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bongo
19 Feb 15 18:15
Joined:
Date Joined: 12 May 01
| Topic/replies: 6,054 | Blogger: bongo's blog
Or are betfair's procedures for account security fine as they stand?

The following is a repost from Ampleforth ( sorry as haven't asked your permission to repost this sir but although you've lost out for now I think it contains good information worth sharing with evening arrivals ):

I have had a a rather unfortunate week regarding my Betfair account this week.

My last bet was on Sunday for £20 on the Villa Leicester Game. This would be a typical bet for me, the bet won, which left just under £600 in my account.  My Account has hovered around this amount for many many months now and I very very rarely bet anything over £50.

I would estimate that 95% of my bets are on Golf and Football, the other 5% are for small amounts of a snooker/darts/horses

On Monday morning I looged onto my PC to put a few bets totally about £20  on the golf tournament starting on Thursday.

On Tuesday morning, I logged in to see if any golf bets had been matched, only to notice my balance was down to just a few quid!!!

A quick look through my history showed that a bet of £571 had been placed at 23.44 on the 16th Feb on Detroit to beat Montreal in the Ice Hockey at odds of 1.81!!!    I DID NOT PLACE THIS BET, I HAVE NEVER BET ON ICE HOCKEY.

I immediately contacted Betfair. They quickly confirmed that the bet was suspicious. They could see that my account always logs on from an IP address in from my home town. The bet that was placed on the ice hockey came from an IP address in PRESTON! 3.5 hours drive away from me.

Betfair said they would look into it and get back to me.

Wednesday passed, no response from Betfair.

This morning (Thursday) I call Betfair. I got a lot of talking about running virus scans, changing passwords setting up 2 step authentification etc etc etc... BUT WHAT ABOUT MY £571???

Oh, because the account that won your £571 was a genuine account, we cannot retrieve that money back to you!!!!

Really? So what about happens now I ask.

Well, we can set you up a new account and refund the commission we made on the bet , and help you set up 2 step authentication

Will you report this to the police,?

We don't get involved with anything like that

but I'm reporting to you that money has been taken from my account, you have the time and IP address of the pc it was done from?

Its not something we get involved with

Well I will contact the police then, because money has been stolen from me.

You can do that, you need to report it to ActionFraud, hang on, Ill get you the website address

Don't bother, I am aware of that website, but it is really just a tool to help build an overall picture of online fraud, very rarely are individual cases investigated, and it takes them 4-6 weeks for them to tell you that they will not take it further.

So can you tell me what would have happened if the bet had won?

We dont know what their intentions are, they may have tried to withdraw to another card

so why not just withdraw the £571 rather than risk the easy £571 or me rumbling the scam whilst the match is on? and I don't believe they could withdraw it to another card anyway.

We dont know what their intentions are

So what you are saying is, to clarify, someone has gone into my account, placed a bet of £571, and according to you, did not match the bet to another account, so why would they go to that effort?

[/b]sometimes these people just do it for kicks[/b]

Really? it doesnt seem very likely to me

[/b] It happens all the time[/b] ShockedShockedShocked

So why dont you make the login/site more secure like this 2 step authentication you speak of?

We cant make everyone use the 2 step authentication compulsory?

Yes You can,

No we cant

Yes you can

no we cant

etc etc etc

It was becoming obvious that they were washing their hands of it and after a few choice words the conversation was ended.

So thats it, I'll contact the police in Preston, I'll submit a small claims court application. I'll warn others via the various internet gambling forums and social media and contact the racing press and websites, I doubt much will happen, but it will make me feel better rather that just rolling over.

Of course all the onus was put on my security being breached, (nothing else has been affected), how do I know Betfairs security is upto scratch, or a disgruntled worker there. Did you know Betfair  had a massive hack of peoples information 2011?  addresses, security questions, credit card details and covered it up for 18 months, they did not tell you.... I was unaware of this until yesterday


I dont suppose this thread will last long, but Betfair dont control the rest of the internet, it would seem that they can barely control their own security.

If you dont see me again, they have got to me, its a shame, I've been on here at least 15 years.....

but if there is one word of advice I can pass on, it  is...

DONT LEAVE MONEY IN YOUR BETFAIR ACCOUNT       EVER.....


and wear sunscreen Cool
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Report Wesdag February 19, 2015 6:35 PM GMT
No because small players don't need the additional hassle if they only have occasional bets and maybe withdraw any winnings immediately.

Obviously, it's a must for serious players.
Report tobermory February 19, 2015 6:38 PM GMT
read about a few issues like this before , no one seems to get any joy from complaints

always seems to come down to beftfair saying you allowed someone to get your password and tough luck
Report Navel-Gazer February 19, 2015 7:03 PM GMT
Commiserations to you Bongo...that's tough to take - BUT I'd figure that Betfair's security will just ASSUME you & someone else are in cahoots rather than the unpalatable alternative of an inside-job theory.
That said, the idea that someone might be doing it as a prank is laughable - the intent is to profit.
Report bongo February 19, 2015 7:53 PM GMT
Commiserations should go to Ampleforth - he made the original post, which was deleted this afternoon by the mods presumably. Perhaps I didn't explain that properly Navel-Gazer.

I'm inclined to say 2-step should become compulsory. Perhaps allow people a maximum of 10 more 1-step logins with a message each time that you must register for 2-step. This will disadvantage Betfair as they want recreational or casual punters who decide on a whim perhaps to log in and bet. So betting may become a little more selective - you have to have your 'phone with you afaik, giving you time to think if you really do need to have a punt. But I'm quite happy for betfair to be disadvantaged in favour of protecting customers. Banks don't mess around offering lower security log on to people on benefits who are ineligible for loans for example ( the low end customer ), the banks apply the same process to all.
Report Wesdag February 19, 2015 8:01 PM GMT
^ They just don't give me an account to start with.

Grin
Report Wesdag February 19, 2015 8:02 PM GMT
*give them
Report Ovalman. February 19, 2015 8:26 PM GMT
You only need to do it once for each IP address, you don't need to do it every time. It's a good idea.
Report Gin February 19, 2015 8:32 PM GMT
It took me far too long to get around to 2 step authentication but finally did it a few months ago. If you mainly use the same PC to access Betfair then it is a no-brainer
Report bongo February 19, 2015 8:35 PM GMT
Thanks for the correction on that Ovalman.
Report screaming from beneaththewaves February 19, 2015 11:38 PM GMT
No thanks. My internet provider (EE) logs me in from a different IP address every time. I do not fancy having to waste time every day wandering down to the end of the garden waving a phone in the air hoping a signal might turn up before a race is off or an overnight cricket match starts.

I'd just have to leave the PC permanently switched on and logged into Betfair, even when I'm not using it for hours, which seems more of a security risk to me.

I have a unique password for this site, with letters, numerals and punctuation, which I switch around. I do wonder how many of those who claim to have suffered fraud do the same.
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