Little Lost Linden

Earlier today the QMRNA bots disappeared for an hour and then returned. I wonder if the sim was feeling overloaded or something. The KSA bots appeared unaffected by the short outage. Between these middle eastern sims and the other constant bot sims like Club Stacks, the daily concurrency can fluctuate quite a bit. Club Stacks (Miami Island) is #21 on the NWN list.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlif...nd/58/221/2099

(Presently, KSA is #10 on the NWN top most popular sims of the month) - http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2012/02/top...uary-2012.html

That's 3 bot sims that made the top 25 most popular sims for January. Odd indeed.

Someone mentioned that these sims might be sharing the same server with other sims. I wonder how noticable it would be on the other sims that share any of these servers?

Second Life Maps | KSA QJqJI pJLC

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BJ Tunwarm

Pretty clear what is going on - these are all the alts that were hit in all those Mafia clan wars.

They are sleeping in the prim sky box now.

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Trasee Darkwatch

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James98

Here is a possible twist to this . Some guy is talking about hackers taking over sim controls and scamming money from his games. Linden Lab not doing anything to stop it according to the poster.

Little Lost Linden

It is interesting that the alleged attacks are from the middle east as well. I suppose they could be related in some way. It's surprising that LL has not done anything about either of these things, the middle eastern blackmail from your link, and this excessive amount of traffic gaming bots on the grid.

After some investigation, I have concluded that 4 of the top 25 most popular sims are bot farms, but the middle eastern ones have the most. I read about how stopping crimes originating from the middle east can take some time indeed. Very interesting story James, thanks for the link. Going to monitor it. Arab Avatar is more camping than bots, but still quite a few bots. Also, you would think the 4 sim owners that missed being in the top 25 would want to claim their rightful spots on the top 25 chart. Instead they have been bamboozled by the bots. It's very difficult for me to use the word bamboozled in a serious sentance, but there you have it.



Update: Today, the bots in QMRNA, KSA, and Arab Avatar have vanished. Wonder if it is only temporary or not? Or maybe they are taking a break for the weekend...

Brenda Connolly

Maybe it's a Second Life Arab Spring

KT Kingsley

No no no no no - that's a Facebook and Twitter thing.

Little Lost Linden

Looks like the QMRNA bots are back again. Strange. They go away for several hours and then come back.

Casey Pelous

Has anyone contacted you by the name of Mulder or Sculley?

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Dickie Swansong

This's not a healthy obsession.

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Lewis Luminos

Here's a theory...

Small purchase of L$ on a stolen credit card. Wait a month, see if the owner of the credit card spots it. (You'd be surprised how many people never check their statements). If the transaction isn't spotted and blocked, you know that stolen card is clear for use elsewhere, outside of SL.

The place where I work has issues with online purchases by botnets under fake names & addresses all on stolen credit cards. They're doing the same thing, more or less.

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Little Lost Linden

There are quite a few theories to be sure. It's all pretty bizarre, that's for certain.

Loraan Fierrens

Well, thank God Bukkake Bliss is clean!!!

Elysium Hynes

Are you actualy monitoring these people? Can you see how it looks creepy?

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Lance Corrimal

how many premium accounts are people who haven't logged in for years, and simply do not notice the 10$ per months between all the other stuff on their CC statements?


bye,
LC

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BJ Tunwarm

Even if you do check; if you are in SL, how are you going to notice that wasn't your Linden buy?

Little Lost Linden

I have 2 associates named Mulder and Sculley. They handle the day to day creepy stuff. I just use the data they collect and send out the reports.

DoctorZen

If we're only talking active users, I doubt there are very many who buy from LL (L$, land, memberships, whatever) several times a week, or for random amounts. In fact I'm sure most people can remember what day they bought them and how much was spent. One charge of say, the minimum purchasable L$, would stick out on a statement.

Granted, not everyone pays attention to their statements. For just as many, losing a dollar here and there would go unnoticed. It wouldn't be until their card got denied somewhere that they'd discover the fraud. Their options at that point would depend on their credit card company and their standing in it.

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Aribeth Zelin

I save my receipts when I buy lindens.

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Yoshiko Fazuku

hehe the arabs just hit inworldz recently
Credit card thieves attack OpenSim grids – Hypergrid Business

Casey Pelous

It's all becoming clear to me ......

Little Lost Linden

Good article.

Innula Zenovka

Where does it mention the thieves' nationality?

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Casey Pelous

Or bot farms, for that matter ...