-mails went unanswered and I finally sent a Dear John e-mail after waiting almost a year.  Loyal to a fault I am, which is maybe my greatest strength and weakness.  It's hard to move on not knowing why, but one does eventually, to a certain extent.  Leaves a bad taste in your mouth when it comes to relationships here in SL.  No closure.   He's been offline (on this avatar) for 15 months now.  I am sure he is off somewhere here in SL as I know he has not met an untimely death.  You've done more than me  Orwar.  I have no desire to "date" anyone at this point.  

I apologize in advance if I hijacked this thread.

 

Edited March 24 by Cougar Sangria
Added a sentence.

[Winter Dismantled]

I think this is a ripe opportunity for someone to stage a Murder Mystery.

[Sid Nagy]

On 3/23/2021 at 7:34 PM, Lewis Luminos said:

I haven't knowingly encountered anyone who has faked their own death but I do know someone who, after the actual death of his SL partner, faked being the "grieving widower", fleeced funds from his friends (including myself) to travel halfway round the world to her funeral - and decided to buy himself a fancy new motorbike instead.

I hope he crashed the damn thing.

 

Yes, that was a truly sad event on that other big SL forum years ago.
People can be so mean and low at times.

[norajulian]

I’ve known a couple who have faked a death.. more an illness as a point to gain money and sympathy... I’ve known far far many more who were not lying, though.  We cannot force folks to be moral, only suggest. 

[Emz Evergarden]

 

 

 

I know a person that did was many years ago many people really looked up to them they even did event to raise money but they found out before donating to stop the funds that is was a hoax and the owner even went on mic said what we are stopping the event they banned the person they told people not to trust the person they were doing it for funds. Some people change, you can't trust people, why good to read people know the signs.   It's not good for a person to lie about passing  for funds can get you in big trouble even jail time these days.

 

 

 

Edited March 27 by Christina Mysterious

[Rabid Cheetah]

Really for real dying, in real life, God forbid, yes, a few in The Sims Online, as far as we know.  Technically these could have been faked, but I doubt it.  ROLEPLAYING a death, then deleting an account, yes, again in The Sims Online.  A friend had an alt, knew they wouldn't use it beyond the 14-day trial period, so we roleplayed that they were an alien species who's lifespan is only 14 days;  She "died" in my arms, logged off, and deleted the account immediately.  Even though we both knew it wasn't real, it was a very emotional experience for both of us. 

[Major Hijinks]

I had RL medical probs and it took a lotta time, but to my SL friends I died. Came back to my in-world tombstone and all... which actually gave me good vibes. 

[Sam1 Bellisserian]

3 hours ago, Major Hijinks said:

I had RL medical probs and it took a lotta time, but to my SL friends I died. Came back to my in-world tombstone and all... which actually gave me good vibes. 

But now they know you are not dead right?

[Velk Kerang]

I knew someone who supposedly passed and some how still manages to rise from the dead and log in to this very day. lol 🤣

I actually found this post kind of iconic in the timing that I seen it because my one experience personally with this is in RL where a close friend of mine faked his own death going in to witness protection for a while because he was in to all the wrong crap. Came across same friends Facebook page today and sent him a message and immediately regretted it after looking over his pictures. He's still an idiot and in over 40 years of life he hasn't learned a darn thing. Good thing for me my privacy restrictions only shows people who are non-friends my name and photo only. I so fully do not intend on reuniting with this moron. lol🤦‍♂️😎

[Katherine Heartsong]

I've seen this happen on another platform, and the utter grief and anger it causes when it comes to light that it's not, in fact, the truth. Shameful behaviour. We have enough RL issues to contend with, why the drama and lies? I do not get lying here, especially with your RL gender (I'm obviously way okay with a male running a female alt, as long as you are open about it) but I'm old and don't feel the need to deceive anymore.