There have been a few posts in various gaming forums about casinos and sportsbooks requesting Neteller to check for evidence of player fraud.
And that Neteller provided the merchants with MORE than :
"Thank you, yes we see there is some evidence indicating fraud. The account will be closed while we investigate"; or
"The player(s) accounts are verified with bamk accounts and we see no evidence indicating fraud". "Goodbye".
...............
It seems to me an unnecessary and dangerous violation of privacy for Neteller to give casinos and Merchants the following information :
1) Player's banking institution name, address, account number, account type, currency - anything at all other than "This Neteller Member is Verified."
2) Players activities wrt other merchants. Which casinos he deposits with, amounts frequency. Merchants who are substantial source of revenue to neteller or who have developed a personal rapport with Neteller staff over the years, should not be able to go shopping for "whales" or "consistent losers" at Neteller.
Talk about a low cost way to develop a direct marketing campaign. Am not suggesting that Neteller would do this as a policy, or directly sell this valuable info. But it is very conceivable in an environment were player privacy is not a rigorously protected in company policy or culture.
Emplyees who are caught informally providing player information to merchants should be fired at the very least. Employees who reveal player info or collude with merchants should know they will be charged criminally or sued civilly if the laws of the land allow.
The brief point here is that, no matter how well intentioned an employee may be in helping a friendly merchant in a fraud investigation, it is a slippery slope. Neteller should address this problem with the seriousnes that they have conducted other aspects of there business.
3) If any other casinos have made inquiries into the veracity of a players account and who those casinos are.
4) How a player account was funded. If it was cash from a bank, EFT from bank, transfer from another player, or transfer from another merchant.
This one can be used as a pretext to by casinos to defraud legitimate players. It is the vogue in casinoland now. That there are covens of wolves out there attacking casinos in packs. Unfairly (somehow?) taking advantage of them. Now as this is an accepted theory at this time in the industry the Rogues, or roguishly inclined know that if they can claim any connection between players - that they know of one another - that this will be accepted grounds to not pay players there winnings that they won by risking there own money in the joint.
General acceptance that this theory has any validity makes it easier for neteller employess to act with righteousness to provide info to the casinos on who transfers to whom.
Also might result in Neteller employees locking or closing accounts because players transfers to one another indicate fraud in the eyes of there Casino customers.
btw Neteler and Casinos : due to the foriegn exchange charges for neteller transfers from non US banks, many non US players seek out ways to fund there accounts thru transfers from other players. (It saves significant money. The more to spend in the casinos)
Non us players often have US$, even have US$ bank accounts in NON US banks, but cannot transfer those us$ to Neteller. They are only allowed to transfer local currency, and get nailed with exchange costs.
5) Any info on players communications with Neteller, complaints about casino slow payments or any other communications.
Are there more?
This still leaves Neteller a free hand to investigate real fraud, moneylaundering, etc. And whatever reporting is required by law to governments.
And the casinos still get thenefit of the results of any Neteller investigation of real player fraud. They get the bottom line. They do not get any preliminary details that violate player privacy and can be misused by unenlightened casino operators who refuse to pay players who on occaision happen to win.
Neteller may not have recognised the importance of this fine line they walk between the players and the casinos. They must be trusted by all. They need internal policies and enforcement to give all parties confidence in the integrity of there employees and there operations.
Especially if local regulators do not provide for this suffiiently.
This must become part of Netellers culture. Neteller must be a standard of integrity. [can i buy shares in this company?]
.................................
Now in a interview that CMeister conducted (and broadcast from this site) with Neteller, the Executive made it clear that they wanted to hear from players in instances were payments are being delayed as that could indicate cash flow problems with merchant. He confirmed that each case is investigated.
As Dirk_Dangerous suggested, i think all legitimate players should be contacting Neteller about their concern over privacy of their account. Neteller execs appear to be serious about maintaining standards of decency in the financial industry. They are a young company and this "most serious problem" may not have been brought to the attention of the senior executives.
Believe that Neteller has recently moved their HQ from Calgary, Canada to somewhere in the UK.
Someone over there may know something about the regulatory environment and if Neteller is already under some statutory obligation to protect customers privacy.
If not there are commercial and ethical reasons that they will surely see it in there interests to assure the public of there privacy while the conduct legitimate investigations of fraud.
Problem is that legitimate players may be intimidated to speak about this for concern that Neteller or Merchants will met out some retribution.
Unfortunately for players, there doesn't seem to be a rival to Neteller's service right now.
