A Warning About Glitches/Bugs/ The Beta Grid!

This is a warning that is based on a real event that occurred about a month ago to a Second Life Financial/Investment Institution. We did not reveal this bug at the time, as the director was unable to be reached and the bug took several weeks to resolve. In order to not cause negative effects towards this business, we will not reveal its name. (In case it hasn’t been noted, I attempt to avoid negative impact on groups unless those groups are okay with that or are attempting to create a detrimental effect upon others.) Despite this lack of actual reference, we assure you that these events took place, and further, we report this in an attempt from having these mistakes take place again.

 

In the Beta Grid, residents are given a larger than normal sum of linden for experimental reasons. This Linden is usually non-transferable to the main grid, as there is no direct way to make the transfer through Second Life. However, there are servers – financial storage devices from which some businesses attempt to create banks and investment firms, that have been placed on the Beta Grid, and have not distinguished between if the Lindens being put into an account are from the Beta Grid or the Main Grid.

Now, you may ask, why would this be a problem?

Consider that an individual makes 18 unverified accounts, spends 10 minutes going through the tutorial island. The only reason that ten minutes are required is that tutorial island requires the completion of different workshops before allowing a resident to the mainland, and that financial kiosks are only available off of tutorial island Of course, if someone had 18 accounts, I’d hope they’d get decent at going through that island. After that, they can access a financial system, and then use each account to transfer over 5000L from the Beta Grid to the Main Grid.

Now, I am unsure if the Beta Grid gives residents on it a total of 5000L after a time period, but presuming it does not, the thief would already have made 5000L eighteen times across a span of three hours. That comes to a total of 90,000$L, or 30,000$L an hour. At a conversion rate of 400L per dollar, this comes to a total of $75 USD per hour. I wish I made that type of money IRL. Imagine however, that someone made 180 accounts and that there was a recharge on the beta grid.

 

Unfortunately, certain individuals did take advantage of this system, with at least $200 USD being stolen. Had it not been for someone reporting this reporter, it would have taken longer before the bug was caught, and much more money would have been stolen. We do not know what Linden Lab’s response would be to this type of theft either, but one thing is sure. Individuals whom wish to post servers or anything connecting to finances on the Beta Grid had better be extra sure of their equipment before doing so, and should always use a server separate from their Main Grid Server for testing.

Please keep this in mind if you use the beta grid for any such purpose.