Account suspended for premium charge avoidance

[gutuami]

Hold on a second guys!

This is nothing new. About 5/6 years ago I needed to reorganise my credit cards on my BF accounts (3 in total and 1 in my wifes name). Betfair told me that they held a dim view of multiple accounts and proceeded to link the accounts, all at the same address. The reason quoted to me then was that it was possible to collude accross accounts and assured me that they would monitor them. An example they quoted was on the Poker platform where 2 or more players colluded to cheat the pack by raising etc. It is equally possible that clients "could" use multiple accounts to avoid some tax liabilities and accounts in a wifes name are not always used by the "wife".

Avoidance of tax is something Betfair have to monitor, so its no surprise that they have a policy of scrutinising accounts with the same address and furthermore I don't think its unreasonable for them to link accounts at the same address in the same way that bookies do.

I'm frankly surprised that this issue hasn't been commented on before in the forum, because linked accounts have certainly been discussed on many other forums.

I wouldn't take it personally Peter, its just Betfair doing their thing.

The nr of accounts does not matter. The person behind the accounts is what matters. Every person is entitled to a 250k quote, 1000markets and so on.
As long as everything is legal and the person is not one of Gogol's Dead Soul {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Souls}. the problem should be dealt by Bf in some other way.
2 or more players can cheat from different address as well as from the same. Or 2 players can be in a situation where they would cheat against other 2 cheating players. Casinos just block the winning person by his face{personality}, bookmakers by his winnings. Bf is an EXCHANGE. A new great concept where you can be on the back or lay side. And an exchange is a combination of people{ecosystem}&technology. Which of the two is more important???
Maybe, let's say in 5years time, they will beg you to use your wife's account... who knows.. nothing is forever except change

[gutuami]

if I were Bf:
1. I'll give a notice to the suspected account that it's under investigation. Then will block only withdrawing of funds. When a person trade {works} betfair gets commission, trader gets profit and market gets liquidity. All win.
2. I'll extend KYC project. Invite a group of suspected traders. Put them in a room with pc and broadband and let them trade for one day. So now a wife and husband can be both traders if they pass the test.
Or it can be done online with a web camera.
3. A new approach to the pc charge. There should be tax exemption {only standard 20%} for traders that make 20k p/a for example and their life profit is over 250k. Under 5k p/a profit accounts should pay nothing, only up to 5% commision as it was.
Maybe betdaq's approach - less commission for market makers should also be implemented
4. More communication with active traders. In the end it is like a small country with it's laws and rules. Liquidity = community

[freddy]

A Tunbridge Wells man faces computer betting fraud charges as a result of a Sussex Police investigation.

Alistair Peckover, 22, of Park Road, Southborough, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, was charged on Tuesday 6 September with setting up two Betfair computer betting accounts in the names of other people, contrary to the Computer Misuse Act and the Criminal Attempts Act.

He appeared at Crawley Magistrates Court on Wednesday 7 September and was remanded in custody to appear at Mid-Sussex Magistrates Court on Thursday 6 October for a commital hearing.

Peckover was arrested at his home by detectives from the Sussex Police Major Fraud Unit on 6 September





http://www.sussex.police.uk/news-and-ev ... g-offences

[hgodden]

Interesting story, didn't mention the PC though. Maybe it could have been for something like money laundering? I don't know if the police fraud department would look into that type of thing

[Iron]

Hi Freddy

When I read that, I thought 'Bloody hell! Remanded in custody for trying to avoid PC!'.

However, if this is the same Alistair Peckover as this guy, then there may be more to this than meets the eye: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... llion.html.

Jeff

[spreadbetting]

Just google Alistair Peckover,and you'll see he's been at this type of fraud for a while, nothing to do with PC, Jeff

[freddy]

Yeah nothing at all to do with P.C avoidance .

Just posted it here in case anyone else had any daft ideas about doing something similar for the purpose of avoiding P.C .

[hgodden]

I just love the detail the second article goes into about how he went about having his fun. It's almost like the real hustle, giving anyone a blueprint to go out and have a go themselves

[homeboy]

You have to wonder at the sentencing by the court:

20 months in June 2010 which included 4 months from an earlier suspended sentence, £124K forfeiture under the Proceeds of Crime Act, out on licence after 10 months, arrested and charged within 6 months whilst still on licence.

