PokerSpot's fraudulent chips?
John Buchanan
about Jan. 15th. After we had bought in we heard in the chat about
some problems with a few Dec. cashouts. Almost right away everyone
heard about Netpro's assets being frozen by Barclays. There was some
talk about fraudulent credit card buys.
The regulars told of similar problems in the past, which got
straightened out or almost from what I learned later. Since the
$20-40 game was excellent compared to what we had been playing for the
last 9 months, we continued to play.
At about this time, a California court ruled in favor of a woman who
owed $60,000 to her bank for losses on internet gambling sites using
her credit cards to buy-in.
Since PokerSpot's credit card processor was out of business, no one
could buy-in to the site for months. With the change in law from this
Ca. case the credit card companies made it very difficult to buy-in at
any poker site. For everyone that was playing at PokerSpot at this
time, we didn't need to know all this. We knew from playing there
that no one, new or old was buying anything on his credit card.
Now, this is the time frame when up to $250,000 was bought
fraudulently according to e-mails with Russ. His statement, along
with the spin created from having an investigation and fraud detection
software to discover who the fraudulent chips were dumped to, made it
seem that PokerSpot was acting responsibly. There were 57 large
winners being checked out to see which ones were involved in this
fraudulent credit card scam.
The problem is no one was buying in to the site. Fraudulent credit
card buyins makes you think this is stolen credit cards. Right? All
the early problems, I've been told, were not stolen credit cards, but
California card holders who, after discovering that PokerSpot was not
paying, contacted their banks to receive charge-backs on their buyins.
Now, the banks must have notified PokerSpot right away about this.
Maybe PokerSpot reacted as quickly as they do to e-mails sent to them
by their customers.
PokerSpot did not tell their players of any fraudulent chips inquiries
in January. There were only two games on the site daily, someone
should have noticed upwards of $250,000 in fraudulent buyins at this
time.
I was first told of this problem 3 months later as I was waiting for
my first check. It seems that I had played with ten of these players.
A P.I. was in CA checking into the fraudulent buyins. After being
investigated for awhile I was told that I lost $400 to these players.
I then received my only check from PokerSpot and it was 1/3 less than
what it was supposed to be.
Russ told me that there was no problem with me, but they would only be
able to give me an amount less than what I was supposed to get. When
it arrived it was half what we had discussed.
Now, six months later, PokerSpot is trying to transfer the losses
caused by their mismanagement to a few players that still have some
decent amount of money left on their poker site.
This is not fair. We won this money. We did our jobs right. We
spent over a thousand hours playing on your site, paying rake,
listening to empty promises and worrying about you getting financing
so you could pay us all off.
If in a live poker room, someone got a marker for $20,000 and lost it
in a poker game, the owner would never come up to the big winner,
months later asking for the player's win back, because the other
player didn't pay his marker. Some gaming control board would tell the
owner to take his loss and give the player what is due to him.
Russ and the new investor in PokerSpot, you still owe my wife and I
over $56,000. We won this money fairly and have been, along with many
others, treated very shabbily by PokerSpot.
Maybe you can convince yourself that if most people are paid and you
can slander the few winners left and not pay them, that your site will
come back. I don't think this is the case. I think they will take
the money and run, not walk, to the nearest exit. What you should be
doing is paying everyone, every dollar you owe them. Then explain to
them the steps you have taken to see that this never happens again.
Lesley and John Buchanan
MS Sunshine
Gary Carson
Russ Boyd is a deadbeat and PokerSpot wrote bad checks.
They had no money in the bank when they wrote the checks -- that's why
the checks bounced, not because they had assets frozen.
btw, if you'd bought in with a debit card last year, you'd still have
been stiffed by the deadbeat poker room.
On Tue, 10 Jul 2001 08:04:31 GMT, John Buchanan
<jbuc...@midsouth.rr.com> wrote:
Gary Carson
http://www.garycarson.com
minus200
the post 100%. This story about fraudulent chips just appears to be the
latest "story" from Pokerspot. Bad charges of $250,000 in an operation
the size of Pokerspot would be impossible to miss by even bad management.
I chalk it up to another attempt to scam money from the unsuspecting.
