Hacker, Scammer, Cheater, Liar or Thief?

I am tired of seeing the term "Hacker" being used when someone is scamming or cheating or just plain lying and stealing. 

Language is powerful. It is also important. When you use the wrong term, you are not getting your message across correctly.

Let me clarify:

Hacker

Someone who uses code, software or scripts to break into accounts. Hackers are skilled computer techs. Real world hackers attack computer systems. They send viruses and create malware to steal from others. They engineer cyberattacks and make ransomware. Usually hackers are targeting banks and other companies that have a lot more money than Stardoll, so real hacking at Stardoll never happens. Okay, once there was a server overload caused by hackers, but they did not break in. The payment module is separate from the site and is more heavily protected than the site itself. Your payment information is always secure.

Scammer

Some people use scammer and hacker for the same thing. But I prefer to differentiate between the two. A scammer is a trickster. Scammers use words to gain access to accounts by lying. Scammers do not need to use code or technology to steal. Scammers may also invite others to go away from Stardoll to visit sites that are created to trick other members into giving away their personal log in information. 

Scammers are easy to avoid and easy to spot once you know how they operate. When you spot someone asking for a password, report them. If someone posts a link DO NOT go to the link. Report the user. Only Stardoll can safely investigate. 

Just going to a link outside of Stardoll can be a problem if the website has been set up by a hacker. You are safe from hackers at Stardoll, but when you go to other sites, you can get a virus or malware. You can not only lose your account but any other personal information on the computer you are using.

Cheats and cheating

In the gaming world, cheats are supposed to be secrets that help people in the know advance in the game. New members of Stardoll think there are cheats that will give them free stuff. People circulate silly posts about copying and pasting a certain group of words to get tons of free things. These never work and if you post them you look foolish. You can read more about this in other topics, but this sums it up. Don't look for cheats. There are none that work.

Cheating is done by people who find ways to advance in the game that may not be viewed as fair by other members. I think that designers who sell single items back and forth to their own accounts to inflate their sales numbers and win the top design spots are cheaters. Stardoll does not care that they are cheating, so don't bother reporting. People who cheat the contests are not breaking the rules.

Stealing, Trading and Private Deals

There is something that some call scamming or hacking but is just plain stealing. To illustrate this, I made up a story.

W wants to buy a LE dress from Z  for 1000 SD. They make a private deal to make this happen. (Making a private deal is breaking the rules.) Z puts up a cheap item into her starbazaar for 500 SD and W has to buy it before Z will put the dress up on reserve for her for the last 500 SD. If Z is honest, she will put the dress up as agreed. But if she is not, she may block W and keep her dress and the 500 SD. Many people call this scamming, but it is actually just not following thru with a deal. It is stealing.

Trading is similar. Two people make a deal to trade. To do this they agree to put certain items up for sale. Someone usually goes first. This person puts the item up for sale for just 2SD or SC. The second person buys the item. Then it is up to the second person. The second person is supposed to put up the agreed upon item for sale in her bazaar. Sometimes this works fine. But sometimes that person will not follow thru. At this point the second person blocks the first person and tries to keep both items. 

Trading is risky because it is based on a private deal. When you are dealing with strangers you do not know how they are going to behave and if they are really honest. I see people lie on Stardoll all the time. 

Stardoll made making a private deal against the rules to protect members from getting cheated by other members. This is a form of cheating, but it is stealing.

Why does it matter?

Often people will come to me for help after someone has stolen from them. They will say they have been hacked or scammed, but once I get the full story, I find that most often they have been stolen from, and that the person complaining cooperated with the thief.

No one can steal from you without your cooperation. Keep that in mind.

There is some good news. Stardoll will delete the account of a person who steals from another member. If someone steals from you after making a private deal you can contact Stardoll and tell them what happened. Stardoll will read all the messages and determine what happened. Well, if you made the deal on Stardoll. If you made the deal at fb or another site, they cannot investigate and you will not get justice.

