unbelievable. My favorite part is where your account gets cleared out if you request expedited payments. I think we will see these scams improve in terms of quality in the next 5 years. Most of them fail on the basics, like misspellings, or the Nigerian 529 emails we all get. I would think that will all change when people in Pakistan can create a nice website, clean emails, etc. and speak English. They can job out actor front men for videos. And they will come up with better ideas than a poker system. It's the charity scam area, gold systems, watch out.
Kiss it goodbye.
Website is down. They have changed nameservers.
Before: poker.bl1.blockdos.com, poker.bl2.blockdos.com
Now: ns1.cybercastco.com, ns2.cybercastco.com
Kiss it goodbye, but the chase is afoot.
Druff, you were right about the source of the videos. I've already Identified both Fiverr.com members who filmed the videos for the people behind the scam, at least by their screen names, which is a great place to start. I've reached out to them for information about who paid them to make the videos, since I rather doubt that either "Jack" or the other guy would want to be seen as being complicit in this scam for the $10 and $5, respectively, that they seem to have been paid to make those.
I'm still going to do a FlushDraw story on these two Fiverr users tonight, just because it is important and these guys sold themselves that cheap without asking any questions.
And, the update is up at FlushDraw here:
http://www.flushdraw.net/news/poker-...en-identified/
The two public spokesman known as "Jack" and "Kendall Baker" are in fact a pair of Fiverr.com users named "mintyone" and "websitevideo".
Both are well regarded Fiverr.com members, and I've sent them both e-mails asking them to provide more info once they've checked into the Poker by Proxy matter and convinced themselves it's a scam. Technically, I'd guess they'd both be culpable for being part of it, but since they got $10 and $5 respectively, it's a good bet they'll help out whoever bought the vids.
The guy who is supposed to be "Kendall Baker" is actually a guy named Ron Desi from Baltimore, who also uses a "Ron7519" handle in marketing his cheapjack videos on other online sites:
http://www.slideshare.net/ron7519
http://www.warriorforum.com/members/ron7519.html
He's also @RonDesi on Twitter.
I'm still searching for "mintyone" and I'm sure I'll track him down soon enough, and yes, he'll be outed when I do. I was frankly surprised that neither of them took up my offer to come on the record and offer an explanation, but I guess if you're willing to spew garbage on camera for a net of $4, and not care what it's being used for, you have a different mindset than most.
What a pit of foulness Fiverr is, too.
Last edited by haleylh; 12-07-2013 at 09:12 PM.
I sent a "media inquiry" to Fiverr. and was forced to create a Fiverr account to do so, which in itself is a giant fucking joke. Since then, it's been everything I expected:
1) No response to my inquiry;
2) Subsequent deletion of a Fiverr forum thread I started in which I pointed out that two Fiverr users had profited in small ways from having their work used in an online scam, and that the anonymous "testimonials" category in which they offered their services was itself illegal in many jurisdictions. And for the record, I did -not- name the accounts or users involved in that thread;
3) No way to close my own account, which I'd never even consider using for "gigs"; Fiverr doesn't allow you to close accounts, it seems. Kind of like the asshats at PokerNews.
The more I've studied it, the more I'm convinced that Fiverr itself is criminal in another way, separate from the poker-scam stuff. By giving its users anonymity and setting TOS conditions which demand that all communications go through Fiverr, they are actively promoting an environment where scams are easy to perpetrate. Then they top that off by listing blatantly illegal categories of gigs, such as the "Testimonials" -- it's like Craigslist with all the "100 Roses" ads all over again.
I can't think of another site of note that I've looked at in depth that is so slimy and disreputable, top to bottom. I'm gonna look forward to the day when the site's executives are indicted somewhere.
Posted on 2+2:
This is an interesting theory, but I don't believe it.Stephen Pettyjohn: So the paypal bit was probably made up (or it happened, but would not have been significant enough to cause the crash). I took the time to find their bitcoin address on the blockchain. They went broke because they were not managing their bitcoin risk properly. The bitcoin deposit's liabilities far exceeded the balance in the account because hey were playing in fiat during bitcoin's meteoric rise. I did some cursory math on the transaction history in their bitcoin address and I believe that they are in the red (on their bitcoin deposits) by at least 95,000. So, even if they are playing legitimately it will take quite a while to rebuild that much capital. The good news is that if it turns out to be a scam, they didnt use proper identity concealment in a number of places meaning it'll actually be possible to prosecute the fraud.
While the website claimed that you will maintain "two balances -- one in USD, one in bitcoin" (depending upon which deposit method you use), there is no promise that they won't adjust this based upon bitcoin's rise and fall. They left it ambiguous, presumably to cheat you if bitcoin fell (claiming they only owe you your bitcoin balance, and not its USD equivalent at the time of deposit), while converting it if bitcoin rose.
But if they were operating legitimately, it wouldn't be fair to expect them to pay you back the same number of bitcoins deposited plus your profit, if the bitcoin value rose. This is because you are supposedly staking them, so they are forced to cash in your bitcoin and convert them into USD on the spot, meaning that they aren't supposed to be holding your bitcoin for you -- only their USD equivalent. This differs from other bitcoin gambling sites, where they are supposed to be holding your bitcoin and never converting them.
Anyway, my point is that they weren't decimated by the rise in bitcoin value. They simply realized that the jig was up, and decided to take the money and run. The decision to close shop probably coincided with some sort of Paypal case pending against them, so they likely filed counter-cases (to get back money paid out to customers by Paypal at some point) and then shut down.
They got away with it.
They weren't located in the US.
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