Unibet - beware of serious unprofessionalism and reckless approach - money frozen

It went way beyond asking for credit card. Also required was copies of my bank statement! Screen shot of my Skrill account.

As well as the usual - passport, driver's licence, national ID card, utility bill, etc.

I wish I had paid by credit card, at least I could of done a reversal to recoup my monies. Would have been a hassle to replace the card with a new one though.

I find it hard to believe that anyone would submit to this request. Is there really any purpose for it? Are there a whole ton of people out there pretending they're someone they're not? And if so does it really require this much info to verify their identity.

You guys never heard of identity thief.
Would you give this kind of information if someone you didn't know requested it? I would hope not. And what do you know about the people who run Unibet. They run an internet gambling site - hardly the most reliable recommendation to their honesty and integrity.

And you could say that in my refusal I was immediately proved right. The first thing they did was then steal my money!

Can you imagine that you go to bank, open a new account because they offer good condition. You deposit e.g. 20k euros, and after some time, they notice that there is something suspicious about your documents, and close your account and keep your money? Well, that would be really stupid from the bank to cheat in that way because they could loose customers that way. So why would casinos do such a thing, they can also loose customers? I guess, that such news don't spread enough, so it is still +EV for them to do so. I think that casino managers are not complete idiots, they know what should bring profit long term and what is going to loose. But I don't get it quite how this can bring them profit.

My poker friend had very similar problem on Betvictor (microgaming). He never got the money, nor explanation. He also posted here, but it is all desperate try. In T&C they state that they can actually do anything with your money. That means, if you start cashing out often, you are not a good customer, so they might find some suspicion about you and close your account. Somehow it always happens when a player tries to cash out. Another friend of mine, was playing on bwin for few years, was cashing out a lot lately, had upswing, and his account got blocked, no explanation. After he asked what is wrong, they just explained that the decision about account closure is final and pointed out on T&C where it is stated that if they have suspicions about any kind of fraud activities, they have the right to close account and keep the money.
Sounds like a good strategy, once a player starts winning a lot, he is suspicious, it is better to close his account, otherwise he could chase away many players because they will lose money from him. In my opinion, the only really fair place to play is live poker at regulated casinos. Probably all online casinos are rigged at some way, either hacked, or having bots, cheating and so on. Pokerstars seems to be fairest to me, and if you choose to play at some other casino where you get more rakeback or more fish, then you should probably calculate in EV that your money is not safe on that casino. Thats the reason why I still play on "rigged casinos" because it is still profitable, but I cash out quite often (don't leave a lot of money on casino account), and that way reduce chance of loosing too much if casino decides that I am suspicious. Marko, to je zato sto ne zele da Srbin pobedjuje

Originally posted by GingerKid
Can you imagine that you go to bank, open a new account because they offer good condition. You deposit e.g. 20k euros, and after some time, they notice that there is something suspicious about your documents, and close your account and keep your money? Well, that would be really stupid from the bank to cheat in that way because they could loose customers that way. So why would casinos do such a thing, they can also loose customers? I guess, that such news don't spread enough, so it is still +EV for them to do so. I think that casino managers are not complete idiots, they know what should bring profit long term and what is going to loose. But I don't get it quite how this can bring them profit.

My poker friend had very similar problem on Betvictor (microgaming). He never got the money, nor explanation. He also posted here, but it is all desperate try. In T&C they state that they can actually do anything with your money. That means, if you start cashing out often, you are not a good customer, so they might find some suspicion about you and close your account. Somehow it always happens when a player tries to cash out. Another friend of mine, was playing on bwin for few years, was cashing out a lot lately, had upswing, and his account got blocked, no explanation. After he asked what is wrong, they just explained that the decision about account closure is final and pointed out on T&C where it is stated that if they have suspicions about any kind of fraud activities, they have the right to close account and keep the money.
Sounds like a good strategy, once a player starts winning a lot, he is suspicious, it is better to close his account, otherwise he could chase away many players because they will lose money from him. In my opinion, the only really fair place to play is live poker at regulated casinos. Probably all online casinos are rigged at some way, either hacked, or having bots, cheating and so on. Pokerstars seems to be fairest to me, and if you choose to play at some other casino where you get more rakeback or more fish, then you should probably calculate in EV that your money is not safe on that casino. Thats the reason why I still play on "rigged casinos" because it is still profitable, but I cash out quite often (don't leave a lot of money on casino account), and that way reduce chance of loosing too much if casino decides that I am suspicious. Marko, to je zato sto ne zele da Srbin pobedjuje

probably that is one of reasons why stars have most customers - because it is probably safest to keep money, even in stars have heard that there are closed accounts for no reason. Of course nobody proved, just wrote. But if poker room closes someones account for braking rules, they should tell reasons not only to a player, but in public so that all understand what happened and if it as reasonable to close account or not.