Justice does not include getting your stolen items back, even if Stardoll does determine against the other doll and removes their account. If you made a deal with someone and they stole from you, you broke the rules. You were not hacked. You might say you were scammed since the person tricked you with words. 

I prefer to reserve the word "scammer" for those who set up a big lie, someone who posts a video or creates a website to trick people and then broadcasts to try to get as many people as possible to leave the safety of Stardoll. These scammers are out to steal accounts. They steal what is valuable out of these accounts and then use them to post links and broadcast. These scammers are always working their scams with low-value dolls which get deleted.

I wish Stardoll would do more to eliminate the dolls that end up benefitting from these scams. Probably there are dolls with lots of things that these scammers actually care about. The purpose of stealing is to enrich oneself. Stardoll should find out who these dolls are and remove them. Only that action will eradicate the problem.

Support Science

This Saturday I will be participating in the March for Science in my city. The organizers chose Earth day because scientists have raised concerns about climate change. Opinions are not facts. Science provides facts by studying the natural world and sharing the data.

Having a large turn-out for the march will show support for our scientific community. Scientists have made huge contributions to our modern lives. Science gave us the internet, computers and smartphones. Scientists developed treatments for disease and their work continues to protect our health. Science changes the world.

We all need to speak up in a constructive and peaceful way. Marching lets your representatives know that you support evidence-based policies. This Saturday you have an opportunity to be part of the movement. 

Tips for marchers:

• Make a creative sign with a positive message.

• Wear comfortable shoes.

• Put on sunscreen before you go. 

• Wear sunglasses and a hat. 

• Bring a bottle of water and snacks.

Being part of a march is amazing. Don't miss it.

VICTORIA RULES!

Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 until 1901, but her influence is still felt today. I recently watched "Victoria," a TV series based on her early life. The story began when she was only 18 and inherited the throne. I enjoyed the romance, the costumes and the set decor which were beautifully detailed. It was a lovely way to learn more about this extraordinary woman.

Nowadays we forget that the reality of living in Victorian England was harsh. Certain aspects of the era have become celebrated as part of today's popular culture, especially in fashion and decor.

Steampunk has been described as neo-Victorian. Victoriana describes decorative items that were either produced during the Victorian period or in the style of objects from that time. Several items that show this Victorian influence are still available to buy in the Starplaza. My favorites include:

Antique Diamond Earrings -Epiphany- 13 SD
Way Coat -Fallen Angel- 6 SD (this is for men and does not show up in the shop, you need to search the catalog to find it)
Pretty Bird Cage -Pretty n'Love Decor- 5 SD
Steampunk Wizard Cat -Magic Emporium - 16 SD

I would love to see your Victorian inspired suites. Please leave a note in the comments and I will visit.

(I submitted this post for publication at the official Starblog. I have been a Starblogger for over a year. Many of the posts I submit are not published and since I spend a lot of time writing them, I am starting of series of blog posts here.)

Play safe and have fun. For more information on Stardoll and safety, please read my book Stardoll Cheats, available on Kindle at Stardoll Cheats Book at Amazon

You can read a free sample using your browser and the Kindle Cloud Reader.

Cheater sends threats thru Stardesign

It seems as if the problems at Stardoll with cheaters using software programs is worse than ever.

I may be a member of Callies Crew, but I only get to see what other members of Stardoll see. And what I have observed in the last month is discouraging, disappointing and now frightening.

It seems like Stardoll does little to stop wig cloners/duplicators. I will call them dupers for the rest of this article. These are people who use Charles Proxy and similar software programs to hack Stardoll. Read my previous posts for details about these cheaters.

Dissolvedgirl has been a leader in identifying and reporting dupers. She has spent a lot of time and energy helping others. She has been relentless and vehement. And Stardoll has rewarded her by sending her a warning!

This is completely unfair. A "kill the messenger" mentality is not beneficial. Someone at Stardoll has a very poor idea of how to show appreciation to the people who are trying to help them identify and remove the cheaters and thieves.

