Hello, dear community. My nickname on PokerStars is Piratzzzz. I have been playing on this platform all my life. In February this year, I received a notice about the temporary suspension of my account. PokerStars support asked me to provide all my card and account transactions from the past year, which I did, with accompanying explanations.

Unfortunately, I live in Belarus, a country with strict restrictions due to sanctions. To withdraw money, I had to exchange funds from Skrill to cryptocurrency or WebMoney through exchanges. In essence, I made deposits with WebMoney, won on PokerStars, withdrew to Skrill, and then made exchanges. This practice, particularly due to the significant amount exchanged on P2P platforms, seems to have caused issues with the security department. As a result, my account was permanently blocked in June.

This ban has had a profound impact on me, as PokerStars was my primary poker room. Here is the letter I received from PokerStars:
_______________
Hello Yaroslav,
Thanks for reaching out.
Running risk assessment checks on accounts is part of our internal security process.
Your account hasn't passed our screening process. As a result, we have had to permanently close your account.
For security reasons, we can't discuss the details with you and our decision on this is final.
We understand your disappointment. We've added the Terms of Service here if you want to go over them:
As stated in our General Terms:
"The General Terms apply to your access and use of the Services. By clicking to accept the General Terms when you create an Account, or otherwise accessing or using any part of the Services, a contract is created and you will be legally bound by the General Terms and any additional terms and conditions that form part of the General Terms (these are listed in Part A Section 21 and called ”Rules”).”
“We may close your Account at any time for any reason in our discretion (which we don’t have to tell you) by giving you reasonable notice."
Thanks for your time.
____________________

I don't understand why PokerStars security team didn't warn me against P2P trading. Why was I permanently blocked instead of just being told not to withdraw to Skrill? Despite this, after the block, I asked about the remaining funds in my account. They asked me for my preferred withdrawal method, and I chose Skrill.

However, it's now been over a month. I email them weekly, but I keep receiving the same response: my request is being processed and I should wait for updates. The support representative has been responsive and hasn't ignored me, which I appreciate.

What should I do in this situation? I greatly appreciate and love PokerStars. I've been playing there for 12 years, and even after the block, I don't want to argue with them. However, I want to withdraw my money (around $4,000). Can anyone advise me on how to proceed?

Additionally, I want to appeal to PokerStars management to review my case. I would love the chance to play on PokerStars again. I'm not a fraudster; if they tell me not to do something, I will comply. Is there a way to directly contact them?

Note: This message was translated using a translation software, so please bear with any inaccuracies or errors.

Upd, They asked in a polite manner to again provide documents confirming the address of residence. Although they asked a month ago. I took an extract from the bank with seals so that there were no questions.I Sended. Again they wrote - wait for updates.
I'm already starting to think about a letter to the licensor. It's terrible

Thus, the case is resolved, and my funds have been restored. I want to express my sincere thanks to the Pokerstars team for their rapid resolution of the refund situation and their consistent communication with me throughout.

Reflecting on the whole situation, I want to highlight the following points - the responsibility for the account block lies with me. Before conducting exchanges on the exhange and transactions involving deposits and withdrawals, I should have discussed this with the support team. Yes, I did not violate any rules, but I now realize that I should have clarified first whether such exchanges could affect my account. Making deposits through one method, playing, and then withdrawing through another method multiple times, indeed, should have been approved by the support team.

Despite the block, I can't say a bad word about Pokerstars - I've been playing and earning there for 12 years. It's one of the best platforms out there. I'll try to write to the management, asking for a second chance and offering a financial guarantee. But I'm not sure how possible that is.

This discussion can be considered closed...

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. Although Belarus supporting Russia really enflames political tensions the individual stories about those who are hurt by sanctions can be really sad to hear. Sanctions are there to put pressure on men like you to complain to your government or cause unrest to change the political behavior of your country.

I'm not saying that is why they are being so harsh on you but I can almost guarantee if you lived in France or something probably you would get more sympathy. I could be wrong though.

In any case, I'm rooting for you and hope that they reverse their decision because losing your source of income hurts.

What has poker got to do with a war?Any war at all?
It was one of the most idiotic thing to do,starting to ban russian players.In the meantime,gg poker hasnt banned any russians and the room is having 10 times more players than stars.I guess it was a strategical move by having the entire US market.

They're getting scummier by the day these globalist rats. Banning people for using the accepted facilities LMAO. Wtf is the problem with withdrawing to a different route than you've deposited. Just wtf is that supposed to mean? So you're telling me if you deposit via debit card then withdraw via bank transfer that's money laundering???

It's been coming a long time but believe me ALL gambling of any sort worldwide will soon be banned. Of course in line with #agenda2030, the digital imprisonment of humans.

Everyone is making money on all sides of gambling.So why would they ban something that brings loads of money all over the world?They also banned drugs since long time ago and yet the drug business is rising every year
Around 95% out of any goverment's money is digital,so it's not a big deal anyway.That paper where the value it's printed it's worthless if it doesnt have a digital backup,to sustain the value of that paper

Hello, I found myself in the same situation as you. I described it in more detail here if you are interested: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/3...dvice-1824890/

I wanted to ask you how quickly you received your refund? Can you share the advice you wrote to PS support? I have already received account closure, they promised to return the funds, but I have been waiting for a month and receiving letters asking me to wait. This is terrible, I'm about to contact the licensee asking for help.