I am not a lawyer but "we can seize all your funds without explanation" will not stand on any court of law no matter what they wrote in T&C. T&C are not beyond the law and if some parts of T&C are not in line with the law, well, than T&C are just as good as garbage. I would love to see the law in the civilized world that states that company has the right to seize customers money without explanation and without the reason. The problem is that customers often do not pursuit companies to the court of law for various reasons.

Originally posted by Madejski
I am not a lawyer but "we can seize all your funds without explanation" will not stand on any court of law no matter what they wrote in T&C. T&C are not beyond the law and if some parts of T&C are not in line with the law, well, than T&C are just as good as garbage. I would love to see the law in the civilized world that states that company has the right to seize customers money without explanation and without the reason. The problem is that customers often do not pursuit companies to the court of law for various reasons.

actually it is interesting how is in those malta, or gibraltar laws written where those companies are. Maybe it is exacly like that or what if it is nothing writen about it. Then probably company can do what it wants?

Maybe would be cool if trusted long working bank brands would buy or create their poker software, because of brand and built trust, they maybe could attract lot of players.

Oh remembered - banks have other things like forex, stock tradings, insurance, pension funds, which are based on risk, investment, so similar to poker. So really poker could be also their area.

>> The problem is that customers often do not pursuit companies to the court of law for various reasons.
Another problem is, that such casinos have a team of lawyers behind them, and average customer might not even have money to pay for a lawyer, or it is not worth time and money.

I think they don't tell you why you got banned because they think you did something wrong and they also think you know that yourself. They don't want to tell you how they caught you so you could not figure out ways to prevent getting caught.
And as I told in my first post you can always file a complaint to their regulator, so you don't need a lawyer. When they receive a complaint they will tell exactly why you were banned.

I would like to hear from OP what is going on now. It has been 2 weeks already and the complaint should have been processed. Sometimes these posts are just trolls, I hope we hear from him again

OP is not a troll, he just seems to be posting more about this issue on 2+2 as the reps are more active there.

As for my own case it's been almost a week since Unibet got my documents and I have yet to hear any news from them regarding my account. They work slower than the government did in getting me the needed documens.

I just contacted customer support chat again and they said the security department is still checking.
I asked the customer support "So I guess my documents haven't been checked yet then?" and got confirmed that they hadn't even looked at the documents that I sent them yet. I asked the customer support how long time it usually takes and he/she said 2-3 days but because of some changes in Maltese laws things are taking longer time now.
I finally asked how long they think it will take in my case, and they said 48-72 more hours, so I'm hopefully waiting now.

I have the same issue with payout. They asked me to send the documents. I sent my scanned ID and
internet/phone bill. They answered in German(my main language) that they can't see the corners/borders of my
scanned documents.I scanned my ID again as they wanted it and also my passport and wrote an email with
documents attached to it. Also i uploaded them on the website. I got an email that German customer
support is not available for now, if you have some urgent questions, ask in English to get a quick answer.
On the website they wrote that the quality of the documents is bad and they can't see the photo. So i uploded the
documents with the best quality that my scanner allows and wrote an email in English. No answer
to my email and the satus of the documents is "still checking".

Can Pokerstrategy do something about it?For example write an official letter of enquiry as a partner of Unibet?

Hi guys,

sorry to hear about your experience with Unibet. The fact that poker rooms can take actions in accordance with their T&Cs without giving additional explanations, is not a new one. It goes beyond the gambling industry - this is what we agree to upon signing up with a service provider (however frustrating it might be later on). As it was already explained here, poker rooms tend to not share any information in case of security-related matters. They simply don't want to give out any additional info on their internal procedures to avoid any potential further abuse. This is understandable in case of fraudulent behavior. However, very rarely it happens that genuine users get caught in the verification process and their accounts are frozen/blocked. Best thing is to try to sort it out with the platform directly. As much as we'd like to help, we're often unable as the security topics are not shared with 3rd parties (including us).

@MajorCanon, in the 2+2 thread, I can see that the Unibet rep has provided you with additional explanations. It seems like he has checked it with relevant departments so it might be all they can offer.

@xdimax, have you sent them black & white scanned copies? This can sometimes make the data on your docs unreadable. Have you tried forwarding a good quality, colored photograph of your documents? Please share more info so I can understand better what has been done. How long have you been waiting? A few days can be considered acceptable.

Unibet is generally a trusted platform and our long term partner with the majority of players not experiencing any major problems. This doesn't mean they have nothing to improve or review. Thanks for sharing your feedback.

Originally posted by Marta
@xdimax, have you sent them black & white scanned copies? This can sometimes make the data on your docs unreadable. Have you tried forwarding a good quality, colored photograph of your documents? Please share more info so I can understand better what has been done. How long have you been waiting? A few days can be considered acceptable.

Unibet is generally a trusted platform and our long term partner with the majority of players not experiencing any major problems. This doesn't mean they have nothing to improve or review. Thanks for sharing your feedback.

