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My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans

09-06-2013 , 11:43 AM
sick story Jeans and Henri. and really scary. Hope it will be solved asap.

However, reading the whole story, the same thing came to my mind over and over.

How the hell, considering ur a HS grinder and deal with huge sums of money, can u let your laptop like this in your room ? Why don't u buy a briefcase, lock it, and put some high security tamper on the side of the briefcase if someone tries to open it up. (those kind of high security tampers that are partially or completely destructed if u try to remove it).

Sick story but, seriously, don't be as confident as u are.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 11:44 AM
Sounds like a ****ing movie script, soooo sick. I would have probably shot someone by now omfg.

Gl Jens / Henri / Ignat and everyone else involved
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 11:44 AM
there's def an insider in this
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 11:44 AM
Wow, reading this actually gave me chills. Scary stuff.

Keep us updated as to how it works out.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 11:46 AM
I know one place I will never stay at. I literally feel sick about this, I cant imagine how you feel.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 11:47 AM
1 think need to be fixed about keys: some hotels in case of making new key automatically de-activate ALL previous case. So, if your friend for some reason got new key before you returned to the room - your key will be inactive since that. And if get one new key again - your friend key will be also inactive since that. Strange,but it's true in some hotels and at least it can explain why you both changed keys one after another.

About phone calls in morning - it looks like somebody was trying to get you out of the room. So: may be they did not do something what they wanted to do on your laptor or they forgot to delete something which could track them. And if this true - they are not worry to be catched and they are still somewhere around...
But anyway it's looks like somebody from hotel stuff definately involved (or even organized that). Better to pressure to police, not to hotel imho.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 11:49 AM
Every player who has stayed there this week should definitely get an entry log like above for their room and check who has been in and out. There is no way i would play another hand on my computer until it had been confirmed that no unauthorised people had entered my room.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 11:51 AM
Definitely sounds like the hotel is in on this. I think everyone no matter what you play online should encrypt there laptops, being keylogged is the worst feeling in the world, especially when something you work hard at is destroyed or is taken away as a result of it. Get encrypted, or if you want to be super careful just make sure you can easily take out your hard drive and just keep it on you in a manbag or whatever, a laptop hard drive is only small so it wouldn't be a huge hindrance.

Hope something gets done.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 11:53 AM
dude what the **** stars security?
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 11:54 AM
Thanks for sharing the story in great detail, the culprits shouldn't get away with this, there's too many likely witnesses/cameras involved and seems to certainly implicate hotel staff imo.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 11:54 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ikilldurrrr1
Every player who has stayed there this week should definitely get an entry log like above for their room and check who has been in and out. There is no way i would play another hand on my computer until it had been confirmed that no unauthorised people had entered my room.
+10000

Pokerstars needs to send an urgent e-mail/web announcement ASAP RE: this as I'm sure there are plenty of players who do not use 2+2 and may not find out.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 11:54 AM
Wow, sick story, I thought I was reading a modern day poker version of Kafka's trial...

I dont understand why you didnt immediatly call a lawyer to help you out though, besides he would have then put you in contact with a consulting detective; at the stakes you guys play, security and peace of mind are the nuts. Otherwise, why play the nosebleed if its to get that stressed in real life ?

a case could be made that you are masochistic lol...
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 11:56 AM
I just recieved an update that there are more incidents than just me and Ignat. We will have a meeting at 19:00 (to which I'm finally invited myself aswell)

Quote:
Originally Posted by pmarrsouth
Jeans, having worked closely with victims like you before I would ask you to do the following:

1. Do not turn back on that laptop, especially if it can be connected to the internet
2. Buy a new laptop, with your standard stakes this will cost you 2-3BB and could will save you a ton of money in the future
3. Bring your laptop to a trusted security expert (preferably an (ex)hacker that you personally know or that is vouched for by a ton of people you know). Get him to find out exactly what has been installed/done to your machine and if there any unusual IP addresses etc that it is "talking to"
4. Change your passwords to your poker sites / email address etc from a different computer (preferably the one that you buy). Use a different password for each account, it can be a pain, but is needed
5. Get security tokens for all sites that offer them if you don’t already

While the cameras might “not be working”, it is possible that they have been purposefully turned off. There could well be information in the Hotel’s Security Database showing who turn off what cameras and when – maybe push for this to be looked into too.

