How do you spot a scammer? Often scammers will broadcast things like "Free Stardollars" or "Presentation." Scammers advertise using broadcasts all the time.
Monday, December 7, 2009
How to report scammers
How do you spot a scammer? Often scammers will broadcast things like "Free Stardollars" or "Presentation." Scammers advertise using broadcasts all the time.
Criminal activity on Stardoll
Monday, November 9, 2009
Getting help from Stardoll Support #1
It is very hard to get help from Stardoll support. Sometimes they have been great. Sometimes not. It is usually a frustrating process. So I am going to make a series of posts with ideas and advice that may help you if/when you have a problem.
Monday, September 14, 2009
So many liars....
You know the story about the boy who cried wolf. Let me tell you a variation.
I got what seemed to be a frantic call for help in my guestbook from a girl who said she needed help getting her account back. She said she had been hacked. I put advice on my guestbook, and then put more info in a discussion at my club, advice4newbies where I can write longer (1000 characters vrs. 250) entries to help her.
Then I went to her suite and posted more advice.
I thought it was kinda strange she was saying she was hacked but she seemed to be in control of her account. I checked her bazaar. There was nothing of value being sold. I started to get suspicious. I checked her suite. She had a scuba and the enchanted wedding dress displayed in one room. In another room she had a DKNY sequin tank and Hotbuys displayed. something was fishy. She was leaving guestbook comments in my guestbook and her own guestbook as herself. I asked her if this was the account that was being hacked and she said yes.
I went to her closet room. When Debbiecat4 was being hacked there was a stack of worthless stuff that the hacker bought for $60 SD each, mostly stardesign stuff. And ugly stuff too. That is the way hackers get your stardollars, each purchase transfers stardollars into another account. A hacker might move the money many times in order to confuse Stardoll and cover her tracks. This was not happening. In her closet room there were only recent purchases from the plaza! So nobody was emptying her account of money.
Besides her saying she was being hacked, there was not evidence of it. I was pretty annoyed that she wasted my time. I should have been doing other things, but I stayed online trying to help. To get a better read on the kind of person she was, I read some of the pages of her guestbook. I skipped back over a dozen pages and then started.
Seems like she would say she wanted to sell something valuable like rares, hot buys or DKNY and make people try to be nice to her, and then she would decide not to sell. Not a nice pattern. But it fits with what she did today.
IMHO she is not nice. She seems to enjoy playing with people. I blocked her. But I think this was another new kind of scam. She scammed me out of my precious time.
The lesson I learned is that there are many kinds of liars on Stardoll. Scammers are the liars who tell lies in order to steal. But what do we call the liars who want attention?
One girl told me it was her birthday and I bought her a gift. I found out later that she lied.
A woman told me she was a widow and I felt so bad for her I bought her a nice gift. And added her to my friends list. Once I started visiting her guestbook regularly I noticed that she was telling other stories, stories that didn't make sense. I figured out she was a kid, lying to get people to be nice to her. I was nice to her for a while, but not anymore.
It is very hard to tell who is lying nowadays. Be very careful. We are surrounded by liars. Try to listen carefully to what people say and what they do. When you pay attention, your gut will tell you if someone is lying.
If someone offers to do something really nice for you but needs your password or you to change your email to do it, they are lying. Learn to say, "Thanks, but no thanks."
I am going to keep working on my lie detecting skills. I suggest you do the same. Trust your gut.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Stardoll “Cheats”
When I joined the site, I didn't know anyone. I stumbled into another girl's suite and began to see that some people had lots of great stuff. Stuff I didn't have. New members don't get very much to start and I did not understand how much money some people put into their suites.
I met other users. Some said nice friendly things. One new friend said she knew a secret and I could get first season DKNY and she could prove it to me when I went to her website. I checked it out. She said something about her brother creating code and he could put this code into my account, and all I had to do was give him my password. My gut feeling told me something was fishy. I removed the girl from my friend list and blocked her.
I had not been warned about scammers and hackers on the site, but I had a gut feeling. Later on I found out what was going on. I found out this scammer fooled many girls. Girls who got distracted by the exciting promises and forgot to pay attention.
Even when girls are very young they can tell when people are lying to them. Don't let yourself get distracted by warm fuzzy feelings or promises. Many of my new friends took advantage of me and told me lies. I got better and figuring them out. You will too.
When a girl wants to steal from you, she will say anything. She will say that everyone uses cheats. She will say she has references. I have checked many "references" to find that they are either other scammers, other accounts belonging to the same scammer, or accounts that the scammer has stolen from other girls.
Girls pay to be superstars. They pay for stardollars to buy stuff. That is how this site works. There are lots of things that are free, but the coolest stuff is reserved for the girls who spend money here. And without them spending money, this site could not exist.
Stardoll does not like that girls think it is okay to steal from them. When you agree to get in on a "cheat" that is what you are trying to do. When you give someone your password or change your email so that you can get free stardollars or something else, you are agreeing to participate in a crime. So when you get scammed, Stardoll is not eager to help you.
