EcoCard IS Dumping US

[ahtram88]

SORRY I STARTED A NEW THREAD..... WAS A MISTAKE. (Pinababy69 I liked your suggestion to get all the EcoCard info. together.....and then I went and started a new thread...)

PLEASE NOTE THAT SOMEONE ELSE RECEIVED A MORE POSITIVE REPLY TO EMAIL INQUIRERY AT Eco. THEIR EMAIL SAID THAT THEY WOULD CONTINUE TO PROVIDE SERVICES FOR EXISTIING MEMBERS.

I had emailed EcoCard asking them if the rummors were true. Sure doesn't sound good....

Here is their reply:

EcoCard Support Team to me
show details 4:36 am (3 minutes ago)

Dear Client,

Thank you for your contacting us.

It is true that Ecocard is reviewing its position in the US market, and will put in place whatever measures are required of financial institutions if and when proposals are published by the US government in accordance with the recently passed UIGEA bill. Of course it is possible that other payment methods may be made available to you by the sites which you frequent, and if you trust those operators to suggest dependable companies then it is your decision whether to use those services or not. Ecocard will not promote these services.

If Ecocard needs to take action to block gambling sites for US members, it will be because it is legally required to do so, and the company will therefore not involve itself in any other payment solutions that may be considered to be in breach of US law.

Please feel free to contact us should you require any further assistance.

Kind Regards,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adrian
EcoCard Customer Service
Voice mail: +44 (0) 870 763 0177
Fax: +44 870 763 0188
Working hours:
GMT: 7 AM - 5 PM
PST: 11 PM - 9 AM
EST: 2 AM - 12 PM
[email protected]
www.ecocard.com

ahtram88

 

[SlotsWizard]

If Ecocard needs to take action to block gambling sites for US members, it will be because it is legally required to do so

Funny, I thought they have been legally required to do so for the last 9 months.

 

[lojo]

Funny, I thought they have been legally required to do so for the last 9 months.

Pretty hard to follow the rules if there aren't any

Eco did send out disclaimers several months ago stating that accounts can't be used for gaming by US'ers though. Don't ask don't tell, your money may or may not be safe with us, but we covered our asses kind of thing.

 

[swampwitch]

And in the meantime, US players ARE using EcoCard to deposit in casinos.
I'm not buying the whole "$500" in transactions thing. What would be the difference to EcoCard HOW much in transactions anyone had done? None.

This could very well be another instance of yelling "FIRE" in a crowded theater. Panic for nothing. (Not by you, Martha. You, I like.)

Or it could be on the up and up. Either way, there's a distinctly fishy smell there.

 

[SlotsWizard]

Pretty hard to follow the rules if there aren't any

My interpretation of the bill was that the meat of it (banks are not supposed to honor online gambling transactions) took effect as soon as it was signed into law, even though the banking procedures/changes had not yet been established or promulgated... and then after 270 days the federal what-have-you was to publish a how-to guide for the banks in case they hadn't figured it out yet (granted, there needed to be a change to ACH which is run by the federal government). There was a thread a while ago about someone whose bank had started denying ACH transactions to Neteller... so clearly, something could have been done but obviously it's easier from a bank's perspective to wait for the fed to tell you how to do it.

 

[swampwitch]

banks are not supposed to honor online gambling transactions

Exactly. So, you can't fund a gambling account from your BANK. But technically, using your bank to fund an online ewallet is not using the bank to fund a gambling account. The ewallet funds the gambling account. There is no law that says an overseas ewallet cannot fund a gambling account, and there is no law that says a US citizen cannot have an overseas ewallet account. Simple.

I know, I know...tell that to those poor Neteller guys...

 

[SlotsWizard]

Exactly. So, you can't fund a gambling account from your BANK. But technically, using your bank to fund an online ewallet is not using the bank to fund a gambling account. The ewallet funds the gambling account. There is no law that says an overseas ewallet cannot fund a gambling account, and there is no law that says a US citizen cannot have an overseas ewallet account. Simple.

I know, I know...tell that to those poor Neteller guys...

You make a good point.

But I went and re-read the wording of the bill and who it applies to, and I'm no lawyer but to me this definition sounds like it would include companies like Neteller/EcoCard/etc.:

(4) FINANCIAL TRANSACTION PROVIDER. The term financial transaction provider means a creditor, credit card issuer, financial institution, operator of a terminal at which an electronic fund transfer may be initiated, money transmitting business, or international, national, regional, or local payment network utilized to effect a credit transaction, electronic fund transfer, stored value product transaction, or money transmitting service, or a participant in such network, or other participant in a designated payment system.

 

[lojo]

Intersting to note that the latest nacha bulletin was January 16th.