I wrote a small piece on professional players using their laptop/computer for ONLY poker, which might be useful for you and others going forward (apart from people breaking into your room ):



You can PM me here if you want any further information or have questions
Solid advice, done most of that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by unlucky4me
Nothing missing from any accounts ? They just intended to steal the old fashioned way and cheat you later or what
obviously. Stealing money right away by dumping it is a very hard way to actually get it on stars/fulltilt. Seeing my cards later on is a very easy way.

Quote:
Originally Posted by IWEARGOGGLES
Did you have any banking details stored on your laptop? That is something I would be worried about. I think it is more likely they were looking for that sort of data than trying to superuse you.

GL Jeans/Human.
nope

Quote:
Originally Posted by peterpoker14
how did u book for ur room? u did it yourselfe or stars did it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Masq
I wouldn't hold out hopes for CCTV footage because by the sounds of it they had access to the CCTV to know the window of time when you were out of your room. If they know that much then they can easily delete or have organised it so the cameras weren't working.

When did you book your accommodation and how long have the cameras been "out of action" for?
I played the 50k€ super highroller which automatically guaranteed 4 nights in arts, a pokerstars rep made that booking but the chances are very slim it would have anything to do with him. I would think almost any employee at the hotel can get access to who is staying in what room. They told me my corridor cameras had been out for a week. But tbh I don't believe much of what they have told me so it could be anything.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Go Get It
Jeans, have you all looked into the laws down there relating to casino security? I can't imagine if there really were 8 cameras not working that the casino wasn't in violation of some code or law.
Very good point which I've been thinking about. I'm gonna tell the pokerstars security manager to find this out. Getting anything out of any hotel manager has been almost impossible. Which brings the next question, what would my chances be to get any justice here if there wasn't a big organization like pokerstars who could give them pressure by the deal they have with the hotel, they bring them so much money every year.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 12:00 PM
Ive also been in the hotel for about 5 days and had those calls with no one answering around 15.00 around 2/3 times (maybe I wasn't in my room on other days when they'd call around that time).

Pretty frightening since the crime also seems to have taken place around that time at your room. Normally I always put my laptop in my suitcase w a lock but somehow decided it was safe enough to let it stand on the table in the Arts hotel.

I'll have it formatted tomorrow, and hopefully dodged a very expensive bullet.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 12:01 PM
I wouldn't expect extraordinary help from the hotel since they post notices saying they are not responsible for lost or stolen items, use the safe, do not leave valuables in the rooms, blah blah blah... Things that disappear and reappear must be of even less interest to them.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 12:02 PM
Timex/Jeans,

We're used to standards in the poker community that have been set by the poker community. Speaking as someone who's seen a bit of the way the business community treats it's events, the standards we hold our events to is very low and we as a community, with real power, should do a better job of demanding better for ourselves.

No business convention the size of these EPT events, given the value of the hotel contracts and the money generated by both the venue and Pokerstars, would ever have a breach in security like this and if they did, there's no way it would be treated with such disregard.

Jeans/Ignat, you're high value customers for Pokerstars and recognizable faces for poker, please go to great lengths to force Pokerstars to take this situation seriously as you're acting for all poker players on this one. Best of luck.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 12:02 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeans
I just recieved an update that there are more incidents than just me and Ignat.
The known incidents will be only those few cases where the player happened to return to the room after the laptop was removed but before it was returned. However many they tell you about you should multiply by ~10 to give an indication of how many players' computers have been compromised.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 12:02 PM
This makes me cringe! Hope you find some resolution, and soon.

I recently had a conversation about similar situations after requesting a key to my room during a UKIPT at 4am with no request for ID. I then placed a security note that ID be required for all key requests. Why this isn't something they do on their own is ridiculous and seems standard IMO.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened and I'm sure it won't be the last but situations like this need to be taken seriously. Good luck guys!
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 12:03 PM
To the computer experts (other thread is locked where people were asking questions, sorry a little off topic): Can any kind of trojan/malware/virus, whatever be transferred through cloud based sharing systems like drop box/google?

