Max Ashkar fugitive from law after scamming huge sums from online poker world via trojan. - Page 4 - Poker News

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Max Ashkar fugitive from law after scamming huge sums from online poker world via trojan.

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11-01-2011 , 01:54 AM

#76

isolated.

banned

Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 1,248

Quote:

Originally Posted by feruell

It's interesting that all these scammers are so stupid.

The scary thing is that our sample consist only of the cheaters that got caught.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meatballer

THis.

it would be "THis" if the statement wasn't so contradictory.

Quote

11-01-2011 , 01:58 AM

#77

SHnewbie

grinder

Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 496

Quote:

Originally Posted by timex

Wow, I am shocked to hear this. I've met him at several live tournaments, gone to meals with him, gone partying with him, he's told me I can stay with him if I'm ever in London etc.

I will say of all the scandals I've seen in the online poker world involving someone I know, this is definitely the one that surprised me the most. Max honestly struck me as the type of guy who was fairly likely to get scammed since he was just extremely trusting of everyone and just struck me as kinda friendly/naive more so than calculating/manipulative. I guess he was just so calculating/manipulative that I didn't see through it at all. Wow, I honestly would have probably put Max as being one of the top 5% of high stakes players least likely to be up to something shady.

I also had dinner with Max a couple times while at an EPT event and he seemed like a standup guy. He invited me out to a house where he was staying with some other high stakes poker players as well. I didn't find the invitation that odd at the time, as he came across as an overly friendly guy, but I had no intention of taking him up on it since we had only talked for a short while. Luckily I met him right before Black Friday, and he was nowhere near any of my computers, so I feel safe.

I haven't read this entire thread yet, but I am shocked to hear these allegations as he did come across as a very friendly guy.

lozingitall

Quote

11-01-2011 , 02:05 AM

#78

vetiver

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 7,757

Wow, played with him at WSOP. Liked to brag about expensive dinners & bottle service at clubs ("so sick, so sick"), but generally seemed friendly and not scummy like a lot of live players you might encounter. Crazy if true. Never ending slew of scammers.

Quote

11-01-2011 , 02:13 AM

#79

timex

Bonafide 9

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 7,886

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaMz123

Im not Shocked. Its weird to always wanna come hang out even though not invited. If we wouldnt answer the phone, he would call several people in the group to try to get in on our activities somehow. I see what u mean with the friendly and naive stuff and he really seems to be a gentle and nice guy but I gotta say, we kinda suspected it.

He shows up at big tournament weeks but seldom plays the bigger events or even main events and he is impossible to say no to. Its very hard to keep him away from you once you have started a relationship and when ur unsuspecting in the beginning and its all dinners and smiles of course hes gonna be around ur house/hotelroom on different trips and if its true just need a few secs to put the trojan in.

Probably wont see him at any events for a while now...

Ya, in hindsight it all makes sense, but I'm still quite shocked that a scammer like this would make himself so visible. I wasn't aware he wasn't playing the tournaments, I never ask people too many questions about the schedule they're playing but obviously its pretty odd to travel the poker circuit without playing in the big tournaments. Ugh, its so terrible for poker that people like this are so common

Quote

11-01-2011 , 02:40 AM

#80

themuppets

old hand

Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 1,629

Quote:

Originally Posted by Land Of The Free?

Let's say that whenever you're not at your computer it's on stand by with password required to log back in, can someone **** with it or is it safe?

You can go a step further than this and require a password in order to boot the computer (should be able to find this somewhere in your CMOS/BIOS settings). This prevents someone from booting to an alternate OS from a CD-ROM or USB drive unless they know the boot password.

Quote

11-01-2011 , 02:51 AM

#81

SoLost

old hand

Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 1,888

so was he doing all the cheating through the mexx86 account? because ronny went on a 400k downswing but i thought most of it was at 6max 100/200 etc where mexx wasn't playing

also + 1 to teddy, waiting for proof

Quote

11-01-2011 , 03:27 AM

#82

JohnnyDrama030

old hand

Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 1,200

if the guy really got away with it for more than half a year and more than 2 million $ you got to wonder how many small time versions of him are out there. girah did kind of the same thing but in a really obvious/stupid way so he got caught early.

looks like its not to hard to get the software. the hard part is to get it on peoples computers without getting caught.

Quote

11-01-2011 , 04:12 AM

#83

pkchamp

grinder

Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 583

I wonder what online will be like when it finally gets regulated. It seems like now you get ****ed by Jungle Law(directly or indirectly) but with regulation you probably just get ****ed by the rake. Lets hope some knowledgeable players have some sort of input.

also +1 to the sample of cheats comment.

Quote

11-01-2011 , 04:35 AM

#84

timtowdi

journeyman

Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 217

Another good security measure and overall a good practice to keep your pc running fast. If you are not sure, pay a guy who is good with computers to set this up:

1. Create a secondary partition on your HDD (windows will see this as a second drive)
2. Re-format first partition with a clean install of windows
3. Use an image program like Norton Ghost to capture image of 1st partition which will be saved onto the second partition.
4. Every month or so you re-install your captured image from 2nd partition onto your 1st and you will have a clean install of windows without the hassle of re-installing windows.

