Your money is not secure on Party Poker

beanie · #1 04-21-2005, 04:52 AM

In late December I had a family member want me to teach her to play poker, she had seen an ad for Party Poker and I helped her open an account. We opened the account at my house and used my beaniepoker@hotmail.com, I told her she could change it once she got to her computer (which she regrettably did not do), otherwise we would have to wait to play. This is where things fall apart. One of the people working for me at the time left on unpleasant terms. Apparently he accessed my e-mail and told www.partypoker.com that my family member died and he needed to change the account to a name that:

1. Did not have the same last name as my family member
2. Did not have the same address as my family member
3. In fact, there was literally no reason to believe that this person even knew my family member (which he didn’t)
4. They required no information whatsoever to give this person full access to my family members account.

I only noticed that the name had changed when I was transferring a friend money and I looked and saw that the account name had the name of the another person attached to it, the father of the person who left my employ disgruntled.

The long and short of this is, Party Poker gave someone access to $2000 of my family members money with nothing more than an e-mail. No supporting information at all. Now to get access to the account my family member has to send in this information:

1. Drivers License-seems reasonable, they likely want to prove she is not dead.
2. Preffered application-this is where things get interesting they want to be able to pull her credit so they can prove that she is not dead. Even though they did not ask this of the thief. They did ask the thief for his drivers license which he apparently obliged feeling that for $2000 he would gladly send in his father’s drivers license.
3. Police Report-this seems unreasonable to me, my family member feels like reporting that she was playing online poker might get her in trouble. Which I agree.

The person I spoke to at Party Poker was named Aravinda. This should trouble you if you have a Party Poker account, apparently all a thief needs to say is that you are dead and they can send in a drivers license and get all of the money in your account. Rather than doing the right thing once they saw a fraud was committed, they even told me that the person transferred the money out of the account to another account, they are putting my family member up to a level of scrutiny that they did not put the thief to. I have given her $2000 for her lost money. But if you have a Party Poker account your money is not secure.

lorinda · #2 04-21-2005, 04:55 AM

Apparently he accessed my e-mail

So actually you meant to say that your email provider is not safe, not your money on party poker?

Lori

Freudian · #3 04-21-2005, 05:10 AM

Something about this doesn't smell right. Smells like some gnome account where something went wrong.

beanie · #4 04-21-2005, 05:20 AM

Not the case at all. The e-mail is a hotmail account, so it is concievable that while making a sandwich he sent the e-mail. In fact, party poker fully admits they dropped the ball on this one. I mean come on all you need is an e-mail that says someone died and they will change the name, address and e-mail. That has to be a thief's dream. I can see maybe requiring a driver's license or some mail or something to prove identity but why does she have to report to the police that she plays online poker. That seems reasonable to you?

Freudian · #5 04-21-2005, 05:26 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Not the case at all. The e-mail is a hotmail account, so it is concievable that while making a sandwich he sent the e-mail. In fact, party poker fully admits they dropped the ball on this one. I mean come on all you need is an e-mail that says someone died and they will change the name, address and e-mail. That has to be a thief's dream. I can see maybe requiring a driver's license or some mail or something to prove identity but why does she have to report to the police that she plays online poker. That seems reasonable to you?

[/ QUOTE ]

It seems reasonable that the police knows where the theft took place if a theft is being reported to them.

Still sounds fishy to me. Was this a second account with rakeback?

scotty34 · #6 04-21-2005, 05:37 AM

Let's see some copies of the emails sent between you and Party (with names omitted obviously)

beanie · #7 04-21-2005, 05:39 AM

I actually appreciate you asking these questions. It was not. The issue has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that they allowed someone to change all of the information on an account with nothing more than an e-mail. Other than living in the same city, the name the account was changed to had absolutely no relation at all.

My guess is the first question from the police would be is "where did the theft occur", she would have to respond it was an online poker account. I think at that point she would not be guaranteed that the police would not be interested in the fact that she is playing illegal poker. That is a legitimate concern for her, I can understand why she is reluctant. I think this is the most unreasonable request. If Party Poker would have required the thief to use half as much proof she would have her money.

beanie · #8 04-21-2005, 05:41 AM

It was not e-mail correspondence. We have 6 hours logged with Party Poker on this subject on the phone.

Freudian · #9 04-21-2005, 05:54 AM

Assuming everything you say is true I think Partys concern is this:

You and this former disgruntled former employee are working together to scam Party. If you don't report his theft to the police, what is there that prevents this guy and you working together?

I still get the feeling that this is a gnome account and when your sisters involvement went from answering the phone and saying she plays poker to going to the police and file a charge she said no.

beanie · #10 04-21-2005, 06:19 AM

She did not use any affiliate code when she signed up. Party Poker allowed someone to change all of the information on an account, that is the simple point, that should be unacceptable to anyone. That is all this is about for me. I have talked to 2 other sites and both contend that the burden to change the name and address on an account is quite high. Not just an e-mail that says someone is dead.