Hello everyone,
I'm sorry I didn't see this until now. I'd like to first say I'm always available to be PM'd or emailed (noah@romepartners.com) should you have any questions.
beavo040 - I'm sorry to hear of the technical difficulties you had. If you give me your user ID at the Casino I can try and find out what the problem was.
OK, so I guess I'm not going to be very popular on this thread, seeing your posts, but I will explain, to the best of my abilities, the Casino's side of things.
The report on GG referes to a player who has 3 counts of fraud or attempt to fraud on their credit card.
We as a Casino get AT LEAST 20 fraudsters a day, 90% of those are serial chargebackers that change cards and banks often, change ID's, fake new ones etc. We have to be on guard all the time. That is the purpose of companies like this one. They report fraud activities made by players at other gaming institutes. We have to trust their report otherwise there is no use in using them. We cannot take the risk of accepting players with fraud history because if we did then we'd be defrauded 18 times a day.
So when the risk department gets a report like this one, they cut all connections with the player, return any deposits and yes void winnings. Voiding winnings is the problem here, I understand, but also understand that if any fraudster uses this method they can just play to win and if they win they take it home and if they lose they chargeback. Here the player is saying the opposite, that if she won we would make up her fraud history and if she lost we wouldn't say anything.
Now I know you've seen some complaints about us but honestly, 99% of those are withdrawal delay complaints, because frankly we did have some strong delays lately due to processor complications, as happens with the US banking market at times.
You have not really seen reports of this kind all over the place because this is something that rarely needs to be done, the report is usually much quicker. If the casino did that with every player that won there wouldn't be a casino left. So obviously this isn't a common practice, but we also will not send the message that its ok to defraud and that we will cooperate with any player that does so. The player may maintain her position that no such thing occured, but this company specilizes in this and they are very reliable. Obviously this wasn't a popular decision and of course the player told us she will post everywhere, and she has. It still did not change our policy. and I can only repeat our position, as unpopular as it may have been, and hope I have explained why this occured.
Kind Regards,
Noah
One problem with this is the lack of an appeal process. These fraudsters know what they are doing, BUT they are also likely to be stealing genuine IDs, so how can you be certain the RIGHT person has been caught. Often the first someone knows about their ID being stolen is when something goes wrong. Normally, there is an appeal process provided by their own country through regulations applied to credit reference agencies. This problem is actually quite common, so much so that the UK government has launched various campaigns designed to teach us to be on our guard against our ID getting stolen and used for crime.
It is worryingly easy to get a credit card in someone else's name. I actually met one such fraudster before I was into online gambling. He was on the M6, and had a card in a different name to his own. he said he was able to get it because banks sent a pre-filled application to an address that the intended recipient had vacated, and this chap now had access to. He simply signed the form and the bank sent the card. Since this was down to "junk mail", there was no means for the genuine owner of the ID to place a stop on such mailings, since they are "opt out" rather than "opt in".
Sloppy banks are one reason why fraudsters so easily get cards in fake or stolen names, but the genuine person is just as much a victim as the merchant. Some of these players are therefore likely to be genuine, and have no reason to believe anything other than the casino has deliberately ripped them off. The lack of information, even charges, issued to the player means that they may not even suspect they could be a victim of ID theft, so don't think to check their credit files.
I was careful with this chap I met, because he began to take an unhealthy interest in the design of my card. Despite this, he somehow managed to fraudulently use it even though it never left my sight, and I made sure any receipts were destroyed, even though the full number was not displayed.
The card company couldn't figure out WTF happened, and claimed it was "administrative error" on the part of the service station operator.
It wouldn't surprise me if this chap has now moved on to doing the same with online casinos. Others I met regularly playing the machines were more than happy to "grass" on him.
Of course, the man who used to live at the address was a VICTIM, because this card was in his name, and eventually (after a month or two of non-payment) the bank would track him down for their money.
Those who commit this type of fraud will often make the minimum payments on the cards so as not to arouse the bank's suspicions, and only when they have maxed it out will they ditch it and stop paying. This means a stolen or fraudulent card can last for MONTHS undetected by the banking system.
Within the UK, when someone is suspected of having a black mark against them from a credit reference agency, the company concerned is obliged to name it so that the customer can check their credit file and make sure it is accurate. They are NOT obliged to go into further detail.
Any player who is accused of fraud and believes it is wrong should check their credit files to see if they have become the unwitting victim of ID theft. If they have, ignoring the early signs means the fraudsters can do much more damage in the long run.
Fraudsters will simply let it go and try again, hence the lack of complaints from most of them. Where the sum to be had is significant though, a fraudster will make more of an effort, often resorting to blackmail. They will also be reluctant to allow respected third parties to intervene on their behalf, as they will know they cannot win, and may be "outed" and lose any support gained via campaigns on internet forums.
It seems to me that these Fraudsters are going to Gambling Grumbles rather than CM because they have found out that information that cannot be made public is not used in determining what is placed on the report, and also know that the operator will not give permission for it to be made public. This means that Gambling Grumbles can be used as a tool by fraudsters to further their cause by placing even greater pressure on the operator to give in to the blackmail.
This latest case proves the point, as a PAB would have resulted in him being "outed" and permanently banned from here, but a favourable Gambling Grumbles report will make it seem the casino is behaving in a rogue manner.
The problem is the banking system, it is too easy to get "fake" cards that can be maxed out and ditched. This case seems to be one where the fraudster PRETENDS that their card has been lost, stolen, or misused, so is able to get a chargeback fairly easily on the basis of the money having been stolen, which means the usual dispute resolution process whereby the merchant can dispute a claim, say, for faulty goods or services, is not necessarily applied.
The economic problems have at least made banks more careful about dishing out cards, but this is to save THEIR asses, not those of the merchants.
For casinos, the problem is the delay between the player registering, and them finding out about the fraud reported from elsewhere. This means thay have to void winnings after the fact, rather than lock the player out before they even get a chance to play.