If I have a bunch of spreadsheets, pdf's, docs, etc. that I open (and save) across multiple devices it won't transfer will it? I would need to move some kind of program or something correct?
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 12:04 PM
Thanks for making this information public Jens & Henri.
Pokerstars needs to step up their game, this is obviously high priority.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 12:05 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by There Is A Light
Who wants to offer me 10/1 that Matt Marafioti is behind this?
Was he rooming with Bleznick?
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 12:15 PM
I haven't read the whole story, but everyone should be aware the hotel cameras anywhere are for the protection of the hotel, not individuals staying in the hotel.

On two different occasions, I've had high value items stolen from the hotel. In both cases, there were cameras that clearly could have caught the perpetrator. They weren't consulted in either case.

In the first case, I was staying in a Radisson in London. In a two hour period, about $3k worth of stuff was stolen, and the hotel refused to check either the camera or the key record (each member of the staff is tracked by a unique magnetic key code). The police came, took the report, and said it happened all the time, nothing much they could do, and the hotels rarely cooperate. I told the hotel that I wasn't going to pay the bill; they told me they would have my passport restricted.

As an aside, cameras within casinos are likewise for the casinos benefit, not yours. If you ever consult the cameras after a poker hand where you are cheated or angle shot, you will find they are no help whatsoever. The camera is focused on the dealer and the chip rack; you cannot even see the players. The field of vision is the betting line, plus an additional two feet, such that you can see the players' stacks and sometimes their arms/hands, but you can't see the players' body or face or anything going on just away from the table.

Brandon
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 12:18 PM
Crazy story, thanks for posting here.

To me, the combination of certain cameras conveniently not working, them not being able to interpret their own logs about who has entered the room, the lack of help from all of security, and the failure to find the culprit in a 5 star hotel all point to one or more people at the casino being in on this.

Also, originally I though that the fact that this happened to 0human0 the next day was an indicator that this probably wasn't an inside job, because surely anyone who saw that their criminal act had been caught and was being investigated would not try it again in the very same hotel... unless of course they were involved in the security themselves and knew nothing would ever come of the investigation.

This is frightening stuff.
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 12:19 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by wins_pot
On two different occasions, I've had high value items stolen from the hotel. In both cases, there were cameras that clearly could have caught the perpetrator. They weren't consulted in either case.

In the first case, I was staying in a Radisson in London. In a two hour period, about $3k worth of stuff was stolen, and the hotel refused to check either the camera or the key record (each member of the staff is tracked by a unique magnetic key code). The police came, took the report, and said it happened all the time, nothing much they could do, and the hotels rarely cooperate. I told the hotel that I wasn't going to pay the bill; they told me they would have my passport restricted.

As an aside, cameras within casinos are likewise for the casinos benefit, not yours. If you ever consult the cameras after a poker hand where you are cheated or angle shot, you will find they are no help whatsoever. The camera is focused on the dealer and the chip rack; you cannot even see the players. The field of vision is the betting line, plus an additional two feet, such that you can see the players' stacks and sometimes their arms/hands, but you can't see the players' body or face or anything going on just away from the table.

Brandon
+1 to all of this
My unbelievable EPT Barcelona story. Hotel rooms in arts barcelona broken into to plant trojans Quote
09-06-2013 , 12:23 PM
the fact that you guys only know of this because you unexpectedly returned to your hotelroom to find your laptop gone and magically reappear later on makes me cringe real bad, especially since it is not just one such incident, but several with the exact same story(missing laptop returned laptop because of an unexpected return to hotelroom)which makes me believe that the amount of infected is potentially HUGE. I think it is safe to say that the amount of ppl that DID NOT stumble onto a missing laptop is much bigger than those who did.


I mean, if they only targeted 1 or 2 players they would not **** up this bad as they would have scouts out and so on, but this is clearly operated on a huge scale and they try to get as many as possible, quantity over quality so to speak which is probably not so bad, as ppl are very careful nowadays towards new nicks that plays really wierd and straight up beasts you, so they figure that they would want to hit as many as possible as they would probably not win that many buyins of a nosebleeder anyway before he realizes somethings up(?) /speculation
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