SLife And Times: Dealing With Begging

 

 Probably every resident is familiar with them. All of a sudden, one of their groups opens up, and someone goes "Hey, can someone give me a hundred Lindens?" Sometimes they offer to pay it back. But of course they never to. It's a low-level con to try and get someone to send them a little money. Sadly it's often a hacked account, which at the very least means a lot of inconvenience as the target will be thrown out of most of his groups. At worst it means the hackee ends up permanently banned. But it's always an annoyance to everyone else in the group, the chat being filled with grumbles. This includes Bellisseria chat, which has seen it's share of begging.

But someone in Bellisseria chat found a creative way to respond, and make everyone else grin. 

Just after Midnight one evening, the following appeared on Bellisseria chat

 

[00:01] (Hacked Resident): Hey. Can someone lend me 100L me please? I promise pay it back tomorrow.

There were a couple growls. But an Ina (Jantina McGregor) had a creative response.

 

[00:01] Ina (Jantina McGregor): I have told you this before   We sincerely apologize but your loan application of L100 is rejected by Linden Bank Of SL due to your bad credit history. We request you consult one of our Financial Specialists to improve your credit score. Consultation fees are L500. Please don't hesitate to contact us. Thank you for banking with us :)

 

The result was a number of laughs and "LOL"s as the hacked account was ARed and booted. 

 

Soon after, there was an announcement in the Relay for Live Volounteers group by Selene Jashan

New Challenge!!

How many of you have seen  the bots in groups begging for 100L?   Lets make lemonade out of lemons and when you see that,  where ever you are,  toss that 100L into a kiosk because I'm SURE that is what the bot was intending!   Who will join me in this???

 

 Lets DO THIS!!

Selene would add in chat, "We just got over 500L from doing that just now !!   They hit the I Pink I can Group (laughter)" That got chuckles and praise, Trader Whiplash saying, "I LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea! And be sure to type in the chat  'I sent your 100 to the Amerian Cancer Society for you.'"

So the next time you get hit with a beggar, here's two things you can do.

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted: Virtual Panhandlers

I believe we're starting to see a growing problem with panhandlers, possibly professional ones, probably from outside the US, hitting people up for their cash on SL. Here's some chat logs of one that I encountered today. The first is a piece of chat log from the Azure Club and Gallery group.

[2011/03/04 13:20] Janedoe3 Resident: Hi everyone, could anyone lend me 100L? I pay back tomorrow.
[2011/03/04 13:20] LadyDi Andel: no soliciting for money here

I paid her L$100, just a second before LadyDi warned against soliciting for money in this group. After the warning from LadiDi, Janedoe I.M.ed me personally, "can you lend me 700L more? ... I'll pay you back, please. I beg."

(Me): That's bait & switch. I had no problem with L$100.

Janedoe, "Please, i beg, i promise pay back, i beg ..."

The panhandler was a new account, born March 1. I suspect it to be started just for the purpose of panhandling. The L$2,300 she was trying to raise for the "AO of her dreams" is the equivalent of $9.46 US.

This is not the first time I've run up against attempts at panhandling. Another too ran up his request after I initially took the bait of giving him a small donation.

Skye Vanistok

Article edited for publishing