Quote:
Originally Posted by ZenX
My case is slightly different in that I am Canadian, and according to Pokerstars security my account was accessed from Lethbridge, Alberta. ( Approximately 300kms from where I live.) Pokerstars security did an investigation and concluded that my account had in fact been hacked, but any money lost from fradulent deposits was my responsibility as I did not do everything in my power to protect my account. Even though I have never shared my password, never logged on from any device other than my own, and my account had a unique password.
The breach occured on Nov 24, 2014 in the Afternoon. I was playing on my cell phone on pokerstars mobile. I logged out after my session, and within minutes I received an email saying that my account was accessed by a new device. I wasnt alarmed at first, because before I was able to play on mobile there was a software update, so I just assumed that the new software registered my mobile as a new device. A couple of minutes after that, I received an email saying that my self imposed deposit limit of $20usd has succesfully been increased to $1500USD/Week. This was followed be six consecutive deposit request emails. 5 were Declined and one was approved. ( Transaction ID#1172093006 $181.45 USD - Approved#1172093188 $345.62 USD- Declined#1172093501 $95.04 USD - Declined#1172093853 $371.54 USD - Declined#1172094336 $181.45 USD - Declined#1172098486 $380.12 USD - Declined). Subsequent emails with Pokerstars security indicated that the deposits were done with 3 different credit cards.
Thanks to the fact that I got the emails from Pokerstars, I was able to contact them and let them know that my account had been breached, and after about 45 minutes they were able to freeze my account. I had approximately $38 USD on my account. The hacker played a $200 Hyper 6 max sitngo and lost, leaving my account with $22. Pokerstars deducted the amount of the fradulent deposit from my account leaving me with a balance of -$159.16. I was told that I would have to cover this amount if I wanted my account reinstated.
After all of this I carefully scanned both my computer and my phone and found no virus or malware. None of my other online accounts were comprimised at all. ( My full tilt account was suspended as soon as I reported the breach with Pokerstars, so I dont know if any login attempts were made)
I havent made up the short fall in my account, as I wasnt convinced that the security breach was not on Pokerstars end. I was also frustrated by the fact that I used the companies own responsible gaming feature to limit my deposits to $20 per week, and with just a single click of a button it was able to be increased by $1480. Whats the point of having responsible gaming features if they can be changed that easily? ( I had these limits for many months, apparently Pokerstars policy is that after 7 days you can change the settings. I wasnt aware of this. I actually thought that if you wanted to change them that there was a 7 day waiting period, which makes much more sense.) If they had respected the limits I had set, none of this would have happened.
I dont imagine that I will be able to regain access to my account, but I am hoping that this thread will flush out more people this has happened to, which in turn will cause Pokerstars to investigate these cases more closely. And hopefully the community can put pressure on Pokerstars to not put the burden of repaying fradulent transactions on their customers. ( After they investigate and realize that the customer was not at fault of course) And also to serve as warning for current Pokerstars users to use the extra security features available so that they dont have to go through this as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZenX
This quote bothered me the most. " Relatively low" I personally had approximately $38 in my account. Yes, 98% of two plus twoers would laugh out loud at this amount. After my account was hacked, which a Pokerstars investigation clearly showed was a deliberate hack on my account, my balance was -$159.16. Again, not an amount that would be considered anything but "relatively low" by Pokerstars standards. I am a recreational player, like many other in this category, I have deposited many times over the years. I wouldnt be surprised if the number of deposits totalled over $10,000. I never withdrew even once. I would love to see the total number of rake that was made off of my account over the years. I am sure it well exceeds the the $159.16 that was stolen. After all of these years as a loyal customer contributing to your bottom line, I was the victim of an unscrupulous criminal, that robbed me of my meager bankroll. How do you repond to this? By acting as though I was at fault, and making me feel as if I had done something wrong by not securing my account effectively.
Well guess what Michael? $159.16 is not a relatively low number in my household. As a single working parent, its not something that I can afford to cover. As I stated in my emails to Pokerstars security, I was willing to take the hit on the loss of my bankroll, and work with you to ensure that my account info was secure on my end. But this wasnt good enough. No, you wanted me to cover the loss that was incurred by some criminal who gained access to my account. And I know ive stated it before, but it deserves repeating. If Pokerstars has respected the deposit limits I had in place, this never would have been an issue. If you are serious about having responsibly gaming procedures in place, then make them harder to change. ( Even a 24 hr period before responsible gaming limits are changed would have work in this case.)
If my summary is correct, according to this poster:
1. He played from a recognized device (personal cell phone).
2. Just
MINUTES later, someone logged into his account from a
new device.
3. That someone was
300km away from the poster.
Michael, is nothing triggered within PokerStars' security system when users "travel" 300km in a matter of minutes
AND log in from a new device? Wait, there's more:
4. Whoever logged in from hundreds of kilometers away on a new device minutes after the poster accessed his account from his personal cell phone raised the poster's
long-established deposit limit from $20 to $1,500.
5. Then whoever logged in tried to process 6 transactions with 3 separate credit cards; 5 transactions were declined and 1 was accepted.
6. Then whoever logged in registered for a $200 hyper sitngo - I would assume that's not a game the poster normally plays.
Did I summarize that correctly? If so, it's hard for me to understand if none of these individual factors trigger a red flag. But it would actually blow my mind if these factors
in aggregate don't trigger security alerts within PokerStar's system.
Can you explain?
Last edited by Willyoman; 03-18-2015 at 11:36 PM.