Quote

11-01-2011 , 05:10 AM

#85

wotutalkinabaaat

adept

Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 858

[QUOTE=timtowdi;29585943]Another good security measure and overall a good practice to keep your pc running fast. If you are not sure, pay a guy who is good with computers to set this up:

1. insert USB with special Trojan (shouldnt it be Greek LDO) protection software on.
2. feel safe and secure.
3. Fap

Quote

11-01-2011 , 06:23 AM

#86

z1pz0r

newbie

Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 37

Quote:

Originally Posted by teddyFBI

I'm still waiting to see a shred of evidence.

Anyone?

The vienna guy is from pokerstrategy and has blogged about this 3 months ago.

Quote

11-01-2011 , 06:51 AM

#87

albin

journeyman

Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 226

He sat next to me in a tournament in Madrid and he started to speak with me. He seemed friendly and it turned out we had played the same games lot. He asked for my Skype and got it.

When I told my friend that I spook to him it turns out that he already had him on Skype since a long time back (or maybe AIM) as 1 of the 3-5 poker player he has added there over the last 5 years (Not remembering how they exchange details).

1-2 months after Madrid he told me that he wanted to come and visit me in Sweden (Never did). Think I saw him exchange one phone number and one email address other then mine under the the 3-4 hours I played with him.

Quote

11-01-2011 , 07:57 AM

#88

TheDrew

grinder

Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 430

He could also see any of the victims emailing, looking at porn, or perhaps talking to their naked boyfriends on webcam.

In all seriousness, he could have gathered a lot of stuff that might be of use to him now that this poker scam has gone sour. Banking info being one of these things. I hope he hasn't spent a lot of this money and all of you get adequately reimbursed.

Quote

11-01-2011 , 09:09 AM

#89

hav0c

adept

Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 936

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDrew

the latter is a lot harder to use imho if he is from the UK. super-usering is a lot tougher to track especially if Mexx86:

plays games that aren't tracked on PTR
is not a ******

actually kinda curious how this got out, did someone catch him in the process?

Quote

11-01-2011 , 09:16 AM

#90

BigBobs

enthusiast

Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 66

Quote:

Originally Posted by z1pz0r

The vienna guy is from pokerstrategy and has blogged about this 3 months ago.

link?

Quote

11-01-2011 , 09:22 AM

#91

marquizz

newbie

Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 21

Quote:

Originally Posted by z1pz0r

The vienna guy is from pokerstrategy and has blogged about this 3 months ago.

the vienna guy mentioned in the articels is 99% not the guy who blogged about some curiousity in his games. the blogger lives in london and is a german and has nothing to do with vienna. but he is one of the dozen guys who got scammed by mexx86

Quote

11-01-2011 , 09:30 AM

#92

handbag86

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 3,557

How come the Funkyworms thread was very quickly shut down without any evidence, yet this one remains open? There seems to be no evidence in the articles posted, and the word "possible" mentioned several times.

Last edited by handbag86; 11-01-2011 at 09:31 AM. Reason: translation though..

Quote

11-01-2011 , 09:59 AM

#93

JohnnyDrama030

old hand

Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 1,200

my english is not the best so the translation might not be 100% accurate but here are some quotes of his blog.

Quote:

Originally Posted by trader

Mal nen paar objektive Meinungen bitte zu folgender Story:

Some objective opinions on this story please:

Ich glaube auf Partypoker hat jemand einen Weg gefunden meine Karten zu sehen und nimmt mich jetzt systematisch aus...

I think someone on party poker can see my cards.

Ich schreibe mal die Gründe, warum ich das denke absteigend nach Wichtigkeit:

here are the reason why i think so, downward of importance.

1. Wir haben 20 Games gespielt. Score 1:19

1. We played 20 games. Score 1:19

2. Der besagte Spieler spielt NUR mich

2. player in question only plays against me.

3. Er spielt laut ptr keine Cashgames

3. According to ptr he doesnt play cashgames.

4. Er catcht jeden Bluff, payed mich gleichzeitig so gut wie nie off und macht die sickesten Valuebets

5. He catches every bluff, almost never pays me off and makes the sickest valuebets.

5. Er 1tablet nur, tankt aber dennoch vor jeder Entscheidung 10-15sec, so als würde er immer darüber nachdenken, wie er die Hand sinnvoll spielt, dass ihm im Nachhinein kein Cheating nachgesagt werden kann.

5. hes only one-tabling but tanks every decission 10-15 secs, like hes thinking about the hand, so afterwards no one can say he is cheating.

6. Er kommt aus Deutschland (sprich könnte ein deutscher Pokerspieler sein, der mir per Skype nen Trojaner oder so geschickt hat)

6. He is from Germany (possibly a german player who send me a trojan on skype)

Die Antwort vom Partysupport war das gewöhnlcihe Blabla, dass sie wohl jedem Fisch antworten, der sich grade über "Cheating" beschwert, weil seine Aces heute zum 2.mal ausgesuckt wurden...

