4 ms·

Customer support gave up the con on a phone call? I imagine with a little more effort they could have been indistinguishable from a legitimate business.

pilsetnieks 9y ago
They wouldn't be very good at serving their "legitimate" customers then: Customer: "Hi, umm, it looks like I'm not getting my winnings from pokerfastlane dot com, can you help me with that?" Support rep: "I'm sorry sir, we are a fabrics import/export company, we have no relation to pokerfastlane dot com." C: "But they gave me this number..." SR: "I'm sorry, I can help you only with fabrics related matters. Perhaps I could interest you in a nice afghan?"
dragonwriter 9y ago
> Customer support gave up the con on a phone call? They kind of have to, since the whole purpose of the support number seems to be to reassure people who know they paid “MyIllegalPokerSite.com” but see a charge on their bill from “MyTotallyLegitFabricStore.com” that the charge corresponds to their payment to the poker site, and that they shouldn't contest the charges as fraudulent with their card issuer.
- draw_down 9y ago
  Yeah. This scheme makes it seem easy to issue a chargeback though, gamblers can just tell their credit card co "I have no idea who FabricFactory.com is". I wonder how/if they prevent gambling customers from doing that.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    From the article, they told the reporter that they handled virtually all online gambling transactions; they might just accept a certain level of it and then blacklist the customer. (They might even let a customer suggesting that they might issue a chargeback know that that is the consequence.)
    - ljf 9y ago
      It is also very hard to withdraw money from illegal gambling sites. It can be done, but is often a slow drawn out process, to get you as close as possible to the date that you can't cancel. Also don't forget that these are dodgy people who have your home address... And know you've been breaking the law - likely with also some tax issues too on the winnings.
      - willstrafach 9y ago
        I believe they usually have a 90-day waiting period for withdrawals if you load via credit card (instead of Western Union or BTC), helping them ensure the user does not perform a chargeback.
  - willstrafach 9y ago
    Some of these websites would collect the national ID cards of users and post them on a "wall of shame" if the user does a chargeback.
  - 55555 9y ago
    True. On another note often the bank is in on it and simply wants plausible deniability.
  - 55555 9y ago
    You are assuming that the bank isn't in on it. They often are, and simply need plausible deniability.
- deckar01 9y ago
  They could have customer service lookup the customer's order number and change the script accordingly. You can't have a front without a back.

pilsetnieks 9y ago

They wouldn't be very good at serving their "legitimate" customers then: Customer: "Hi, umm, it looks like I'm not getting my winnings from pokerfastlane dot com, can you help me with that?" Support rep: "I'm sorry sir, we are a fabrics import/export company, we have no relation to pokerfastlane dot com." C: "But they gave me this number..." SR: "I'm sorry, I can help you only with fabrics related matters. Perhaps I could interest you in a nice afghan?"

dragonwriter 9y ago

> Customer support gave up the con on a phone call? They kind of have to, since the whole purpose of the support number seems to be to reassure people who know they paid “MyIllegalPokerSite.com” but see a charge on their bill from “MyTotallyLegitFabricStore.com” that the charge corresponds to their payment to the poker site, and that they shouldn't contest the charges as fraudulent with their card issuer.

draw_down 9y ago
Yeah. This scheme makes it seem easy to issue a chargeback though, gamblers can just tell their credit card co "I have no idea who FabricFactory.com is". I wonder how/if they prevent gambling customers from doing that.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  From the article, they told the reporter that they handled virtually all online gambling transactions; they might just accept a certain level of it and then blacklist the customer. (They might even let a customer suggesting that they might issue a chargeback know that that is the consequence.)
  - ljf 9y ago
    It is also very hard to withdraw money from illegal gambling sites. It can be done, but is often a slow drawn out process, to get you as close as possible to the date that you can't cancel. Also don't forget that these are dodgy people who have your home address... And know you've been breaking the law - likely with also some tax issues too on the winnings.
    - willstrafach 9y ago
      I believe they usually have a 90-day waiting period for withdrawals if you load via credit card (instead of Western Union or BTC), helping them ensure the user does not perform a chargeback.
- willstrafach 9y ago
  Some of these websites would collect the national ID cards of users and post them on a "wall of shame" if the user does a chargeback.
- 55555 9y ago
  True. On another note often the bank is in on it and simply wants plausible deniability.
- 55555 9y ago
  You are assuming that the bank isn't in on it. They often are, and simply need plausible deniability.
deckar01 9y ago
They could have customer service lookup the customer's order number and change the script accordingly. You can't have a front without a back.