Poker stars - I want to throw the book at them

[Ederz]

I am hoping this will get the attention of casinomeister as i know he will know straight off the bat if any laws have been broken.

Pokerstars have locked my account because of issues with the account of someone who has used the same network as me. I do know who the person is they want to speak to but it simply has nothing to do with me. I have used my account at pokerstars every day for over a year know and have deposited a lot of money. I play for fun for the most part and have never really maintained a bankroll so every time i play requires a deposit.

I went to deposit yesterday and it came up with a warning message saying "Due to a security issue on your account, some of your deposit options have been restricted. Your play, transfer and cashouts are unaffected" i found this weird so i sent them an email asking what was going on and they emailed me back saying they have completely locked my account now and demanded an explination of my relationship with another user and gave me their user name. I know the person, but i dont speak to her anymore for a really personal and sensitive reason and i really shouldnt have to explain it to a poker room.

Poker stars said i should get the person to contact them and resolve the issue on THEIR account (not mine) before they will unlock my account. In not one but two of their emails they expressed that they are not suggesting any wrong doing by me whatsoever but they need to speak to this person.

This is rediculous, i was looking forward to playing the micro millions.

I dont know what to do.

I want to just walk away from stars for treating me like this but im so angry i kind of want to throw the book at them and try and stop this happening to anyone else who uses shared networks.

Hope you can help. I can copy and paste the email conversation with them if you like but i will obviously remove the account usernames.

Cheers

 

[vorcirion]

Didn't see any bribing in this case
But anyway...did you play at the same tables with this another person or what? I can only imagine some kind of chip dumping going on. Or what kind of weird stuff you have there with this other person? Don't really understand what's the problem here exactly.

 

[Ederz]

nope, never played at a table with them at all.

If i was to say to you "get this person to contact us or i wont let you play on your account" would that not be me bribing you?

 

[vorcirion]

Bribing is like...giving money/gifts to someone to do something etc.
But yeah just contact pokerstars' support and ask what's the problem. This all sounds just really weird.

 

[maxd]

Original thread title was "Poker stars are bribing me". Changed to better reflect the actual situation and lose the inaccurate and sensationalist tone of the original.

 

[vinylweatherman]

I am hoping this will get the attention of casinomeister as i know he will know straight off the bat if any laws have been broken.

Pokerstars have locked my account because of issues with the account of someone who has used the same network as me. I do know who the person is they want to speak to but it simply has nothing to do with me. I have used my account at pokerstars every day for over a year know and have deposited a lot of money. I play for fun for the most part and have never really maintained a bankroll so every time i play requires a deposit.

I went to deposit yesterday and it came up with a warning message saying "Due to a security issue on your account, some of your deposit options have been restricted. Your play, transfer and cashouts are unaffected" i found this weird so i sent them an email asking what was going on and they emailed me back saying they have completely locked my account now and demanded an explination of my relationship with another user and gave me their user name. I know the person, but i dont speak to her anymore for a really personal and sensitive reason and i really shouldnt have to explain it to a poker room.

Poker stars said i should get the person to contact them and resolve the issue on THEIR account (not mine) before they will unlock my account. In not one but two of their emails they expressed that they are not suggesting any wrong doing by me whatsoever but they need to speak to this person.

This is rediculous, i was looking forward to playing the micro millions.

I dont know what to do.

I want to just walk away from stars for treating me like this but im so angry i kind of want to throw the book at them and try and stop this happening to anyone else who uses shared networks.

Hope you can help. I can copy and paste the email conversation with them if you like but i will obviously remove the account usernames.

Cheers

You could try complaining to the Information Commissioner's Office. They may have committed an offence under data protection laws by disclosing to YOU the personal details of the person they want to speak to, unless this person gave permission. Since they say YOU have done nothing wrong, they are more or less admitting that this does not concern you. It seems the other person is ignoring them, and they are hoping you can get them to make contact, and are locking your account to give you an incentive. Unless they have good evidence that the two of you are connected in some concrete manner, such as financially, they could be acting outside of data protection laws. It would be like locking my account because my next door neighbour is refusing to discuss their security issue with them, and that as they live next to me, I am somehow required to be his keeper and make him comply.

A shared network alone does not imply that two or more people are sufficiently connected such that a company may share personal data between the users of said network. A shared COMPUTER though might be a different matter, and would imply that the two of you had some kind of relationship, such as friends who visited each other's houses. It would be up to them to justify to the ICO that sharing this other person's data with you was covered within the provisions of the act.

Normally, a company will NOT disclose such details about another person to yourself, even if said other person has attempted to steal your identity to use their service.

It is up to them to pursue this other person, not you. They could lock the other person's account in order to put pressure on them to cooperate, or even report them to the police for "suspicious activity".

I suspect they are after you because this other person has no money in their account, and hasn't given a toss about it being locked. In effect, the other person HAS just walked away, and does not intend to contact the operator to resolve the issue.

If YOU have no money in your account (looks so, given that you were trying to deposit), then you too can walk away and leave them unsatisfied. They are likely to carry on giving you hassle until they have cleared this matter up, so even if you did manage to get the account unlocked so that you could deposit and play, I bet the real trouble would start were you to win and try to withdraw, and then they WOULD have something of yours to hold to ransom in order to get you to make this other person contact them.