Response of paryt poker support is the standard blabla they tell every random fish.

Whats my line??

Quote:

Originally Posted by trader

Es ist nicht so, dass er jeden Tag da ist, die Games sind über 4-6 Wochen zustande gekommen...ich quitte immer schnell, er opensittet nie und joint immer nur mich, obwohl viele andere Regs die Lobbies opensitten. Sprich wenn ich quitte und die Lobby verlasse, hört er auch auf zu spielen...Das macht für mich einfach keinen Sinn...
Das eine Game hab ich per Suckout pre gewonnen :x

He doesnt play every day, we played the games over 4-6 weeks....i allways quit pretty fast, he never oppensits and only joins me besides the fact that there are plenty of other regs in the lobby. When i quit and leave the lobby he stops playing. Doesnt make sense to me.
The one game i won was suckout preflop all in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by trader

Ok ich habe noch einen Fakt, der mir jetzt praktisch 100% sicher sein lässt bzgl. des Cheatingverdachts...

Mir ist grade aufgefallen, dass besagter Spieler 2 Games gegen einen anderen Spieler hat, die er beide verloren hat!
Daraufhin habe ich diesen Spieler gesharkscoped und er hatte nur 6 Spiele. Die 2 besagten und 4weitere...ratet mal gegen wen und ratet mal den Score...

Das kann unmöglich alles Zufall sein.

Ok here is another fact that makes me almost 100% sure he is cheating.

I just realised the player in question played 2 games against another player which he lost both.

So i checked this players sharkscope account and he only had 6 games. The 2 games i mentioned and another 4 games.....guess against who and guess the score....

Cant be coincidence.

Quote

11-01-2011 , 10:10 AM

#94

monkiii

Hottest 4Lifer '10

Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 2,029

Quote:

Originally Posted by hav0c

actually kinda curious how this got out, did someone catch him in the process?

me too. but guessing they put things together. weird guy uses ur laptop, suddenly starts to "read souls" and crush you. somehow they also must've found the trojan?
I guess there's a small chance he's innocent, but (if true) it's extremely strange to want to use everyones laptop when you go visit some guys grind house (esp when you barely know them).

also curious on this chatting with naked boyfriends, pls inbox me the pics.

Quote

11-01-2011 , 10:32 AM

#95

z1pz0r

newbie

Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 37

quote from his blog:

Quote:

Since online and offline media will be flooded next days with news anyway, the biggest and sickest scam in online history will be public soon. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but you will see the news about it soon.

I was hoping it won't get public but it seems like some ppl did make mistakes and since so many are involved it was only a question of time. So I can blog about it.
So fkn sick. I knew him quite well, we were together in Vegas and actually also spent some time together after Vegas and he was also very close with my closest Austrian Poker Friends. Some of us are rly hurt super hard. Sick, I mean there is nothing you can do when you share your home, office, cars, parties etc

hope he doesn't mind it

Quote

11-01-2011 , 10:53 AM

#96

marquizz

newbie

Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 21

Quote:

Originally Posted by z1pz0r

quote from his blog:

Since online and offline media will be flooded next days with news anyway, the biggest and sickest scam in online history will be public soon. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but you will see the news about it soon.

I was hoping it won't get public but it seems like some ppl did make mistakes and since so many are involved it was only a question of time. So I can blog about it.
So fkn sick. I knew him quite well, we were together in Vegas and actually also spent some time together after Vegas and he was also very close with my closest Austrian Poker Friends. Some of us are rly hurt super hard. Sick, I mean there is nothing you can do when you share your home, office, cars, parties etc
hope he doesn't mind it

hope he doesn't mind it

here is a link to this:
http://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/t...ser=0&page=219

Quote

11-01-2011 , 12:22 PM

#97

teddyFBI

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 6,596

Quote:

Originally Posted by teddyFBI

I'm still waiting to see a shred of evidence.

Anyone?

Bump.

I see nothing but allegations ITT and assumptions by others that they're true.

Quote

11-01-2011 , 12:27 PM

#98

rendalli

grinder

Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 597

Quote:

Originally Posted by z1pz0r

quote from his blog:

who is "his"?

Quote

11-01-2011 , 12:43 PM

#99

shmurrrr

centurion

Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 198

so from what I heard, the scammed ppl got an IT guy to check their pcs/laptops. He then spotted the backdoor and was able to route it back to M.A.

its rumors, but sounds legit to me.

hope this max guy gets himself a big chunk of well-deserved punishment.

Quote

11-01-2011 , 01:06 PM

#100

Kim Jong 12

grinder

Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 629

Quote:

Originally Posted by monkiii

how did he "install" the trojans? and how the hell did they [the victims] not notice it sooner? did he just "hey bro, let me deactivate ur fw/av real quick so I can surf some shady ass porn here for a while on ur pc, and u know, I have to fap so u probably shouldn't be here"?