When I hear that someone has been scammed, I feel sympathetic. I think she should get help to get her account back. I know how easy it is to be tricked by a clever liar. But I feel sad when the scammed person starts to lie instead of just owning up to her own part in what happened.
Stardoll knows what happened when you got scammed. Most scamming would stop if Stardoll enforced the rules. Most girls would never have even thought of stealing from Stardoll if they had not been approached by a scammer. Allowing scammers on the site makes it Stardoll's fault. I think the practice of blaming the victim should stop and Stardoll should take responsibility for what they have allowed to happen.
This site is used by kids. Kids that don't get enough guidance to navigate thru the shark-infested environment that Stardoll has fostered by NOT enforcing a no-tolerance rule about scammers. Some kids shoplift, but not many. Because they know that there are serious consequences for getting caught. Most kids are basically honest and know the difference between right and wrong.
Stardoll does run ads that say things like "cheats do not work." But they do not communicate the message that a "cheat" is not a clever secret, it is an offer to participate in stealing from the website.
Girls who get scammed are probably angry at Stardoll for not protecting them. Some girls have a lot of character, they get over the anger, admit honestly what happened, learn from it and move on. Other girls want sympathy for getting scammed but are ashamed and secretive about how it happened. And some take the experience, turn around and start scamming other girls.
If things continue in this way, this site has the potential to be a place where many girls could start on a path to becoming career criminals. It may seem these crimes are only virtual, but stardollars are bought with real money. Scammers should be prosecuted and punished for their crimes.
Speaking of crimes. There are stalkers on this site. And predators. You won't know that when you first meet one. She will seem to be just like you. She will make you feel special. Over time, she will ask for bits of your personal information. Do not tell anyone your real name, where you live or your phone number.
One predator said she was casting "The Suite Life" and wanted girls to mail photos to her. Real casting agents don't do that. This predator was not a casting agent and was probably a man. And a really good liar.
There are scary people on Stardoll who are dangerous. If anyone writes anything to you in dollmail or chat that makes you feel uncomfortable, do not ignore your feelings. Take a screen shot so you will be able to remember exactly what happened, and so you can show it to others. And even though you may not want to, you must tell your mom or dad. They will want to help you and if need be, protect you. Let them.
Stardoll is supposed to be about play, creativity and fun. I hope that in the near future the Stardoll staff will make safety a priority. The best thing you can do right now is to be careful.
A few more thoughts about “Cheats:”
Someone has pasted something stupid in my scenery comments. A "cheat" with instructions about what someone would have to do, including pasting the "cheat" on other pages, before logging in and just like magic, getting free LE, first season DKNY and a bazillion Stardollars.
You thing there is not harm in trying it. But there is. Besides making you feel stupid, you have just painted a big target on yourself. A target all the scammers can see.
Copying and pasting stuff that is not true identifies you as someone who is gullible. You also may be marked as someone who wants something for nothing. These messages start with scammers to find out who would be easiest to scam! Be careful!
There are no “cheats.” They are all lies. Lies told by scammers who want to steal accounts. Notice that they say they are only for superstars. That is because only superstars have accounts that have valuables in them. (Stardollars, rares, etc.) No one is getting free stardollars. Lots of girls are getting ripped off. Read more about it at my club, advice4newbies.
Safety basics on Stardoll
Warning! You may be confused by hearing conflicting information about scamming, hacking and safety on Stardoll. Here are the quick facts.
For 99% of users: if you obey these rules you will be safe.
1. Don't give your password to anyone. This is very important. NEVER give your password to anyone.
2. Make you password impossible to guess. Make sure to use a combination of letters, numbers and special characters.
3. Make sure you can get email from Stardoll. If you do not have an email address, set up a free email address at gmail and use it.
4. Don't change your email to any other address than your own. Your account will be stolen if you do.
5. If you buy anything with codes, credit cards, etc, save the email receipt. If you get hacked, you will need it.
6. Don't go to outside sites while logged into Stardoll. If you must go to any other site, log out and clear your cookies before you go.
7. Make sure it says http://www.stardoll.com in the address bar before you log in. If it does not, it is a fake site, do not try to log in!
8. If you are on an outside site and something starts to say it is scanning your drive for viruses, turn your computer off immediately!
Many girls get tricked into breaking these rules. Watch out. Do not trust anyone with your personal information.
If your internet access is insecure or you use public computers to access Stardoll, you may have problems. Clear your cookies every time you log out of Stardoll and you will be safer.
It is okay to accept or deny friends. You cannot be hacked by using this feature on the site. You cannot get a virus or a trojan horse from any of the pages or features on Stardoll. I don't know where this rumor started but it is a great example of how misinformation spreads and leads to superstitious behavior.
There is a problem with accepting friends, but that is because there are some people on this website that are not who they pretend to be. There are predators, liars and thieves everywhere. Be careful. Please join my club advice4newbies for more details and to learn more about how to protect yourself.