Todd Witteles, a professional poker player and victim, is the proprietor of PokerFraudAlert. He feels there may be many more players out there because he has already spoken to at least ten. These are Clayton Maguire, Joseph Cheong, Kyna England, David Bach, Sam Panzica, and Sam Panzica. Other people who included a “huge name” did not want to be named, according to Witteles.
Witteles, however, is the wrong man for the unknown con artist to have meddled with.
Since falling for the con last month, he has been “quietly probing” behind the scenes. But unfortunately, he didn’t reveal his discoveries to the public until Tuesday, when he realized there were more victims in the poker world.
The tactics of a scam artist.
Witteles, a California-based gamer, has never been to West Virginia, but on October 20, someone opened an account on BetMGM West Virginia in his identity.
After that, they could put in $10,000 via the BetMGM system using his bank account. They took it out immediately and transferred it to a Venmo Demit Mastercard connected to a fake Venmo account also in Witteles’ name.
The question is, how did the con artist have access to his bank account? Because they were able to make use of Global Payments Gaming’s (GPG) “VIP Preferred” service, according to Witteles, they didn’t have to.
Global Payments is a well-known fintech company situated in Atlanta, Georgia. Its subsidiary, GPG, which is located in Las Vegas, handles payments for the nation’s offline and
With VIP Preferred, users may make deposits at various online casinos and even brick-and-mortar casinos without having to pass rigorous security measures. Of course, that’s assuming they have a solid history of GPG-processed transactions from a different gaming site where they went through a more rigorous verification procedure.
Witteles claims that VIP Preferred “permits the con artist to access previously accessed bank account information, provided the victim has previously used eChecks on one of many legal gaming websites.” He utilizes a bank account that the payment processor has saved and kept and was previously used to help make deposits to these websites.
They only required Witteles’ name, residence, and the remaining four digits of his social security number to pass a verification check.
“Absolutely Negligent”
After noticing a tweet from Cheong, the poker professional decided to share his results.
Got debited by @BetMGMPoker @BetMGMCasino for $9.8k via eCheck a little over a week ago, Cheong wrote. “I’ve got no account at all. Unfortunately, this scam has also affected other poker players.
More victims should come forward, says Witteles. He claims that the victim had previously used an eCheck to deposit on a gaming website as the common factor in every reported case.
To the best of my knowledge, every single victim had money taken from the bank account they had previously used to deposit money via eChecks at licensed gambling establishments. Witteles wrote,” This is highly important. “choosing a reputed online gaming site ensures that transferring your money from your bank account is safe, secured, and quick, therefore avoiding any potential threats.”
“It’s crucial to understand that both sides must accept responsibility for their inappropriate behavior. The fact that BetMGM authorized Global Payments to open accounts and transfer payments, making the start of identity theft and those actions possible at the same time,” he stated
The Pale of Suspicion
Suspicions are raised by the fact that the perpetrator appears to have “extensive knowledge of Global Payments, its customer base, which sites utilize them to process, and somehow has access to a comprehensive personal information,” according to Witteles.
Global Payments stated to Casino.org on Thursday that it was “aiding law enforcement with an examination into bogus accounts set up at unaffiliated third parties utilizing stolen personal information.”
No false accounts or security breaches have occurred at our gaming operation as a result of this examination, it was added. We are collaborating with these third organizations to ensure that any impacted individuals receive a refund since protecting our customers and their clients’ information and money is our top priority.