The Alphaville Herald

BCX Withstands Fraud Attack

by Jessica Holyoke on 15/02/08 at 3:32 am

BCX CEO claims Spinchief Akina, iblack Afarensis, chyk2u Arado, and Petrucci Jonson are thieves – thanks Linden Lab for assistance

by Jessica Holyoke

Travis Ristow

Travis Ristow, CEO of BCX Holdings (traded on the International Stock Exchange) send the letter below to BCX account holders and shareholders today. In the letter, Mr. Ristow alleges that Spinchief Akina attempted to defraud BCX holdings, but was thwarted. Mr. Ristow goes on to thanks Echo Linden for helping return L$s temporarily removed from BCX holdings, and warns the metaverse that the alleged thieves may return on other alt accounts.

Despite the claims, Spinchief Akina is still in search as we went to press.  Unfortunately, both Travis Ristow and Spinchief Akina were unable to comment.  Mr. Akina’s Banqex group did not have other members listed available to comment.

To Our Valued Shareholders & Account Holders,

Firstly let us state that we have chosen to make you all aware of the details below for several reasons. Two in particular: one as you have consistently seen with us in the past, we always endeavour to be as transparent as possible and ensure that you, our customers and investors, are fully aware of anything pertaining to the operations of BCX. The other main reason we decided to post this, was due to the fact that, as I think you will agree, we have all seen FAR too many individuals operating in unethical and underhanded practices in SL. We hope that the information we provide may assist you in issuing caution when dealing with the individuals or companies mentioned below.

As you know–BCX has been developing the financial software to be used on other grids platforms to satisfy their financial needs.  Last weekend-in order to incorporate some of the new modules into our existing platform-we implemented some updates on our servers/software behind the scenes. The changes were temporary, to allow us time to connect modules and prepare for launch of the new software on other grids. We considered taking the ATMs offline to do this, but felt that it was far more beneficial to all, to allow our customers continued access to the ATMs during this time. By leaving the ATMs online while we implemented these updates, it was necessary for us to disable part of our usual ‘fort knox’ style security system and rely more heavily on our back up security software during this temporary period.

On Monday-Febraury 11, 2008 a group of avatars:  Spinchief Akina, iblack Afarensis, chyk2u Arado, and Petrucci Jonson, all operating from the same IP address, attempted to steal over 4 million lindens from our system.  He was NOT successful, however he did initially manage to remove L$203,366 before the fraud parameters of the back up security system kicked in and prohibited him for initiating any further transfers or withdrawals. Our security system immediately reported his attempts to us.  It is important to note that even our back up security system alone is of a VERY high standard. The security system enabled us to provide extensively documented proof of his theft and fraud including the IP address of himself and his alts (which was the same IP address), and all statistics relating to the trail of the funds. We then contacted Linden Lab with this. Echo Linden moved quite quickly and was able to assist us & returned the L$203,366 to BCX.  Our full security system has been brought back up & will continue prevent even the smallest amount of theft again in the future, as it always has done in the past.

BCX did NOT lose any funds during this attempted theft-all were recovered due to our documented proof. Our security system, even being only the back up system at the time, DID stop, catch, track, & record the full details of the attempted theft. It was due to this very reason (that even our back up security system is so efficient), that Echo Linden was able to use that information to prove the theft and return the stolen L$ to BCX. To re-iterate, our full security system is back online now and will not need to be taken down again to this extreme as the work we needed to accomplish with the new financial modules has been completed.

As previously mentioned, one of the main reasons we supply this information to you is due to the nature of this persons business activities in Second Life. Spinchief Akina and his alts (proven by our IP address tracebacks) of iblack Afarensis, chyk2u Arado, and Petrucci Jonson run a financial business in Second Life called "Banqex" (http://banqex.org).  He also runs an Investment Group in Second Life, among other ventures.  Linden Lab has removed his accounts at this time.  However it is not uncommon for thieves to figure out a way back into Second Life.  BCX feels it is our duty & community obligation-even though we recovered all our funds-to notify the general public of this company and the type of people running it.   We do not condone theft or fraud & will work with Linden Lab as well as real life authorities to punish those who commit crimes to the fullest extent possible.

We’d like to extend our gratitude to Echo Linden and the Linden Governance Team for the quick action & response to this matter.  Echo worked swiftly and efficiently to resolve the matter.  Our updates & additions of new modules are complete and our security system is back to fully functioning.  If you have any questions or concerns-please feel free to IM me at any time.

Sincerely,
Travis Ristow
CEO-BCX