Sometime last night (December 8, 2014) someone sent 100 wigs to the beauty parlor of Dissolvedgirl. They are all identical. Each wig has "DIE!" in bold letters over the top of the hair. Each wig cost Zero stardollars and each has a tag that says the designer is a doll named fk.you.die1.

I am not sure if Dissolvedgirl can even open her beauty parlor. I have a powerful computer and a very fast broadband connection and I had trouble getting the following screenshot.

It is very disturbing to see that someone can do this to another doll. Stardoll says our site is secure, but this looks like pretty high level hacking. And a level of anger and viciousness that would make anyone feel frightened.

I reported one of the wigs, but since it is in Dissolvedgirl 's beauty parlor, and there is a character limit on reports, I fear that someone at support will misunderstand what is going on. But from what I understand, Dissolvedgirl contacted support about this as well.

I hope they act on this soon. After they have dealt with it, maybe they can clean out all that trash so that Dissolvedgirl can use her beauty parlor.

I thought about suggesting Dissolvedgirl sell these "DIE!" wigs to all of her supporters, me included, and we wear them as a sign of solidarity, but again, we would risk the chance that someone at support would not have much of a sense of humor about that.

I have noted that having a sense of humor is sadly lacking at Stardoll. As well as a sense of fairness. What a pity.

Update: December 10, 2014. This morning the Stardoll site was down for several minutes. I got the "we are updating the site" message and I hoped they are finally doing something to stop the hackers.

After the site came back up I re-visited the beauty parlor of Dissolvedgirl, to follow up and see if the DIE! wigs were still there. I did not see them. Instead, there are new wigs, perhaps 100, I lost count. Each one is two styles stacked on top of each other, using twice as many hairs than allowed. These wigs are unwearable/unsellable. The hacker tagged each wig with the designer name ihopeyoudie2. The message is a threat: "I hope you die too." I wonder if this is the same hacker or another one. The thieves may be ganging up on Dissolvedgirl. In any case, this is unacceptable. I reported one of the wigs using the tools.

I wait to see what happens next. As for Dissolvedgirl, I admire her courage. She is not being cowed by these bullies.

More cloners stealing from top designers

Stardoll told members of Callies Crew that Stardoll has stopped hackers from using Charles Proxy to clone designs. This does not seem to be true, because I am still finding many cheaters peddling the creative product of designers.

Today I found two cloners who not only sell other designers products, but seem to be taking orders from people who want nice things and do not care who they support when they make a purchase. Buying from cloners is not against the rules, but is seems that there is something morally wrong about doing it knowingly.

I find that Stardoll is a moral quagmire. People cheat there all the time. Read my book "Stardoll Cheats" for a more in-depth discussion about cheating.

Back to the cloners. Dupers. People who use the debugging application Charles Proxy or other software to make exact duplicates of other dolls designs. It seems to me this is still a problem.

You can help by learning to spot cloners and reporting them. Or if you are in doubt, leave me a note in my guestbook at Stardoll and I will personally investigate and make a report if necessary.

Let me show you what I found today. There is a very popular wig design created aeynar23, who is on the top design list. The design comes in two parts, a face-framing section, and a messy bun. I bought this design from the original designer because I saw it on other dolls.

Today I recognized that same design in the bazaar of another doll, with her name on the tags, as if it were her design. This is evidence of being a duper.

Other evidence is taking orders of designs and using the original designers name. In this case, the designs of the designer _Tombstone_ are being cloned and marketed.

Look at the screenshots. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If you saw these dolls, would you suspect them of being dupers?

I hope Stardoll investigates my report about these dolls and deals with them in a timely manner. And that their programmers do more to stop hackers from cheating on Stardoll.

Update November 12, 2014: These dolls have been removed.

Another Duplicator/Cheater stealing from Stardoll and Original designers

sandyaadulce http://www.stardoll.com/en/user/?id=246077265

seems to be another duper. Another Stardoll cheat. She seems to duplicating wigs using the application Charles Proxy and then selling these wigs to other accounts so they can be marketed to make money.