I did the procedure for hundred of times. Of course the documents are colored.I sent two documents (internetional passport and ID)with the same photograph that improve my identity. The qaulity is the best. By zooming in you can even see the water marks. I sent them 3 times scanned differently.
These documents have been accepted everywhere else.I waited for about 3 weedays + 2 weekend days (they work 24/7)...the first two times they checked my documents was Saturday and Sunday. I asked today in the live chat about the verification. They said that they will check it tomorrow. I also asked 3 times via email if i can cancel the payout and didn't get the answer a single time.

That's the only thing that pokerstrategy can say to the bunch of their customers having the exact same issue?? "Sorry guys about you, but Unibet is a trusted platform"????

Well then, i'll just wait till tomorrow.

Hey guys,

Delays may be longer than normal due to a currency conversion glitch the other day that resulted in currencies being converted at a 1:1 rate. As a result, a lot of accounts had to be frozen until account balances could be amended.

Regards

Laz

Originally posted by Marta
Hi guys,

sorry to hear about your experience with Unibet. The fact that poker rooms can take actions in accordance with their T&Cs without giving additional explanations, is not a new one. It goes beyond the gambling industry - this is what we agree to upon signing up with a service provider (however frustrating it might be later on).

Another poster has mentioned this but I'll agree with what he said. Although admittedly this will vary depending upon jurisdictions, these T&Cs, even when the customer agrees to them, are in a court of law for the most part meaningless. They require you waive rights which from a legal point of view can not be waived, making the entire document worthless.

From personal experience, I was a while back involved with a lawsuit and mentioned to my lawyer that there could be some issues with my having perhaps violated their online T&C. He wasn't even interested, didn't bother to even read their T&C. In his mind the matter was no consequence.

That is right, but in most of the cases closing accounts and freezing funds is based on law and regulations. For example poker rooms are not allowed to offer their services to someone who is underage or if they suspect money laundering. So closing accounts actually is based not only on their T&C.

That is why not closing an account when they suspect something might lead to more serious result for the poker room than closing accounts too lightly.

I don't think they are braking any law when customer support doesn't tell why one's account was closed. When you file and official complaint they will present those facts.

Originally posted by la55i
And as I told in my first post you can always file a complaint to their regulator, so you don't need a lawyer. When they receive a complaint they will tell exactly why you were banned.

I've been betting with offshore bookmakers since before the start of the internet. And in order to protect my funds I follow closely reports on such sites as SBR.

I have never, i mean NEVER, heard of a case where anything was accomplished by complaining to a licencing regulator. The Malta regulator has a reputation that is almost as poor as some of the companies that it issues licences to. As an example Everleaf was allowed to operate for years despite that fact that they were no longer making payouts. Complaints to the regulator went ignored until the local papers ran a story covering the inept operation of the government department. Only then, because it became an embrassment to the government, did their licence get suspended.

Originally posted by Shongalolo

Originally posted by la55i
And as I told in my first post you can always file a complaint to their regulator, so you don't need a lawyer. When they receive a complaint they will tell exactly why you were banned.

I've been betting with offshore bookmakers since before the start of the internet. And in order to protect my funds I follow closely reports on such sites as SBR.

I have never, i mean NEVER, heard of a case where anything was accomplished by complaining to a licencing regulator. The Malta regulator has a reputation that is almost as poor as some of the companies that it issues licences to. As an example Everleaf was allowed to operate for years despite that fact that they were no longer making payouts. Complaints to the regulator went ignored until the local papers ran a story covering the inept operation of the government department. Only then, because it became an embrassment to the government, did their licence get suspended.

and what happened with people money? did they got payouts?

Just to let you know, my account was verified at last.

Originally posted by Marta
Hi guys,

sorry to hear about your experience with Unibet. The fact that poker rooms can take actions in accordance with their T&Cs without giving additional explanations, is not a new one. It goes beyond the gambling industry - this is what we agree to upon signing up with a service provider (however frustrating it might be later on). As it was already explained here, poker rooms tend to not share any information in case of security-related matters. They simply don't want to give out any additional info on their internal procedures to avoid any potential further abuse. This is understandable in case of fraudulent behavior. However, very rarely it happens that genuine users get caught in the verification process and their accounts are frozen/blocked. Best thing is to try to sort it out with the platform directly. As much as we'd like to help, we're often unable as the security topics are not shared with 3rd parties (including us).

@MajorCanon, in the 2+2 thread, I can see that the Unibet rep has provided you with additional explanations. It seems like he has checked it with relevant departments so it might be all they can offer.

@xdimax, have you sent them black & white scanned copies? This can sometimes make the data on your docs unreadable. Have you tried forwarding a good quality, colored photograph of your documents? Please share more info so I can understand better what has been done. How long have you been waiting? A few days can be considered acceptable.

Unibet is generally a trusted platform and our long term partner with the majority of players not experiencing any major problems. This doesn't mean they have nothing to improve or review. Thanks for sharing your feedback.

They can do such things just because their headquarters are in countries where they can do what ever they want. In developed countries, they would probably go to jail.

Update: I guess they accepted my documents as I actually got my account re-opened.