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it states "...the full scope of any existing prohibition against internet gambling, and the processing of payments to internet gambling sites, under federal law is unclear and has not been fully tested in the courts"

Even so, as you said, if a bank knew about uigea and did transactions to a known gambling site, they might face penalties. What they don't know won't hurt them though.
There might be a fraud problem for a player who duped their bank, but I seriously doubt it. My intent when funding an ewallet is mine alone to know and what I do with the money from there is my business, not dubyas, eh?

edit: Just read a couple more posts... add offshore ewallet

 

[SlotsWizard]

if a bank knew about uigea and did transactions to a known gambling site, they might face penalties. What they don't know won't hurt them though.

Which of course will be their defense should problems arise.

My intent when funding an ewallet is mine alone to know and what I do with the money from there is my business, not dubyas, eh?

One would hope! But our president has done a lot in the last 8 years to make everyone else's business his, so who knows.

 

[swampwitch]

There might be a fraud problem for a player who duped their bank, but I seriously doubt it. My intent when funding an ewallet is mine alone to know and what I do with the money from there is my business, not dubyas, eh?

And logically, this should be why the law is unenforceable.

 

[EasyRhino]

The last paragraph of the NACHA bulletin:

NACHA reminds financial institutions that (i) they should know their customers
and (ii) they should not be originating for companies doing illegal business. Also, in the
case of financial institutions processing entries that are received through a third-party
service provider, the financial institutions should know their customers customer.

I really wouldn't want to be a bank trying to comply with this mess.

 

[SlotsWizard]

I really wouldn't want to be a bank trying to comply with this mess.

Me either. Know your customer's customer?

Should they also know their customer's customer's customer?

And their customer's customer's customer's customer?

How many levels deep should they dig? Do bankers really have that kind of time? Well, I guess according to Frist they should find the time to do that. They'll have to hire more people to handle the extra research, which means that rates and fees will go up, and so on and so forth, ugh.

All this extra work at the expense of taxpayers and businesses, when instead the government could be raking in loads of extra taxes by just regulating the industry. It's so ridiculous.

 

[ahtram88]

fraud

In my opinion .

The intentions of the people that created and backed the Unlawful Internet

Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA)

dont care about prosecution of individuals for fraud.

---They dont care about individual citizens at all .they just want to gain

control of the masses money.

ahtram88

 

[oldtrvlagt]

Just because I am a paranoid person (living in the U.S. I wonder why) I tried to log in to my EcoCard account a few minutes ago and found that they wanted more info before allowing me to log in. They wanted either a "driving license" number or passport, where it was issued and the state and country. I had to fill it in. And, now, low and behold I cannot log in to the account. I believe they have locked all U.S. accounts. Or, am I wrong? Anyone lese have this problem?

 

[AuntieIdiot]

I just logged into my ecocard account and was asked to update my profile. Driver's license number, expiration date, issuing state and country. I updated my profile and everything was fine. I logged out and then logged back in without any problems.

 

[oldtrvlagt]

May I ask if you live in the U.S.? I just tried it again and it won't let me log in. Thanks!

 

[swampwitch]

I just updated also, and was able to log back in without a problem...and I'm smack in the middle of the USA.

 

[oldtrvlagt]

O.K. so it is just me...sorry..never had a problem before!

 

[AuntieIdiot]

May I ask if you live in the U.S.? I just tried it again and it won't let me log in. Thanks!

Yes, I do live in the U.S. (unfortunately apparently).

 

[swampwitch]

O.K. so it is just me...sorry..never had a problem before!

I just now noticed you're a fellow Iowan. At least we're not one of the restricted states.

 

[oldtrvlagt]

Hi swampwitch..that's why I was a little paranoid with the whole Ecocard thing...the same thing happened with Click2Pay..logged in 1 day and later they were done with us. I don't know about you but it is hotter than blazes most of the time in the summer and I like playing Thunderstruck and Ladies Night (not in free mode) without Big Brother telling me how to spend my money

 

[swampwitch]

Amen my cornfed brother.

 

[fcat]

I just logged into my ecocard account and was asked to update my profile. Driver's license number, expiration date, issuing state and country. I updated my profile and everything was fine. I logged out and then logged back in without any problems.

There is no way that I am going to give them me personal info, D.L., etc, so the feds can have my info in case they chose to go after them.

The land of the not so free

 

[just play]

There is no way that I am going to give them me personal info, D.L., etc, so the feds can have my info in case they chose to go after them.

The land of the not so free

That's what I was thinking too....why would they want that info all of a sudden?

 

[fcat]

That's what I was thinking too....why would they want that info all of a sudden?

Remember when we 1st signed up at eco all that was required was a name and an e-mail address. So at least if they do get busted, they can e-mail all they want and I will plead the 5th. LOL