So I go to pay a bill last week and my debit card does not work. I called my bank and this was the convo:

me: "I am trying to pay my electric bill and it has declined the transaction. I know I have money in the account so I was wondering what the issue was? I am also concerned that I had a credit card card ach payment coming out of my account today and I logged in online and it hasn't been pulled from my account. Is there an issue with your systems?"

Bank: "We will have to transfer you to our security department, one moment please"

Security: "We have frozen your account and canceled your debit card as Law Enforcement called us and reported your card stolen."

me: "I am in possession of my card. I am looking at it now."

Security: "I am sorry about this, however we had to act when we got a call from law enforcement......hold on a minute....."

me: silent and puzzled but I kinda figure this has something to do with poker. I haven't deposited to either of those sites in over 6 months and I use this mastercard regularly to pay for everyday items. The odd thing out was the poker deposits.

Security: "I am sorry we had to cancel your card, however we had to act after we got a call from Law Enforcement. I will need to review some transactions with you before unlocking your account."

He proceeds to ask me about my several full tilt and players only deposits which of course all come from various overseas merchants. I told him that I had authorized every one of the transactions, and did not mention anything about poker. I told him I was buying cheap merchandise overseas and selling it on ebay. He told me he would send a new debit card to me and unlock my account. He would also authorize the ach debit from my CC that was on hold due to my frozen account. I received my new card the next day and all was well.


I wasn't even going to post this, but I was inspired to after reading this thread:
FBI show up at friends house about FT
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/57...out-ft-716470/


I don't mean to scare anybody and I will continue to play on pokerstars, however I think I may drop Full Tilt and Players Only for the time being (perhaps the Feds are mad at them for not coding their transactions correctly?) I'm also wondering if anyone else had this happen to them, as I can't believe that I would be the only card# they grabbed.

I missed why you think this incident has anything to with poker or your deposit from 6 plus months ago???

FWIW what state are you in??

It sounds like they were worried that someone stole your CC #. They might have thought these transactions with the sites were suspicious and froze your card to protect you. The only part I don't understand is how law enforcement got involved. How did law enforcement know of your CC transactions, why did they think it suspicious, and why were they the ones to contact your CC company?

He said they asked about specific transactions and they were all the old poker deposits.

What I find curious is they're asking about these transactions six months after they happened and the card has been used for many transactions after that. If this is true and the full story then either the people at the bank are stupid or they're giving you a bs story. If that is what they were told by "law enforcement" don't they think you'd have reported the card as lost/stolen way before now?

Yeah this is totally S.O.P. of the bank to question some weird overseas transactions. Whats very odd is cancelling my debit mastercard that is supposed to be valid for a few more years without my concent, due to a call from Law Enforcement.

Why would the Law tell them it was stolen when I possess the physical card? Also I haven't made deposits in over 6 months (probably more like a year ago) with that card until recently. I've been using that bank for over 8 years and never once had my account frozen.

maybe they arrested someone who had a copy of your card or they arrested someone who had a computer database of stolen cared #s and yours was in it

I mistyped earlier in the original post (cant seem to edit that, only replies)...I hadn't used the card in over 6 months *until recently*. It wasn't until the DC area snowstorm a few weeks ago that I couldn't get out to reload my prepaid for stars, that I used my everyday card on sites which it worked on.

True. I am not ruling out the possibility this is totally unrelated to poker transactions and it was a coincidence that the bank questioned me on these as all my other transactions were from the US. I decided to post the story to find out if it was just an isolated incident.

+1

If it came from law enforcement, this is what it is. Otherwise, you'd have been asked quite directly to refrain from making online gaming transactions before getting your card back (if at all).

Op, what I don't get is why you are using your everyday bank account to do business with poker sites. This forum is full of horror stories of people who've had their accounts closed by banks because it was determined they were making transactions involving gambling. Don't be That Guy.

Get thee an All-Access pre-paid card to put money on. There's incidental transaction fees, but it beats having a repeat this issue (or worse, having to re-adjust all your financials because your bank closed your account).

If you're really baller and doing allot of withdrawals/deposits, open a second account strictly for this. It's not that hard, or expensive. Most banks allow an account to remain open with only a minimal (say $20) balance. If that one gets closed, you're bills are still getting paid and your direct deposit is still coming, and your not stuck at a restaurant on a date trying to pay with an ice-scraper.

Just an suggestion...

I've used a credit card as an ice scraper before. Never thought of trying it the other way around.

Aside from the use of the term "Law Enforcement," this seems like standard bank security department operations. Did the bank mention which "Law Enforcement" branch contacted them?

FWIW, I have tried numerous cards for online gambling transactions over the past five years, and it has been more often than not that I have had to clear transactions with the issuing bank's security department. Back in the Party days I made a deposit via the old prepaid phone card purchase method, and the bank instainstanstablocked my credit card and was calling my home phone number within two minutes.

If the bank issued you a new card and didnt close your account, I doubt this has anything to do with gambling

I spent 20+ years in law enforcement and I've never heard of anyone in law enforcement calling up a bank and reporting someone's card as stolen. Never. Cards are seized, owners are notified (and told THEY need to call THEIR bank), traces are put on them, etc., but I have NEVER heard of an officer calling a bank and reporting a card stolen that wasn't theirs.

Here's my second problem with this story. You state on 2/26/10:

But on another site, you stated on 12/03/09:



You were a "...daily FTP player..." "...from 2005-2007..." then you "...Went to Pstars and never looked back."

How do you reconcile that?

Similar message[s] posted on 2+2:

Nice work sba9630, this guy should be banned. Obviously he has an motive to slander FullTilt

+1

OP's "I think I may drop Full Tilt" seems disingenuous. Regardless, the thread has run its course. As OP received a new card, this is clearly not an online poker issue. I'll go ahead and lock the thread.