Scammers Continue to Wreak Havoc in MMO's

eldavojohn writes "We're all well aware of the scams that sometimes happen in online games like Eve Online. But despite this looking primarily like a problem with Eve Online, the MIT Technology Review brings us stories from Second Life and the very real $700,000 (USD) in Linden Dollars that has recently disappeared in what is appearing to be a classic ponzi scheme by a company named Ginko Banking. Unbelievably high interest rates coupled with some shady withdrawal limits leads to classic epic losses to investors. Eve Online was merely virtual currency but Second Life has a real monetary value associated with Linden Dollars & therefore is certain to see more and more scams pop up like this. How can Linden Labs set up a safety net to catch things like this?"

Comments

Virtual NSA, virtual FBI

[Animats]

Already happening. From a Linden Labs press release: The company also introduced algorithms that identify suspicious activity...

A virtual world is a total surveillance society. Everything can be logged. More than that, what you do there can be analyzed automatically.

Big Brother is watching. Big Brother is always watching.

Re:They shouldn't

[rednip]

Let people be stupid.

" Before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, there was little regulation of securities in the United States at the Federal level.", banking also has strict regulation. Now we find that, ('surprise') tight(er) controls on Investing/Banking in the virtual world is also needed. However, thanks to the 'containerized' nature of these virtual economies, I believe that federal regulation is not needed. Instead these communities need to consider getting some real professional advice before allowing this sort of activity. Not merely checking to see compliance with the appropriate laws, but using their experience and insights to create 'internal' regulation and a quick response to new threats. I would suggest that they actively pursue programmers from regulated field as well as legal staff.

To survive, virtual economies like real ones, need to have the people's confidence.