Hello everyone,
I'm posting my issue to get any help I can find on here. Hopefully a PokerStars employee on this forum will see this and and advise me accordingly. This might be a long post but I dont want to leave any details out.
My Pokerstars username is 'bigmykk', registered my account on November 17th or 18th, 2016. I played and overall had lost about $150 when I decided to withdraw $250 on the 7th of December despite the warning that I would lose out on the deposit bonus if I did so.
9th December,
Cash out on hold, I'm asked for my verification documents, which I go on and submit.
13th December,
Pokerstars sends me an email informing me that my documents have been denied for poor image quality. I take better quality images which I submit together with an apology for poor ones I had sent on the 9th.
20th December,
I finish 2nd in a $2.2 tournament for $191 in a 3 way chop.
22nd December,
I send pokerstars an email asking why this is taking so long? Email is pasted below.....
> Sent: 12/22/16 04:15:58
> Subject: Cashier Complaints (.COM) Pending Cash out
>
> Hello Cashier,
> It's been 2 weeks since I submitted a cash out request, and it's been a week since I submitted my account verification documents but I have no clue what's going on. I didn't realize this would take this long because Pokerstars has a reputation for being efficient especially in this area to the players. My request is that you please sort me out.
>
> Thanks a lot,
> Michael.
22nd December still,
I get a reply 7 hours later from stars security that isn't talking about my concerns in the email they are replying to, but rather infrorming me that my account has been restricted because they noticed multiple failed logins from a foreign location without my knowledge. Email is pasted below.....
"Hello Michael,
Thank you for your email.
Your account has been restricted as we have noticed several failed logins from a foreign location without your knowledge. We have conducted a full investigation into your account and we can confirm that your account remained safe thanks to the activation of the Challenge Questions.
With regards to the bankroll in your account, fortunately there was no real money activity during this access.
In order to reinstate your account with a new password and PIN, we would like to ask you to please:
1. Scan / reformat your computer and remove any virus or malwares detected
2. Change the password on your e-mail account.
3. Confirm that you have taken these steps.
4. Provide us with a clear digital photo of you holding your ID document (please make sure your equipment is clean from keyloggers before sending, to avoid compromising). Please make sure that your full name, date of birth and the expiry date of the document are clearly readable.
You can send this to
security@starsaccount.com
Your cooperation is appreciated. We look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Enrico,
Stars Security."
24th December,
I go on and do everything they asked me to do in this email. Then I remind them about the pending cash out plus my verification documents which were the subject of my complaint but were not mentioned at all in their account restricting reply. Email is pasted below......
> Sent: 12/24/16 11:24:48
> Subject: Security Document Request (.COM) Photo of me holding my ID
>
> Hello Stars security,
> I got a request to submit a photo of me holding my ID, which is attached below.
>
> I'd also like to confirm that I've scanned and formatted my laptop, and I've changed all my passwords include the one for the email address.
>
> However, I still haven't got a confirmation from you on whether my verification documents submitted 9 days ago were approved or not. I've therefore attached them again for your consideration. Please zoom in to view every detail clearly. My cash out is still pending because of this.
>
> Thanks for the help.
>
> Regards,
> Michael
24th December still,
I get a reply from them which is detailing steps on how to reset my stars password, and telling me that my challenge questions were removed.....
Hello Michael,
Thank you for your email.
We have now removed your challenge questions. We strongly advise you to set up challenge questions again as this feature allows you to further secure your Stars Account. You can set it up by clicking on Account menu > Security Questions and then Setup Security Questions. Once setup you will receive confirmation. You may edit/remove the questions at any time using these steps.
To reset your password in the software here is the step-by-step walkthrough on how to reset your password using our Password Reset feature.
1) Start the playing software
2) Click "Log In"
3) Click "Forgot Password / Stars ID?"
4) Fill in the information
5) Click "Submit"
6) You should see the following message: "A temporary password has been sent to your registered email address."
If you cannot reset your password we need to ask you a few questions that only the account holder would know. Please do your best to answer the following questions:
1) What is your registered date of birth?
2) What is your registered phone number?
3) Please mention a previous deposit/cashout method that you have used on your Stars Account.
4) Please provide the Stars ID of a player to whom you have transferred funds or that has transferred funds to you.
5) Any additional information that may help us verify ownership (e.g. previously registered mailing/email address, approximate current balance, last login, image on your Stars Account).
If you feel you are unable to recall the answers to all of the above questions then please email us a clear digital photograph of your driver's license, or other government issued photo identification, ensuring that the details are visible.
Please scan or take a digital photo of your identification and send it to
security@starsaccount.com.
Thank you for taking the time to complete these questions, we apologize for any inconvenience caused by our security measures. They have been established to prevent any unauthorised access.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Rebecca M.
Stars Security
To enhance the security of your Stars Account, we strongly encourage you to set up our additional security features; Stars PIN, SMS Verification, RSA Token and Security Questions. Activation of these features is extremely simple and can be completed within the ‘Account’ menu in our software.
We will NEVER ask you to confirm your login credentials or password via email, phone or chat facility or in any way. We do not advise giving your login information to anyone under any circumstances.
I go on and reset my password, I add my challenge questions again, and the last correspondence I get from pokerstars is on 28th December and it's....
"Hello bigmykk,
Your Security Questions have been added to your Stars Account as requested.
As a security precaution, this email has been sent to ensure that you have authorized this change.
If you did not authorize this change, please contact "Stars Security" <security@starsaccount.com> immediately.
Regards,
Stars Security"
I sent them another email on the 30th December ranting,chow come I'm not able to access real money games since 22nd, and my cash out and verification issue haven't been addressed at all in any of the emails. Haven't received a word from pokerstars again to this minute.
My request is for everyone to look at these correspondences and tell me what's going on. If an employee of pokerstars is here, please help me look into my issue because I'm pretty sure I've been really patient but nothing here shows at which point my cashout or verification process is at. And why my account is restricted and I can't play any real money games. It's like pokerstars is wearing a hoodie and shades at the same time.
It's all frustrating but I'm trying my best to be understanding as regards to player safety and how stars handles those issues. However, I think they should let me know if there's something am doing that has brought us to this point, which they haven't mentioned anywhere. They haven't even accused me of anything. They are just quiet. Are they just buying time as they dig up some dirt on me? I need to play, and I need to know I can cash out any time if I want to.
Thanks in advance for the help.
*
My account has been reinstated. No word yet about the cash out delay.
*
Everything is clear now. Cash out has been approved. Mod can close this thread now.
*
They told me my account had been reinstated and I was welcome to their tables and to carry out real money transactions. To which I asked why my cash out was still pending after close to a month. And they replied on the 6th informing me it had been approved and the delay was to carry out a thorough investigation of my account.
I think this delay was mainly because many of them were home for the holidays and there were few people left in support to handle all these issues quickly.
Last edited by Mike Haven; 01-09-2017 at 08:39 AM.
Reason: 4 posts merged