Moneybookers account locked

[Cesar]

Hello,

My Moneybookers account is locked since Tuesday for outgoing transaction.

I've not received any notification from MB, but when I try to deposit on 32Red a information popup inform me that I had to send documents to "security@moneybookers.com" to unlock account.

A little strange (I have all my info verified a year ago, including bank details, credit card and address), but , ok, I sent the info required. After two more emails asking when I'll get the account unlock (no response), I decided to contact then via Messaging Centre from the web site. Next day I received an email saying that my account had been locked due to a non authorized access to my account and that I have to change my email address for a new one. Another strange thing, so I decided to call them (altough my english is not too good ). The representative says to me that this is neccesary by their Security Department (the one that doesn't respond my emails, by the way). But ok, I change my email address online with her. She checks that I've already changed it and tell me she will talk with the Security department to unlock. Today the account is still locked.

I've been reading some internet threats and I've seen more people with same problem and the account locked from more than a month

I'm a little scared with that .

I've already read that people open a complaint in their web site claiming to contact with Financial Ombudsman¿? and FSA.

Any help in the best way to proceed?

Any advice will be appreciated

Thank you very much.

[Cesar]

UPDATE: After a week, this morning my account has been unlocked.

I want to give a big thanks to all 32Red team (especially Dale) who offered me their help in addressing this issue . I'm completely sure the actual situation would be quite different without them.

MB has never informed me about the status of the issue, no responding emails (including when they unlocked my account). To other MB customers, please, be aware of them. I've been using MB during a year with no problems or need to contact them, until something like this happens. Then is when you realise the customer support offered, one of the worst I've ever seen.

Thanks 32 Red. I understand why you're the Best Online Casino every year. You deserve it .

Cesar.

[FourTeller]

Just bumping this thread to add that I'm in almost exactly the same situation as described in the opnening post: My Moneybookers account was locked without any notification whatsoever, except for a notice after logging that appears only when trying to access the 'send money' or 'withdraw' pages. One significant difference is that, after spending the last few years in Canada, I returned to my home country in early March only to discover that online gaming deposits from here are now restricted by MB - though that didn't stop them accepting hundreds of dollars' worth of cashouts when I was still unaware of the fact.

Nevertheless, I dutifully notified them of my change of address and sent them all the necessary verification documents as soon as I could within a couple of months of the move. My funds continued sitting in Moneybookers until the weekend before last, when I logged into my account briefly and tried out the 'send money' feature (which I have rarely used and not recently) by attempting to send a fraction of my funds to an email address already in the dropdown menu, which just happened to be from a poker site I had previously dealt with. The transaction was declined as I knew it would be from previous attempts to deposit directly at gaming sites, but nothing else unusual had happened after those instances.

It's now been just over a week since I discovered my acount was locked, without even an automatic email notification. Twice I have sent the requested documents but, other than one question about what I was using my account (that I answered in great detail) received after my first email to them, I've heard absolutely nothing from Moneybookers regarding the situation. While changing my country of registration from a respected (if sometimes ignored) G8 nation to a struggling developing country certainly doesn't make dealing with this type of issue any easier, what I've seen of others who have had similar poor experiences with this ewallet suggests their disregard for customers in these cases is universal.

Even before leaving Canada, I had already started to shift more transactions to alternative services; now I wish I had been aware of my country being restricted so that I could have cut Moneybookers off once and for all. I did try to research the legality of online gaming from here beforehand but nothing came up in my online searches and it's not specifically listed in their T&Cs. In fact I still don't know exactly why it is not allowed, because Neteller also doesn't work here now when I believe it did before - yet most sites still accept me as a real money customer and other payment methods are also still available.

Needless to add, I'm very unhappy that Moneybookers have not only frozen my funds in this abrupt manner, when I am finally ready to do something with them after several months of inactivity, but have been so unresponsive. While I know what it's like to have limited funding options for online gaming, I would strongly urge anyone who has other viable choices available to them to keep away from MB, not just for this type of reason but also a few other questionable practices of theirs that have become evident over time e.g. disclosing certain users' account activity to merchants, promoting shady gaming sites on their promo pages etc.

[villa10]

These kind of comments about Moneybookers are around in many forums and several industries. I think I will ban this company as a payment option.

[FourTeller]

Well I just logged into my MB account today to find that it has finally been unlocked Not sure whether it was one of the several messages I sent that did the trick - including one through the official complaints page where I mentioned my intent to take the matter up with the FSA if necessary - or 'sort of' accidentally submitting a request to close my account (was obviously displeased with the site but just wanted to see what the shutdown process involved, if it got to that point, and thought there would be a confirmation page, but there wasn't), or everything combined. Either way, I'm very relieved to have access to my funds again after about a fortnight, especially after all the horror stories I've seen from other customers who've been in limbo for many months.

Note, however, that I still do not know what in particular triggered this situation to begin with. Plus I discovered my account had been unlocked the same way I found out it was locked in the first place: by logging in and trying to access certain transaction features. Other than a brief message late last week informing me that my documents had been forwarded to the security department, there was nothing to indicate that anything was being done on Moneybookers' end to resolve the issue. No email or other type of communication was received from the site itself alerting me that I could move my money around once again. So my caution against using this ewallet, whenever and wherever possible, remains unchanged - at least until they change their uncommunicative customer service and questionable operating methods for the better.

[Pred]

Same problem here. Been almost 3 weeks now. The first documents I sent were denied because the copy of my identity card was in black and white... Resent a coloured one and havent heard from them since (that was 2 weeks ago).

