Third party deposit, am I in trouble?

[gracep]

Hi please don’t judge me as I already know I’m an addict which causes chaos. I am registered on gamstop, however I set up an account in someone else’s name without their knowledge or consent. I used my card for transactions which has worked fine for over a year. My query is that why was the account automatically verified with no documents provided? Why was I able to deposit and withdrawal from a card in a different name registered on Gamstop? I decided to notify them this morning about everything. Is it possible that I will get back the deposits I unlawfully made?(8k) Am I in trouble with the police?

 

[mulven]

To answer most of the questions, it would be helpful to know which casino, licenced in which jurisdiction. I'm guessing the person you impersonated was atleast close to you socially? Since you have successfully withdrawn from the casino I'm curious if you are up/down lifetime on the fraudulent account and whether or not you are trying to double dip.

Is it possible that I will get back the deposits I unlawfully made?(8k)

no

Am I in trouble with the police?

no, although if you really wanted to be you could probably spell out everything to them in a confession and maybe you'd get in trouble for fraud.

 

[gracep]

It was paddy power in the uk, I’m down 8k

 

[Webzcas]

You have no chance of getting your deposits back, regardless of which casino you signed up to. Otherwise, if a casino relented and refunded you, everyone would be doing the same.

Are you in trouble with the police? Very unlikely.

What should you do from this point moving forward? Visit

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and download and install their app on all of your internet enabled devices.

 

[L&L-Jan]

Why accept terms and breach them after This causes an operator so much extra work. Just be straight forward please.

8k is a lot though, not sure in what time frame but they could have conducted some due dillegence and might have spot the breach and lock you account to avoid further damage.

 

[mulven]

It was paddy power in the uk, I’m down 8k

You wanted 8k in refunded deposits, but you made withdrawals so you can't be down a net -8k unless you made more deposits than stated. I'm surprised this never got flagged or caught, 8k is definitely enough for CDD thresholds but perhaps if it was over a whole year and the deposits were 50-100 at a time it somehow slipped through?

Regardless, if you did actually get any withdrawals out you should be thankful for those as you should have been caught and should have had no withdrawals or refunded deposits.

As webzcas said, next steps for you are to block your ability to gamble. I hope you can move on from these past losses and recover from your addiction.

 

[conker]

As others have pointed out there isn't much you can do. I really hope you have sought some proper help for addiction, as just signing up to Gamstop isn't going to prevent things from happening again in the future. As Webzcas suggested, seriously consider signing up to Betblocker.

Something you may want to consider is

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to the Gambling Commission, who Paddy Power are licensed with.

You would be wise to explain the whole situation, including the depths of addiction when you made these dishonest decisions to use someones else's details to sign up and gamble 8k or more.

I don't personally think it is very ethical that you were allowed to deposit all this money without providing identification, but it will be up to the Gambling Commission to decide if they want to act on this or not.

You can at least feel like you have told your story and it may help lead to changes in the future that may prevent other gamblers being able to do the same. Likelyhood of getting any money back - next to zero.

 

[jasonuk]

My query is that why was the account automatically verified with no documents provided?

The first check is mainly to verify that the person exists - the industry pushed back on doing identity documents at registration although some sites commit to that anyway. Admittedly this becomes an issue if someone keeps depositing but hasn't withdrawn significantly (as @L&L-Jan notes, £8k in a year is still a lot) - which appears to be your situation.

The key part here is that an operator can "put back" the situation to an earlier point until the withdrawal exceeds the deposits, because a self-exclusion fraudster (as we've seen a lot of in recent years) is hardly going to give the money back are they...

Why was I able to deposit and withdrawal from a card in a different name registered on Gamstop?

People make far too many assumptions about payment verification and what operators can actually check here - while it's getting better, it's not perfect. If the card was registered on GAMSTOP then perhaps they might have noticed, but the onus there is on you because you have provided incorrect details.

I decided to notify them this morning about everything. Is it possible that I will get back the deposits I unlawfully made?(8k) Am I in trouble with the police?

Nope, I don't think you would be entitled to anything - it is one of the most severe breaches of the terms and conditions you can do, and the operator now has a real headache because they now have to deal with a potential fraud / money laundering case.

When I've talked about self-exclusion fraud in other threads, this is an example of it - even though your intentions may not be as nefarious, it's still very serious indeed.

Adding my thoughts to the other replies:

• I'm going to disagree with the others here regarding your second question - you appear to have committed identity fraud, and a responsible operator should report you to the police at this point (and may be required to as part of AML protocols). Whether the police will take action is up to them, but they have been taking more of an interest in these cases in recent years.
• Agree with the comments on Betblocker - if you are at the stage you are willing to commit fraud then you need serious help, also look into what
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  are provided by the NHS.
• Also agree with the comment about filing a report with the UKGC - you won't get any money back, but it's problematic enough that they should investigate. It's the kind of thing that has triggered fines in the past...

Please, seek help...

 

[conker]

Please, seek help...

This is possibly the most important advice in this whole thread today. There have been quite a few threads on a similar theme and the common denominator is that people are doing things completely out of character (some assumptions being made there) due to the overwhelming nature of gambling addiction.

I truly believe that because gambling is so readily available these days, the only way to stop yourself is to get professional help. Going cold turkey, betblocker, gamstop, are good, but there is invariably a way around them all. Most people have a high street bookies within 15 mins for example if you have blocked everything on the internet. You have to break the need to gamble if you are suffering with addiction or you just end up back in the meat grinder (IMHO).

 

[Jono777]

Sad read, addiction can be truly awful.

Not going to offer anything that hasn't already been mentioned but do wish you all the very best for overcoming your problems moving forward.