Friday, September 01, 2006

Scam Alert: Capped 'Sploders'

Affects: people who use 'sploders', which are sort of like lotto balls commonly used at events or clubs. People put money in the pot and its distributed to the people at the event with one person winning a lion share of the money.
Modus Operandi
: The scammer places an invisible cylendar or other prim over top of the 'sploder' to collect all the money the participants at the event attempt to put into the ball.
How it goes down: In order to use a sploder, the patrons at the event ( or casino/club) have to put money into the ball. Its like paying for a lotto ticket. The scammer puts a transparent object over the ball so that the patrons can't see that they aren't actually paying the ball. The money is then funnelled to the scammer through the invisible object.
Seeing through the Scam: Like the invisible prim over vendor scam, this one can be fairly easily seen through if you are careful before you pay. If you use Alt-Control T, you can see transparent objects, use the same command to toggle 'highlight transparent' off again. If there is a strange object overtop of the 'sploder', alert the management immediately.
Damage control: Event managers with these sort of promotional items should try to keep an eye on them, or have staff keep an eye on them for people doing suspicious things near them. Disabling rezing on the land for non staff can be helpful too, provided they can't just drag it over from an ajoining parcel. Enabling auto-return is also a good idea, as it is with the other scam. However, that doesn't protect you against internal scammers. Be sure you have trust worthy staff and make sure to check your sploders frequently durring events. I would also suggest you put them away when not in use and move them about the event area from event to event.

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