Hacked Bank Accounts and Online Poker

My bank account has been hacked. This is the second time in the last two months. The first time was not related to any online transaction, but three days ago two forged checks were passed using my bank account number and was likely stolen by one of the many fly-by-night 3rd party payment processors that every online poker site has been forced to use by the United States Department of Justice’s prohibitionary stance against gambling online.

My friend who is in a management position at the biggest bank in the world (also a poker player) told me that the exact same scam was run on him and that there has been rampant fraud since the enforcement portion of the UIGEA was enacted last year. The payment processing organized crime syndicates started with massive amounts of chargeback fraud and apparently graduated to passing forged paper checks. There have been numerous internal memos at this bank linking these online poker transaction directly to fraud cases and have told all banks to watch out for these high risk transactions.

Forged check #1.

Forged check #2.

I was told by the fraud department that whoever gathers the account information gives it someone on the ground, who then deposits the check and receives a percentage commission. It seems to me like it would be extremely easy to find out where and when a check was deposited, pull the video, and arrest the person.

Trying to Catch Some Phish

There is also a phishing scam built into these forged checks, which is fascinating to me.

If you look at the checks, there are websites listed in the memo of each one: ascpay.com and buyvobilling.com. If you visit these websites, you will notice that they look different but have the exact same wording on all pages. Example:

• From buyvobilliong.com: “The BG is a 21st century company with a strong focus on growth and value. We believe that by providing our customers with a valuable service and at a competative price we can create the type of company that customers are willing to come back to.”
• From ascpay.com: “ASC is a 21st century company with a strong focus on growth and value. We believe that by providing our customers with a valuable service and at a competative price we can create the type of company that customers are willing to come back to.”

Both of these websites have live help chatting feature, and when I visited them I tried to chat and see what they would say, but they put me on hold for hours without answering.

Both of these websites have an “866″ number and when I called each, they both had almost the exact same run around message referring me to a billing department that then had a recording explaining that due to unusually high call volume, I should send them an email. I have sent a nice email asking for help with a check I don’t recognize, and if they could please email me back with an explanation.

I suspect that they are trying to accomplish one thing for sure and one thing not for sure. They are definitely trying to throw you off the scent so that you do not immediately contact your bank’s fraud department. They want to give you the run around long enough that they can get away with my loot.  If I actually get an email back, then I suspect the only reason would be to phish for more info so they could defraud me more.

There are several things that are ridiculous here:

1. Checks are not being physicaly examined prior to be debited from my bank account. I was told that checks for under a certain amount of money do not get verified, and that no one ever physically lays eyes on them at all.
2. The United States government is making ridiculous laws that create an unmanageable situation for the banks that are supposed to enforce said retarded laws. This prohibition stance is looking more and more like prohibitions of the past and present. Instead of focusing on regulation and quality control, the criminals are allowed to run rampant and make all the money, while government agencies spend time and money fighting a neverending war. As soon as one drug dealer gets locked up, another pops up in his place. As soon an overseas payment processor gets shut down, another one pops up in its place, and is determined to make as much money as possible in a short amount of time before it is shut down. By any means necessary. Fuck you, poker players. That’s what you get for doing stuff we don’t like. See? Criminals will steal your money and steal your identity. See how bad gambling online is? You should stop! This is why we can’t allow it in our country.
3. This is one that should be a totally separate post, but playing online poker did not cause this. The only people online who have my bank account information are the affiliate departments for several online poker sites. So the problem is… Since I am getting paid for marketing services only, why the fuck am I getting paid by these 3rd party payment processors whose purpose is purely to process gambling related transactions? Why am I not getting cut a check directly from the affiliate program’s checkbook? Why am I getting paid by thugs when all I am is a marketer, not a lowly gambler? (sarcasm obv)

I will update this when (if) I get a response from Buyvo or ASC.

Has anyone else seen this scam? If my bank source is correct, this has been going on a lot lately.

Posted in Pure Lunacy

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.