After reading FourTeller's post I decided to file a complaint aswell through the Moneybookers system. See if that helps. I really hate it that there is no way to contact Moneybookers except by email. The phone number they list on their website doesn't even work!

I guess all I can really do now is wait some more

[FourTeller]

Originally Posted by Pred

Same problem here. Been almost 3 weeks now. The first documents I sent were denied because the copy of my identity card was in black and white... Resent a coloured one and havent heard from them since (that was 2 weeks ago).

After reading FourTeller's post I decided to file a complaint aswell through the Moneybookers system. See if that helps. I really hate it that there is no way to contact Moneybookers except by email. The phone number they list on their website doesn't even work!

I guess all I can really do now is wait some more

Wish you the best of luck in getting things resolved To be honest, after initially bombarding Moneybookers with many messages over a week or so, I had resigned myself to a long wait of weeks or months based on what I'd read of other people's experiences Phone was never really an option for me as it's very expensive from here and, again from what I'd read, still not a very effective means of communicating with them.

From what I understand, sending a complaint is different from a 'regular' message as MB are obliged to respond and, if they don't do so to your satisfaction within eight weeks, you can take up the matter with the FSA, the official British body that regulates the company. While there has been some debate over whether non-residents can appeal to them, I saw a post from someone who seemed experienced with how the system works stating that those outside the UK could also use it.

[vinylweatherman]

Originally Posted by FourTeller

Wish you the best of luck in getting things resolved To be honest, after initially bombarding Moneybookers with many messages over a week or so, I had resigned myself to a long wait of weeks or months based on what I'd read of other people's experiences Phone was never really an option for me as it's very expensive from here and, again from what I'd read, still not a very effective means of communicating with them.

From what I understand, sending a complaint is different from a 'regular' message as MB are obliged to respond and, if they don't do so to your satisfaction within eight weeks, you can take up the matter with the FSA, the official British body that regulates the company. While there has been some debate over whether non-residents can appeal to them, I saw a post from someone who seemed experienced with how the system works stating that those outside the UK could also use it.

It is odd that "regular" CS messages are ignored for weeks, or even months, but the merest hint of a FORMAL complaint, and they go into overdrive. It suggests they KNOW they have fallen short of requirements, and do NOT want the issue to escalate to the FSA, who will look into both the complaint, and why it was not possible to resolve the matter internally.

The only real way to check whether the FSA will look into a complaint from a non-UK resident is to ask them, or check the rules. EU residents should be able to complain to the FSA if their issue is with a UK regulated company, just as UK residents should complain to, say, the French regulator if our gripe is with a French financial firm.
There is also the Banking Ombudsman, who looks at complaints against a narrower range of firms, but it seems both Moneybookers and Neteller stress they are NOT a "bank", even though you can have vast sums of money on deposit with them.

The FSA could certainly look into cases of poor service and maladministration at Moneybookers, and even go so far as strip them of their small emoney issuing license (effectively ending them as a money movement service). Sadly, in the recent financial crisis, the FSA has been shown to be pretty useless, allowing the UK banking system to come within a gnat's whisker of meltdown without anybody noticing - something that will hurt our wallets for years, if not decades, to come.

[lauram]

I must bump this thread up. I myself as of yesterday have just found out my moneybookers account is locked also. I have emailed them and have done as they asked but to no avail. I have added a new email and another new password yet still i find this account is locked. I to had submitted my id in last year and had been approved. Funds are sitting in the account yet I am unable to move them at all. I have tried a few of the phone numbers to be told the number is no longer in service. No response back from my emails to moneybookers at all. What is the next step in regarding these issues. It is for this reason that i prefer to use my instadebit deposits. My problems started as a few of the casinos do not pay back into instadebit so this left me no choice but to move it into moneybookers account.

[vinylweatherman]

Originally Posted by lauram

I must bump this thread up. I myself as of yesterday have just found out my moneybookers account is locked also. I have emailed them and have done as they asked but to no avail. I have added a new email and another new password yet still i find this account is locked. I to had submitted my id in last year and had been approved. Funds are sitting in the account yet I am unable to move them at all. I have tried a few of the phone numbers to be told the number is no longer in service. No response back from my emails to moneybookers at all. What is the next step in regarding these issues. It is for this reason that i prefer to use my instadebit deposits. My problems started as a few of the casinos do not pay back into instadebit so this left me no choice but to move it into moneybookers account.

Well, Moneybookers has set it self up for GAMBLING as it's main use, so WHY does it have such a problem when customers use it in this way.

CASINOS should worry about this issue too, if players lose confidence in the eWallets, it will be MUCH HARDER for players to DEPOSIT, and the AMOUNTS they can deposit, and the SPEED at which they can deposit will all reduce.

Neteller lets me deposit £2000, £3000 even in one go, and I can do it again, and again. If I had NO eWallet because I no longer trusted them, I would be using "safe" methods, such as credit and debit cards. This would SEVERELY limit the amounts I could deposit, and there would be a THREE DAY wait "in the system" whilst money moves, unlike the "instant" nature of eWallets. My DEBIT card throws a fit if I go over £100 into a casino as for UKash, takes all DAY to rustle up a mere £50 deposit, with any withdrawal having to be by cheque to my registered address.
This is in the UK of all places, in countries where the law is still a little "grey", eWallets are often the ONLY way players can transact with casinos.

These tales of large sums of players' money simply "disappearing" without any real access to formal justice for the player are worrying. Organisations that SHOULD be offering protection merely "pass the buck", and the offending institution merely has to cut off it's phones, and ignore emails, to more or less get to keep the money.