Linden Lab has issued a reminder / warning to users about buying and selling Linden Dollars and taking the appropriate precautions to prevent being scammed.

Second Life users do tend to be targeted by scammers periodically, so the reminder is timely as we approach what is for many the end-of-year holiday season, with both Christmas / winterfest and New Year looming.

The blog post reads in full:

As with any online service, Second Life users are targeted by scammers from time to time. One type of scam we’ve seen recently are websites that promise huge discounts on L$ sales and even offer to buy L$.

Often, these sites use these “too good to be true” discounts to lure you into entering your credit card information, which they then steal. Sometimes, they will use trusted payment systems, but sell you fraudulently obtained L$. When these fraudulent L$ are recovered by Linden Lab, you may then struggle to recover your payment from the anonymous strangers that sold them to you.

Not only does using these sites put your credit card information at risk, but it also constitutes a violation of the Terms of Service. Remember, you can buy L$ only on the LindeX or from an authorized L$ reseller; you can sell L$ only on the LindeX.

The good news is, keeping your credit card and your Second Life account safe is easy:

Only purchase L$ on the LindeX or from an authorized L$ reseller

Remember that the only place to sell your L$ is the LindeX, the official exchange operated by Linden Lab

Be wary of any offer (which may be made via IM or direct message) that sounds too good to be true. If the site isn’t an authorized L$ reseller, ignore it.

There are currently 47 authorised L$ resellers available for the purchase of L$, including the likes of CasperTech, VirWox, ZoHa Islands, AnsheX, DXexchange, CrossWorlds, PodeX and others which will be familiar to SL users. Many will accept payments in a range of currencies via a range of credit / debit cards as well as accepting payments via PayPal, as such there would appear to be little reason to trust non-authorised sites for the purchase of L$.

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