As you are in England, you may have to walk away in any case due to the new UK regulations. It depends on whether Poker Stars intends getting a UK licence. If they do intend to get one, then you can wait until they fall under the jurisdiction of the UKGC, and then submit a complaint to them, rather than to some offshore licencing authority.

It will mean missing out on this tournament though.

 

[Ederz]

Thanks for your reply.

I think the issues is they did at one point use my laptop to play. The person is a family member and i have told pokerstars that it is a family member which i do not talk to anymore for extremely personal reasons. There is no way in hell i will be calling them to tell them to call pokerstars and sort something out because it has absolutely nothing to do with me.

I didnt know about the new gaming laws in the uk till right now. Im guessing that is why they simply didnt give a flying pigs ass when i told them i was going to complain to the gaming commision

 

[vinylweatherman]

Thanks for your reply.

I think the issues is they did at one point use my laptop to play. The person is a family member and i have told pokerstars that it is a family member which i do not talk to anymore for extremely personal reasons. There is no way in hell i will be calling them to tell them to call pokerstars and sort something out because it has absolutely nothing to do with me.

I didnt know about the new gaming laws in the uk till right now. Im guessing that is why they simply didnt give a flying pigs ass when i told them i was going to complain to the gaming commision

Even so, data protection laws still apply. Since they played on your laptop, they are not being entirely truthful in telling you it's nothing to do with you. I think YOU are also part of their investigation as well as this family member, but they are not prepared to tell you. They probably suspect some collusion between you both, or indeed that this other family member does not exist, and that by speaking to you, they are effectively speaking to "this other person". It would also mean they are NOT happy for you to carry on playing, despite what they said earlier about your deposit methods being restricted, but them having no issue with you carrying on with these restrictions.

 

[Ederz]

Even so, data protection laws still apply. Since they played on your laptop, they are not being entirely truthful in telling you it's nothing to do with you. I think YOU are also part of their investigation as well as this family member, but they are not prepared to tell you. They probably suspect some collusion between you both, or indeed that this other family member does not exist, and that by speaking to you, they are effectively speaking to "this other person". It would also mean they are NOT happy for you to carry on playing, despite what they said earlier about your deposit methods being restricted, but them having no issue with you carrying on with these restrictions.

More information discovered. The user they want to speak to has a debt on their account. Apparently they did a charge back after depositing and losing.

Surely even more laws have been broken by telling me this and also now proves it has indeed got F.all to do with me. I'm so angry at this.

 

[vinylweatherman]

More information discovered. The user they want to speak to has a debt on their account. Apparently they did a charge back after depositing and losing.

Surely even more laws have been broken by telling me this and also now proves it has indeed got F.all to do with me. I'm so angry at this.

Well, that's tough on them. Surely they must understand that this person is not going to contact them, and that being another member of your family doesn't make it your job to force them, unless of course they are a minor for which you are legally responsible, in which case they have broken the law by allowing someone under 18 to play.

It really looks like they believe it is you that have misused your other family member's details in order to play and then charge back the losses. They have taken a big risk because if they are wrong, they have broken data protection laws. If they are right, then the breach is theoretical because they are dealing with one person all along, thus no actual breach. I suspect that they will view your inability to get this other person to contact them as proof that it was you all along, and that this other person knows nothing about this, and you want to keep it that way by coming up with excuses as to why you won't approach them on their behalf.

You are either going to have to walk away from Poker Stars, or do their bidding in order to clear any suspicions they might have.

Another alternative is to PAB here, an official complaint via the Casinomeister adjudication service. Only do this if you are certain you have done nothing wrong in all of this, because if you have, this will be "outed" to other members.

What must make them suspicious that you might be involved is that your laptop was involved with this other person's actions.

 

[Johnnygotthebon]

Dude???

I am hoping this will get the attention of casinomeister as i know he will know straight off the bat if any laws have been broken.

Pokerstars have locked my account because of issues with the account of someone who has used the same network as me. I do know who the person is they want to speak to but it simply has nothing to do with me. I have used my account at pokerstars every day for over a year know and have deposited a lot of money. I play for fun for the most part and have never really maintained a bankroll so every time i play requires a deposit.

I went to deposit yesterday and it came up with a warning message saying "Due to a security issue on your account, some of your deposit options have been restricted. Your play, transfer and cashouts are unaffected" i found this weird so i sent them an email asking what was going on and they emailed me back saying they have completely locked my account now and demanded an explination of my relationship with another user and gave me their user name. I know the person, but i dont speak to her anymore for a really personal and sensitive reason and i really shouldnt have to explain it to a poker room.

Poker stars said i should get the person to contact them and resolve the issue on THEIR account (not mine) before they will unlock my account. In not one but two of their emails they expressed that they are not suggesting any wrong doing by me whatsoever but they need to speak to this person.

This is rediculous, i was looking forward to playing the micro millions.

I dont know what to do.

I want to just walk away from stars for treating me like this but im so angry i kind of want to throw the book at them and try and stop this happening to anyone else who uses shared networks.

Hope you can help. I can copy and paste the email conversation with them if you like but i will obviously remove the account usernames.

Cheers

Colluding players and cheaters are the reason I stopped playing online poker.

I used to play 2100 sng's and made final table several times in the Sunday million.

My online poker rankings as of 2012 had me ranked top 100.

Then, came aboard all these other countries. Cheaters and colluders at every level.
Site is not rigged, just filled with cheaters.

If u r legit, then blame them. It's become a circus over there.