Wealthy Celebs Hiding Money in Online Poker Scam

6 years ago
Wealthy Celebs Hiding Money in Online Poker Scam
11:40
21 Jun

It’s a relatively unknown scam to many, but an investigation by one of the UK’s biggest tabloid newspapers has revealed that wealthy celebrities and businessmen being chased for debts are hiding their money by deliberately losing huge sums in an online poker scam.

Forensic recovery expert Kevin Mawer told the London-based Sun newspaper:

“We generally find there have been cases where someone who hasn’t really gambled before suddenly gambles huge sums of money.”

He added:

“This happens in a very short space of time and they lose everything and only stop when the money runs out. It can be over a long period of time. We think they are using online gambling to funnel money to another party.”



According to the paper’s investigation: ‘The swindle sees them visit gambling sites to set up group games among friends. They then deliberately lose sums amounting to tens of thousands of pounds to contacts, ridding them of the massive amounts.’

This means that when ‘creditors come knocking’ those who owe vast sums of money are able to ‘tell them they have lost the cash gambling’.

What happens then, according to the report, is that ‘individuals then declare bankruptcy and wait for a time to recover the money from the contact’ who they dumped the money to.

Sun reporter Dan Sales claims that the most popular method of doing this is by setting up private games on various poker sites, games which the site’s security and owners have little or no idea are a ‘front’ for the money-dumping strategy.

One source explained:

“The gambling sites are not doing anything wrong and would not be aware it would even be going on. They have systems that flag up huge losses and unusual play, but no system is fool-proof and someone with a decent plan could use a period of time to lose money away.”



Mawer, the head of Forensic Recovery - a boutique firm, specializing in contentious insolvency cases and providing expert witness services, stated of the scam:

“If you know the people in it you can effectively transfer money to them apparently in the process of gambling. These sort of people are being chased for money and trying to put it into cars, yachts and gambling is another part of that.”

He added:

“Put it this way I can guarantee if I was betting the way they were, I would not lose the amount they claim – it’s something that needs investigating.”

The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) which oversees all gambling activity within the UK,  told the Sun that it would ‘look at any evidence of irregularity brought to its attention’, a spokesman adding:

“As part of our rules and regulations operators must have mechanisms in place to prevent collusion during poker games.”

Articles 2284

Andrew from Edinburgh, Scotland, is a professional journalist, international-titled chess master, and avid poker player.Read more

Comments

You need to be logged in to post a new comment

No Comments found.