Like many hard-working folks in Second Life, I try to stretch my lindens as far as they will go. I normally buy lindens in game, but thought I'd try an alternate source, since their currency is traded legally on the open market outside of the game world. I typed, "cheap lindens" into a search engine and found 3 prominent paid-for Google links, one of which was sllindenshop. I followed this link and found their website which promised delivery of lindens from 8 minutes to 24 hours. Their exchange rate was about 398L to a USD, which was far better than the 249L per dollar you can get in game. I did a Google search on "sllindenshop and scam" and didn't come up with anything bad, so I placed the order and then chatted live with a person named "Daisy" who was nice, said she was 24 years old (she asked me my age and so I asked hers), and the order would be delivered in-game in about 20 minutes. I stayed on the live chat with her until 30 minutes had passed, and she asked me to send her my in-game name in an e-mail so they could arrange the transfer. Then she told me they were having problems reaching their supplier. I asked her how long, and she said a couple hours. A couple hours later I went back to their web site and chatted with another girl who told me that my lindens would be delivered shortly. They never came. I went to bed and woke the next morning and found that I still had no lindens. My card was charged withing minutes of the transaction the night before. After work, I logged back onto their website and got yet another girl in chat who told me the were having supplier problems but they'd definitely have it worked out today. I then did a Google search on the company who's name appeared on the Credit Card charge and it pulled up tons of information on people who'd been ripped off by these guys. All of them reported the same things that I was experiencing. I told the girl that their site promised 24 hours and they had until then to deliver the goods or I would consider them in breach of the terms of the order and take appropriate action. 24 hours passed with no communication. I called my bank and told them I wanted to dispute the charge, and asked for the phone number of the company who made the charge so that I could call them and work it out. I called the number they gave me and it went to PayPal. The Paypal support representative I spoke with was very helpful. I explained the situation and told him all the complain info I'd found on this company. He helped me file a formal complaint against them and told me that they would withhold the funds from the company and would add my complaint to what may already be an ongoing investigation into this company. He told me to formally dispute the charge with my bank, and then money would then be credited back to me. The next morning, I found an e-mail from GoldICQ saying,

"We have got the gold ready for you, please contact our live support for face to face delivery. Please contact us as soon as possible, we can't hold the stock for a very long time."

I replied to them as follows:

"Dear Sirs:

Your website promised delivery of goods in 8 minutes to 24 hours. 24 hours passed with no delivery of goods. You are therefore in violation of the promised terms of the transaction.

I have filed a formal complaint against your company with Paypal. They have stopped payment for the goods I ordered from you. At their recommendation, I have also disputed their charge against my bank for this transaction so that my money will be returned to me.

In addition, so that countless other innocent people will not fall victim to your fraudulent and criminal scam, I called Paypal directly and spoke to them at length regarding the many complaints documented by http://www.complaintsboard.com/ and other similar websites not only against your company's deliberately deceptive tactics, but also against Paypal for their complicity by not involving Federal authorities in this case sooner (which they led me to believe may be already in progress).

I have also learned that Linden Labs has been suspending the accounts of anyone caught accepting goods from you in game, so I will not be accepting anything from you or any of your representatives.

I have provided Paypal with the lengthy list of names under which your company does business so that unsuspecting victims will not continue to be fooled by your various disguises.

I would advise you to get out now, before you are escorted out in handcuffs by the FBI, which may actually be a good thing if it saves you from being gunned down with an AK-47 by some poor schmuck that you scammed. Get a real job with a legitimate company that actually is trying to make the world a better place.

Happy Friday 13th to you."

Please help stop these guys by putting your experiences with them on the web for people to read. Oh... and if you find a deal on the Internet that seems too good to be true, it probably is.