Betsson key affiliate manager steals € 153.000 commission

This comes as no surprise to me at all. Even when I was starting as an affiliate in the late 90's, click shaving was known about and openly discussed. Shaving happens in so many ways, I have seen a lot.

When I entered the sports betting industry, I thought I'd seen some of the worst kinds of shaving, but this really is another level of evil. Taking commission from the real affiliates, as an affiliate manager. Why would they even need such privileged access to change the actual affiliate a customer is registered to? I guess they could just go in and manually change the database, but still, why would they need access to that?

Something smells fishy, and this type of **** happens a lot more than the average person would like to admit, in my opinion. Not necessarily changing the player from one account to another, but definitely not crediting all of the legitimate players that have been referred. Or, changing them to the default, "in-house" affiliate account.

Some companies are much worse than others, but I'd bet a majority of the affiliate programs use at least some underhanded tactics to rob affiliates. It's happened since the beginning of affiliate programs and I know because I was there, and I saw proof. One affiliate program was even smart enough to have a "shave percentage" next to the profit an affiliate was making them listed in their management software that was leaked by an ex-employee.

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Originally Posted by betpro

Hi Guys,

I'm from Australia and the affiliate industry in the gaming sector is becoming extremely dodgy and untrustworthy.

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Type 1 - Extremely high traffic websites, which bring in over 100 first time players per month - They get a guaranteed tenancy payment on top of their revenue, so they can rest easy at night. (They still probably get stitched up on the revenue).

Type 2 - VIP affiliates who personally introduce big players to the program. Affiliate Managers know they can remove the players as the VIP affiliate has a strong personal relationship with the player.

If you doing small numbers then expect to get shafted big time!

He also said that 1 affiliate requested to do an audit on them as he believed they were ripping him off. Even though it said in the T&C that an affiliate has the right to an audit, The company didn't like that and cancelled his affiliate account due to being inactive for 3 months as per the T&C.

It's a no win situation for us unfortunately!

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You know what you're talking about, and it all traces back to one man, IMO, who started the practice of screwing affiliates to prop up the bottom line. Everyone else just followed the leader.

I was in contact with a Type 2 above, and he felt for me, but you are right. Australia is one of the most lucrative gambling places in the world for affiliates, yet they get ****** over so much, even when you've built up several whales with each major company and earning a comfortable living, they can - and will - pull it all out from under you with terms changed a decade after you originally signed up and agreed to them.

You both know nothing. Just spread nonsense, because you simply want to be small losers forever. I have no idea why is so hard to accept that everyone gets screwed. Small, big, whatever.

From type 1, who was robbed in AU before you even woke up. Without love.

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Originally Posted by Sherlock

You both know nothing. Just spread nonsense, because you simply want to be small losers forever. I have no idea why is so hard to accept that everyone gets screwed. Small, big, whatever.

From type 1, who was robbed in AU before you even woke up. Without love.

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Please enlighten the forum with your knowledge, instead of just saying that I know nothing.

I don't even know what you mean by the second paragraph. With confusion.

I'm sure also big affiliates or type 1 affiliates, whatever it may call, are screwed. Perhaps, an account won't be closed, as casinos don't want to mess with them as they own usually major sites or a lot of sites and their content is well readen.

But for sure, the commission is "topped off". I guess programs determine which amount is acceptable for an affiliate, above that a part will be ripped off.

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Originally Posted by Triple7

Yeah, it's better to charge 95% admin fees. Has more effect than re-tragging some players from time to time.

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True, true... sad but true

This is old news, the majority of the posts in this thread are from 2016/17.

Dear All,

The above is all old news, back from 2016.
The company had taken action and the case has been closed from our end.
Should you wish to bring up something to our attention, kindly reach out to us via email on support{at}betssongroupaffiliates{dot}com.

Thank you,
BGA Support Team.

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Originally Posted by DaftDog

This is old news, the majority of the posts in this thread are from 2016/17.

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Yep, it is old news that they are crooks.

This is old news how they are crooks from 0.00000X%.
They stole way over 153K just from me and just from Betsson itself.
Still, they pay at least something.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by betssongroupaff

Dear All,

The above is all old news, back from 2016.
The company had taken action and the case has been closed from our end.
Should you wish to bring up something to our attention, kindly reach out to us via email on support{at}betssongroupaffiliates{dot}com.

Thank you,
BGA Support Team.

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Sure, clear explanation to affiliates is never given. It's difficult to believe that no affiliates were affected.

It's easy to lose trust, but it's very difficult to gain trust.

Dear All,

This fraud case took place 6 years ago.

Betsson's EX key affiliate manager Christiaan Alexander Van Dalen, 41, was arrested and accused of using player details to create artificial website traffic and inflate his commission.

Ref:
https://news.worldcasinodirectory.com/betsson-manager-charged-with-e153000-fraud-money-laundering-for-defrauding-partners-18228
https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/court_and_police/59587/gaming_specialist_charged_with_fraud_money_launder ing#.YNtTIegzY2w
https://www.sbcnews.co.uk/tag/christiaan-alexander-van-dalen/

Betsson Group does not condone fraudulent behavior and any individual conducting such activities will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

thank you,
BGA Support Team

His deeds are unacceptable, but he may be doing other casinos as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by betssongroupaff

Betsson Group does not condone fraudulent behavior and any individual conducting such activities will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

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Nobody has ended up in jail for shaving and detagging when it is done solely for the benefit of the operator. When that day comes they would have to build a massive new facility just to accommodate all the crooks.

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Originally Posted by tufty

Nobody has ended up in jail for shaving and detagging when it is done solely for the benefit of the operator. When that day comes they would have to build a massive new facility just to accommodate all the crooks.

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Yes, this is the essence of the whole situation.

Cheating on the affiliate program you're working for = jail
Cheating on affiliates = bonus

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Triple7

Yes, this is the essence of the whole situation.

Cheating on the affiliate program you're working for = jail
Cheating on affiliates = bonus

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I've got a feeling that Maggie Burke over at PKR was done for fraud back in the day and got a jail sentence. But that was a long long time ago and my memory may have faded considerably...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Triple7

Cheating on the affiliate program you're working for = jail
Cheating on affiliates = bonus

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Sums it up totally.