Perhaps he could get a job collecting the PC!

[sandyman]

On 5 September 2011 I received an e-mail from Betfair Pricing saying that my account “has been suspended under investigation of Premium Charge avoidance.” and the investigation would take 8-10 working days at least. I was refused access to my funds.

On 20 September I received the following e-mail from Betfair:

The five accounts (a,b,c,d,[myaccount]) were suspended under investigation of Premium Charge avoidance due to the inconsistent nature of betting activity conducted across the accounts. Specifically, it is clear that the activity conducted across the accounts is the distribution of a single betting strategy.
In respect of the Premium Charge we provide an allowance against the first £1,000 of charges that would otherwise be incurred by any customer and also exempt customers who have not bet in more than 250 markets. Additionally, higher rates of Premium Charge may apply when a customer’s lifetime net profits exceed £250,000. It is plainly unrealistic to expect to distribute activity across more than one account to benefit from an allowance per account and/or continual exemptions by ensuring less than 250 markets are bet on via each account; or to ensure that the lifetime net profit remains below the threshold above which higher rates may apply. To that extent, the five accounts above have been linked for the purposes of calculating the Premium Charge. Furthermore, the distribution of activity across the accounts has resulted in the underpayment of Premium Charges to the sum of £68,712.95 to date. This amount has been deducted from the account balance of the ‘[myaccount]’ account.
Your activity on Betfair is conditional upon your acceptance of our Terms and Conditions, and operating accounts in multiple names in order to conceal the true identity of your activity will not be tolerated by us. As a result of your repeated breach of Betfair’s terms and conditions, all accounts involved in this matter have been permanently closed. Please be advised that the ‘[myaccount]’ account is currently overdrawn by £15,860.10. Betfair will seek to recover this amount from any accounts you attempt to operate in the future. These accounts will also be permanently closed.

Just to clarify, I have no knowledge of any of the accounts listed in the e-mail other than my own, and I have only ever had/operated one account – in my own name. I have bet in less than 250 markets and was never asked to pay the Premium Charge prior to the suspension of the account.

I am demanding that Betfair repay the balance of £52,352.85 which is rightfully and lawfully mine.

This afternoon my representative handed out a document detailing the case to shareholders at Betfair’s first Annual General Meeting, and detailing the likely consequences if the sum is not repaid in full.

After the AGM, he met another individual who had a similar experience and who knows a number of people in the same predicament. It seems that some sort of class-action lawsuit may be a possibility.

I would appreciate it if:

(1) Somebody could update the thread I posted on the Betfair Forum about this issue. The link to the thread is: http://community.betfair.com/general_be ... -suspended

I am unable to access the Betfair Forum as my account has been closed, but I think it is important that people are updated about the situation.

(2) Others who have had a similar experience (having funds stolen from their account by Betfair) could contact me. My e-mail address is sandips at hotmail dot co dot uk


I e-mailed Betfair yesterday and am still waiting for a reply. I will try to update you on the situation as and when I can.

[Iron]

Is it legal for Betfair to talk about other people's accounts in an email sent to you?

I'd have thought that would be a breach of the Data Protection Act.

Jeff

On 20 September I received the following e-mail from Betfair:

The five accounts (a,b,c,d,[myaccount]) were suspended under investigation of Premium Charge avoidance

[spreadbetting]

They're assuming it's the same person Jeff and will only be releasing usernames not real names.

Have you considered doing a subject access request under Section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998? Would be interesting to see what data they hold on you and on what basis they're linking accounts.

[Iron]

They're assuming it's the same person Jeff and will only be releasing usernames not real names.

But what if it's not the same person?

Sandyman may know the people the usernames relate to (regardless of whether any collusion has occured - he may know them through this forum, for example).

And it's information the could jeopardise the security of those accounts. I'm sure there are fraudsters who would love to know the user ids of 5 people who pay the Premium Charge.

Jeff

[spreadbetting]

According to sandyman he doesn't know them Jeff, so you need to be forcing Betfair's hand to reveal why they're linking these accounts and if they're prepared to break the data protection act based on their assumptions.

A subject access request should give you all details they hold on file of you and your account and therefore details of their PC investigation

[Iron]

According to sandyman he doesn't know them Jeff,

True, but Betfair didn't know that before sending the email (even though they may have thought they did).

I agree with you about the data request, though.

Jeff