Poker Pros Face Worsening Identity Theft Crisis with More Fake Accounts

The recent wave of identity fraud among poker players continues to escalate, with fraudulent deposits being made using fake bank accounts linked to players' betting profiles. This issue, which was initially thought to affect only a few well-known poker players, has now been revealed to be much more extensive.

A fraudulent deposit attempt was made to Melissa Burr's BetMGM account using her bank details shortly after she closed the account. Similarly, Kathy Liebert reported that someone set up an account with Global Payments in her name, which was added to her BetMGM and WSOP.com accounts. Liebert stated, “I just spoke with Global Payments and was told I had deposits to my account for winnings but it wasn’t my account. Apparently a bank account in my name was opened to collect winnings from BetMGM and was also added to my WSOP.com account which has now been removed.”

BetMGM is actively investigating the potential incident, emphasizing the security of patrons' accounts. A BetMGM spokesperson told ESPN, "We're aware of a potential incident and are actively investigating. The security of our patrons' accounts is of the utmost importance to us. We encourage any impacted patrons to contact our customer service department directly." Global Payments Gaming Solutions has denied any security breach or fraudulent accounts opened at their gaming business, stating, "There has been no security breach or fraudulent accounts opened at our gaming business in connection with this investigation." Despite these denials, the investigation is ongoing, and the source of the breach remains unclear.