"Bonus *****" arrested in the U.K.

[The Buzz]

Buzzy always knew that playing against the terms and conditions might result in seizure of the funds in your account, but this is the first instance that The Buzz can remember that resulted in an arrest.

Thirty-five-year-old Andrei Osipau apparently made nearly £80,000 gambling online

Of course, the arrest has more to do with the creation and use of false documents than anything else.

At his address they discovered more than 5,900 scans of passports, identity cards, utility bills and bank statements relating to people from countries including the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Osipau was sentenced to three years imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court on April 3.

Full story here: http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/n...ambling_fraud/

[Renee]

That's fraud in it's finest form. Unbelievable.

[CityGuard]

Yes, sickening.

[ocreditor]

Wow he really went all out didn't he? Kind of dumb the way he got caught though.....

The scam was identified on February 26 last year when an online betting company received two UK passports bearing different names but the same image within 12 minutes of each other.

[Jennytaketheworld]

Now he will have some time to think about what he did !!!

)

[lowrisk]

Sadly, I suspect that is quite common, and most don't see it for what it really is, FRAUD

[joeyl]

Big difference between an advantage player and a fraudster. Rogue casinos take note.

[Caruso]

Sadly, I suspect that is quite common, and most don't see it for what it really is, FRAUD

Uh-oh.

He's a fraudster. Big difference between that and legitimate players looking to take advantage of bonuses.

Bonus hunting, and, for that matter, even multi-accounting, is not fraudulent. The latter is rightly disallowed by casinos, but it's not illegal.

Why do you think people wouldn't consider fraud to be fraud?

[Caruso]

Buzzy always knew that playing against the terms and conditions might result in seizure of the funds in your account...

It depends. If you mean "playing against the terms and conditions" in the sense of "we reserve the right to rob you 'cuz we're a casino", then that's old news. If you mean mean it as in breaking actually properly enforceable laws, then why you would think it only "might" result in seizure is odd. Casinos have been withholding money from apparent fraudsters since they've been in business, proven or otherwise.

Of course, the arrest has more to do with the creation and use of false documents than anything else.

What "anything else"? It's exclusively about this.

I think some of you are a bit confused. So for clarification: in case anyone's getting excited over a misunderstanding that this is a legitimate advantage player, doing nothing wrong, getting busted by a rather bizarrely pro-casino crookery constabulary, then I'm afraid we already have documented evidence that when proper laws are applied, it's the casino that gets busted for trying to cheat the player - I refer you to Betfair and the settlement received to a player for the Happy Hour robbery.

The only reason the entire casino industry wasn't busted a long time ago is because it's located exclusively offshore, where no rational laws exist. I include the likes of Malta and Alderney in my definition of offshore, as well as all the banana republics.


Edited to add:

Ah, perchance paragraph two resulted in a collective pants-wetting session and subsequent confusion:

In the first prosecution of its kind, 35-year-old Andrei Osipau, from Plumstead was convicted for committing what is known in the industry as a 'Bonus Abuse'.

It's not really what the industry calls bonus abuse. It's what the industry calls fraud. When the industry says "bonus abuse" they almost invariably mean a legitimate player taking advantage of bonuses, ie. the usual bullshit.

This is actual fraud. Yes, in its way it is genuine "bonus abuse". But when the industry invokes this their favourite phrase, it's not usually what they mean.

[FictionNet]

"The scam was identified on February 26 last year when an online betting company received two UK passports bearing different names but the same image within 12 minutes of each other."

Duh. What a genius.

[iGamingWriter]

It's not really what the industry calls bonus abuse. It's what the industry calls fraud. When the industry says "bonus abuse" they almost invariably mean a legitimate player taking advantage of bonuses, ie. the usual bullshit.

This is actual fraud. Yes, in its way it is genuine "bonus abuse". But when the industry invokes this their favourite phrase, it's not usually what they mean.

Well said....

[shortow]

Awful lot of time, effort and legal risk for 80k.

If he'd spent all the time he devoted to falsifying documents/identities, registering and playing to a legal moneymaking pursuit he may have made more.

[iGamingWriter]

Awful lot of time, effort and legal risk for 80k.

I would suspect that if he was doing this at one casino, he was doing it at more. The £80k may just have been off of the one casino as there is only one mentioned in the report. Either that of he was running an incredible inefficient system for the work he was doing.

[mojo]

I'm convinced it's way more than 80k. Glad he was caught and kudo's for the process and conviction. That is what we need in this industry with both shady players and shady casinos/aff programs. Well done.

Love the title of this thread btw. It made me laugh.

[Caruso]

Love the title of this thread btw. It made me laugh.

LOL, it was edited. I think someone at GPWA is doing their best to communicate the fact that they reeeeeeeeally don't like players too much. OK, thanks, I needed telling that.

[AmCan]

"The scam was identified on February 26 last year when an online betting company received two UK passports bearing different names but the same image within 12 minutes of each other."

Duh. What a genius.

Geez Rob, maybe it was his twin!
Great, the photo didn't attach, so much for the joke

here's the URL http://www.shugarecords.com/images/r...fb467b0c-0.JPG

[Maria F]

WOW, That is life in the online gaming world.

[Anthony]

Here is your image:

[tehsik]

lol =)) bonush ***** )))))))))))

[Caruso]

FWIW, in case anyone didn't know The Met was at the ICE last week, and I collared them on this subject:

http://www.hundredpercentgambling.co...icle.php?id=82

'Course, they acknowledged that this case was about fraud and not legitimate bonus play, but I voiced my objection to their bizarre conflation of the two and that it gave the impression they were in the industry's pocket. They took it in good part, probably felt like lamping me one by the time we were done.