Huskan Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Didn't know where else to report this, so came here. After logging in, less than 5 minutes ago, I got an official notification that can be seen in the attached image. A new scam? If so, do LL know about this? I should probably also mention that I'm using the Firestorm viewer. Don't know if it could be a viewer specific thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dilbert Dilweg Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 That looks pretty shady to meee I wouldnt click the link and maybe find the object sending that message If you are using a third party viewer. they can change those log in messages MOTD's So yes if using firestorm it is possible that that MOTD is from the firestorm team.... But if they are going to do that, they need to change the message to say : Message from Firestorm Team? It's not Second Life asking for them to sign up Seems shady. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innula Zenovka Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 There's a thread about this scam over at SLU. The message appears to be coming from an object called "Second Life," that belongs to a resident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Muni Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 That is not a MOTD. See the actual MOTD using Firestorm: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huskan Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 Ah. I had not considered that possibility. Seems most likely. I've contacted the on management anyway as it's possibly someone who is still in the sim. Thanks for clearing this up for me. I didn't know where else to report it apart from the official forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huskan Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 Aha! That's a definite answer! Thanks all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Muni Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 You're welcome, thanks for post that message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Muni Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 More about this scam: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Everything-Else/I-received-an-email-from-SL/qaq-p/1476829 Also http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Linden-Dollars-L/When-do-I-get-my-1000L-for-signing-up-on-myservey-com/qaq-p/1476809 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Deakins Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 It doesn't look like a scam to me. Not in the sense that we usually think of as scams, anyway. As far as I can tell, it's not after your SL login details or your money. Objects are placed around SL, and they are owned by different avatars. The objects send the messages (IMs) to avatar names (not avatars that have been within scanning range of the objects). If the recipient isn't online at the time, it's emailed if that feature is set by the recipient. Affiliate systems exist on the web, so that website owners recieve a payment each time someone either goes to a site from the affiliate's site, or goes there from the affiliate's site and signs up. The most common are seen by everyone - the Google ads that appear on so very many sites. The site owner gets a payment for every click on those ads. Thousands of companies are in affiliate schemes - paying for visitors or sign-ups. For instance, e-Bay used to pay me £5 for each sign-up that came from my site, so there's decent money to be had. Google pays for clicks, and they've paid me a lot of money over the years. Hotel bookings is another where I've made a lot of money over the years. I believe that the perpetrator of the messages is an affiliate, and gets paid an amount of money either for each visitor to the final destination site (or for each sign-up at that site) who goes there from the perpetrator's site. Of course, there is no money for the person who clicks the link and ends up at the final destination site - not even if they sign up there. I said "the final destination site" because, clicking the link sends you through two sites before you get to the third and final destination site. The first of them is the bit.ly one, then there is an intermediate one, and then you go to the final one. The intermediate one is owned by the perpetrator. It's necessary for you to go via his/her site so that the final site's log shows that you've come from there and the perpetrator will get paid for your visit or sign-up. That's the gist of it. There may be a variation but it amounts to the same thing. The perpetrator is robbing the destination site, by getting money for fake visitors/sign-ups, and not looking to rob you. I should say that the emails I received made it clear that it wasn't anything to do with SL, and that it wasn't genuine. But the URL looked fine so I went to it. That's when I saw the trail of websites before I got to the final destination. At first glance, that site looked genuine and, since I've spent years in the affiliation field, realising what it all is was easy for me - if I'm right about it, that is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aristophanese Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 What are you, the official SLU crossthreader? If we wanted to read SLU we would read SLU, thanks anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Muni Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 BTW there is a related JIRA about this kind of fraud: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-422 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkady Arkright Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Aristophanese wrote: What are you, the official SLU crossthreader? If we wanted to read SLU we would read SLU, thanks anyways. What are you, the official SL censor ? If you don't want to read a relevant thread in SLU, don't read it - but don't claim to be 'we' because you're actually only 'you'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Deakins Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Irene Muni wrote: BTW there is a related JIRA about this kind of fraud: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-422 I don't believe that this current thing is the sort of scam that the jira is about. The jira is about scamming SL users but the current thing isn't about scamming SL users. It's about scamming a website owner who has probably never heard of SL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Muni Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Phil Deakins wrote: Irene Muni wrote: BTW there is a related JIRA about this kind of fraud: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-422 ...... It's about scamming a website owner who has probably never heard of SL. ... using an SL object rezzed inworld. So that related JIRA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Deakins Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 That jira is about scamming money from SL users. This thing isn't trying to do that. The jira is to suggest a solution to scamming by providing a flag in the About Land box to enable/disable transactions on the parcel. This thing sends IMs and that's all - no transactions. So the jira doesn't apply to this current thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drake1 Nightfire Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Phil Deakins wrote: It doesn't look like a scam to me. I believe that the perpetrator of the messages is an affiliate, and gets paid an amount of money either for each visitor to the final destination site (or for each sign-up at that site) who goes there from the perpetrator's site. Of course, there is no money for the person who clicks the link and ends up at the final destination site - not even if they sign up there. Soooo, it is a scam. "Happy Holidays from Second Life. Get 1000L for signing up here and confirming your e-mail." if they don't pay out.. IT"S A SCAM!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Deakins Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Not unless you're cheated out of something (money and/or goods) - imo. A few minutes of your time is neither of those. You can call it a scam if you like, but scamming is generally unterstood as cheating people out of something. If I filled the form in and didn't get paid, I'd consider that I'd been lied to but not scammed because i didn't lose any money or goods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X7 Mubble Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 I got the same message yesterday. I use the latest Beta version of the official LL viewer, so it's not just a Phoenix / Firestorm issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drongle McMahon Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 "A few minutes of your time is neither of those." But I thought "time is money". Isn't that few minutes of attention what the whole pay-for-clicks thing you described so well is all about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Deakins Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Actually, it is, but only if those few minutes are genuine which, in this case, they are not. However, it's nothing to do with what we've been discussing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Muni Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 And more. Received yesterday: The object 'Notification' has sent you a message from Second Life: Hello! Get 1000L right now just for signing up and confirming your email --> http://bit.ly/IefJUN = Notification is owned by Karreng Resident = http://slurl.com/secondlife/Severdno/191/132/2999 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Deakins Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 It's a new issue It's a different URL but it ends up at the same place.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceInChains Arun Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 I got the same some mins ago as soon as I logged in: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8154/7102852087_38be1958a9_b.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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