Acesfullofkings1
anyone would be involved. everything about it "stinks". but i suppose there are
some compulsives that need to be in the action at any risk.
got to keep this short. going to play 3 card monty in times square.
aces
+++++++++++++++++++++++
"And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep"
Rib
Don't think it is something exclusive to the internet.
Rib
Acesfullofkings1 wrote in message
<20010710091155...@ng-cc1.aol.com>...
TrillionOptions
had a funny feeling that something was terribly wrong with this operation in
late 2000. Anyway, I emailed pokerspot every other day for about 40 days.
Anytime I wanted my credit card credited back or wanted my cash, they invented
some story about 'management at a gaming conference, I'll send it to the
financial guy, credit card processor is down, technical problems, new operation
glitch.'
Anyway, there came a point where I was so frustrated I decided to make a
proposition with the management. I told them they didn't need to credit my
credit card for a rather large sum of money, but I just wanted 1/2 my money
back and the other half would be used as a 'bankroll.'
I was lucky and they sent me the half they promised as well as some other
money they owed me from a different cashout. This was in December. Anyway, the
misery of dealing with this operation was so overwhelming I decided not only to
never make another chip purchase, I decided to cancel the credit card I was
using to buy-in with.
Having lurked and followed this pokerspot thread for many months since I
left, I am completely relieved I trusted my instincts and jumped ship. It would
not surprise me if they used existing credit card numbers to buy 'chips' for
themselves, especially as their operation becomes more and more hopeless, with
nobody playing in the ring games.
My personal feeling is that it would be wise to contact your credit card
company and tell them you want to close your account or give you a new number.
minus200
closing beneath them. Several months ago, I got (and posted) an email from them
asking for my credit card information. I must admit that I had a good belly laugh
over that. With all their admitted trouble, they wanted a credit card from me. I
was waiting for a cash out at the time. I am still waiting. Mr. Boyd seems to
invent stories that he thinks people will believe. He used the credit card company
had their assets frozen story twice about 4 months apart. For those that had not
heard it in December, it sounded reasonable. The latest in Mr. Boyd's yarns has to
do with an investor and EVERYBODY will soon be paid. He has some vague story about
fraudulent chips being investigated as a reason not to pay some old large debts.
In the same paragraph, he goes on about everyone is going to be paid. I have long
since quit believing any of the Boyd fairy tales. Either he is an outright con man
or he lives in a fantasy world and can not tell truth from something he is
dreaming. We in the poker community tend to be a little less trusting than many in
the public. Many of us have heard some hard luck stories from players and reasons
why we should loan them money. I do not think Pokerspot will ever pay me the money
that they owe me. I do feel bad for the people that put their money into the game
with little chance of ever getting it back. It mattered not whether they won or
lost; it matters that they had almost no chance to get any back. I have never
given them a credit card and until some big casino that I know comes on line with
poker will I ever give that information. There are many more like me that have no
confidence in off-shore gambling. We feel that these second rate countries have no
gaming control and are famous for bribes and scams. Many business transactions are
done there simply because they are out of reach of the US (and other) legal systems
and gaming is the most suspect of all. I continue to play a Pokerspot because I do
not play poker for the money. Money is how I keep score. As I said earlier, I
will not give any off-shore gambling site my credit card information. I won enough
in the Pokerspot freerolls to open an account and have received two checks (Dec &
Jan) and still have money in my account. It is more than a very bad night in a
$20-$40 game. Some may have read my post where I sent a letter to Pokerspot
offering to settle for 90 cents on the dollar. At one point I did get a letter of
interest from them, but no money. I still think the software there is the best and
for those that have played in the Poker Pages tournaments, you would be familiar
with the tournament software. It was and I think still is the best tournament
software in use today. I hope everyone gets paid but, like most, I do not believe
it will happen
minus200
my name describes my game
Acesfullofkings1
internet gambling sight, you must be nuts( and i dont mean THE NUTS) to play
even one hand for real $$.
aces
minus200
might only know one player.
NewJane1
>where you
>might only know one player.
>
Hey Minus: It IS ok to play in a home game with three tooth minimum IF and ONLY
IF they cater in Kentucky Fried Chicken or the host makes chili. Then, it is ok
...
:)
NewJane
Been there, done that