The entire business seems to be a huge conspiracy that involves many dolls. There are dolls that seem to have been created soley to provide names for the tags. 

For example, in sandyaadulce suite right now, Saturday November 8, 6pm pacific, she is wearing a nice designer wig. This is a wig I recognize because I own it. I bought it from the original designer. 

I went into the beauty parlor and saw that this wig was a cloned duplicate of the designer's wig. How do I know? Look at the tag. It has another designer's name on it. But more than that, look at the price. 0 stardollars! There is no way anyone can buy a wig for 0 stardollars. Well, yes there is, if you are a cheater using a debugging software program to duplicate items and cheat on Stardoll. This wig is a clone!

This makes me angry for many reasons, and when you know about it, it may make you angry too. Original designers spend hours making lovely wigs to sell. They have to use many pieces to do this, and they must pay for the result. Then they add a bit for profit for themselves when they sell the wigs to other members. 

It looks like duplicators may not pay for the wigs at all! Not only are they stealing designs, but they are making a much bigger profit than the original designer. This is not right on many levels. 

I took screenshots of the other wigs in the starbazaar of sandyaadulce and all of them had a few things in common. They were designs that were clones of other designers' wigs. They all had an original price of 0 stardollars. It is very suspicious that each name tag has a designer name that is for a doll that has 4 or less starpoints, created within the last week and not superstar. It may be that the cloner hopes that if Stardoll figures out that these wigs are clones, they may delete these "throw-away" dolls instead of investigating further.

The real way to find out who is doing this is to follow the money. Find out who is getting the profits for selling these wigs may take a bit of digging, but it is about time someone at Stardoll spent some time finding the real culprits behind the duplicating conspiracies. Only when Stardoll deals with the dolls who are making the big profits will this problem go away. As long as the hackers are able to make money and stardollars, they are going to continue to find creative ways to cheat all of the rule-abiding members of Stardoll.

Please see the following screenshots to see what I saw:

Stolen design reserved for gabilonguinha, note original price is 0 Stardollars 

Stolen design reserved for B34TR1ZD4NT4S, note original price is 0 Stardollars 

Stolen design reserved for anac1994, note original price is 0 Stardollars 

Stolen design reserved for sasa4gk, note original price is 0 Stardollars 

Stolen design reserved for sasa4gk, note original price is 0 Stardollars 

sandyaadulce wearing stolen design. Note original price 0 stardollars 

my doll, madmadeleine wearing original designers design, note price was 60 stardollars. Note original designer's name, CandyAlize on the tag.

CandyAlize, the original designer, is still selling this particular design at her suite.

One of the dolls whose name appears on the stolen wig designs

One of the dolls whose name appears on the stolen wig designs

One of the dolls whose name appears on the stolen wig designs

One of the dolls whose name appears on the stolen wig designs

Explanation of MSW finalists glitch

Stardoll support has supplied a reasonable explanation concerning the display of MSW contenders shown at the Underneath Stardoll blog.

"The dolls listed in the link you obtained had the most votes when that part of our admin system was last updated. That is no guarantee for a spot in the finals, and it does not mean that the competition is rigged in any way."

This is what happened:

I was contacted by a concerned doll about what she thought was a problem. There was a link at the UnderneathStardoll.net blog that seemed to reveal the winners of MSW before voting ended. It showed a interactive display, some sort of javascript that linked to a module of the Stardoll site. This link was created to show the finalists during the 2012 campaign, but somehow it was displaying content for the 2014 MSW competition.

I posted in this blog about it.

Then I got a note from Stardoll. They were concerned that my post was misleading. I took down the post while we communicated about this problem. My contact at Stardoll said "we don't want anyone to get their hopes up or to think that the competition is unfair."

We are all acquainted with glitches. It is clear that Stardoll did not intend anyone to see this interactive display. Yesterday the admin at Underneath Stardoll removed that post, including the javascript module.

I am satisfied with the explanation. I hope you agree. It's nice to know that someone at Stardoll is enjoying my blog.

This is what the interactive display at USD looked like.