Legitimate players let Neteller know if this privacy issue is important to you.
And that Neteller provided the merchants with MORE than :
"Thank you, yes we see there is some evidence indicating fraud. The account will be closed while we investigate"; or
"The player(s) accounts are verified with bamk accounts and we see no evidence indicating fraud". "Goodbye".
...............
It seems to me an unnecessary and dangerous violation of privacy for Neteller to give casinos and Merchants the following information :
1) Player's banking institution name, address, account number, account type, currency - anything at all other than "This Neteller Member is Verified."
2) Players activities wrt other merchants. Which casinos he deposits with, amounts frequency. Merchants who are substantial source of revenue to neteller or who have developed a personal rapport with Neteller staff over the years, should not be able to go shopping for "whales" or "consistent losers" at Neteller.
Talk about a low cost way to develop a direct marketing campaign. Am not suggesting that Neteller would do this as a policy, or directly sell this valuable info. But it is very conceivable in an environment were player privacy is not a rigorously protected in company policy or culture.
Emplyees who are caught informally providing player information to merchants should be fired at the very least. Employees who reveal player info or collude with merchants should know they will be charged criminally or sued civilly if the laws of the land allow.
The brief point here is that, no matter how well intentioned an employee may be in helping a friendly merchant in a fraud investigation, it is a slippery slope. Neteller should address this problem with the seriousnes that they have conducted other aspects of there business.
3) If any other casinos have made inquiries into the veracity of a players account and who those casinos are.
4) How a player account was funded. If it was cash from a bank, EFT from bank, transfer from another player, or transfer from another merchant.
This one can be used as a pretext to by casinos to defraud legitimate players. It is the vogue in casinoland now. That there are covens of wolves out there attacking casinos in packs. Unfairly (somehow?) taking advantage of them. Now as this is an accepted theory at this time in the industry the Rogues, or roguishly inclined know that if they can claim any connection between players - that they know of one another - that this will be accepted grounds to not pay players there winnings that they won by risking there own money in the joint.
General acceptance that this theory has any validity makes it easier for neteller employess to act with righteousness to provide info to the casinos on who transfers to whom.
Also might result in Neteller employees locking or closing accounts because players transfers to one another indicate fraud in the eyes of there Casino customers.
btw Neteler and Casinos : due to the foriegn exchange charges for neteller transfers from non US banks, many non US players seek out ways to fund there accounts thru transfers from other players. (It saves significant money. The more to spend in the casinos)
Non us players often have US$, even have US$ bank accounts in NON US banks, but cannot transfer those us$ to Neteller. They are only allowed to transfer local currency, and get nailed with exchange costs.
5) Any info on players communications with Neteller, complaints about casino slow payments or any other communications.
Are there more?
This still leaves Neteller a free hand to investigate real fraud, moneylaundering, etc. And whatever reporting is required by law to governments.
And the casinos still get thenefit of the results of any Neteller investigation of real player fraud. They get the bottom line. They do not get any preliminary details that violate player privacy and can be misused by unenlightened casino operators who refuse to pay players who on occaision happen to win.
Neteller may not have recognised the importance of this fine line they walk between the players and the casinos. They must be trusted by all. They need internal policies and enforcement to give all parties confidence in the integrity of there employees and there operations.
Especially if local regulators do not provide for this suffiiently.
This must become part of Netellers culture. Neteller must be a standard of integrity. [can i buy shares in this company?]
.................................
Now in a interview that CMeister conducted (and broadcast from this site) with Neteller, the Executive made it clear that they wanted to hear from players in instances were payments are being delayed as that could indicate cash flow problems with merchant. He confirmed that each case is investigated.
As Dirk_Dangerous suggested, i think all legitimate players should be contacting Neteller about their concern over privacy of their account. Neteller execs appear to be serious about maintaining standards of decency in the financial industry. They are a young company and this "most serious problem" may not have been brought to the attention of the senior executives.
Believe that Neteller has recently moved their HQ from Calgary, Canada to somewhere in the UK.
Someone over there may know something about the regulatory environment and if Neteller is already under some statutory obligation to protect customers privacy.
If not there are commercial and ethical reasons that they will surely see it in there interests to assure the public of there privacy while the conduct legitimate investigations of fraud.
Problem is that legitimate players may be intimidated to speak about this for concern that Neteller or Merchants will met out some retribution.
Unfortunately for players, there doesn't seem to be a rival to Neteller's service right now.
Legitimate players let Neteller know if this privacy issue is important to you.
