Introduction

Pokerstars was one of three major sites (the other two being Full Tilt and UB/Absolute Poker) shut down by the US government on April 15, 2011, also known as "Black Friday".

Shortly thereafter, Full Tilt and UB both shut down, leaving players with balances in the lurch. To this day, players with balances on those sites still don't have their money.

Pokerstars continued operating, but only to non-US customers.

Pokerstars was the only site with the appearance of reputability. They quickly struck a deal with the US Department of Justice to pay out all US player balances quickly, and did exactly that. On top of that, they even allowed players to immediately convert their FPPs (frequent player points) directly into cash, which could also immediately be cashed out of the site.

Pokerstars looked like the lone angels among a group of devils.

They were proof that not all online poker site operators were shady, self-serving thieves. They were the shining beacon of truth and honesty in an online landscape full of darkness.

.... Or were they?

Hidden within this seemingly reputable plan to pay US players what they were owed was a scam that could only fully be appreciated by the writers of "Superman III" and "Office Space".

Sometimes stealing just a little bit of money from a large number of people is all you need to accumulate tens of millions of dollars of other people's money. The best scams are the ones where the marks don't even realize that they're victims, and where they earnestly thank the scammer as they part ways.

That's exactly what happened in May, 2011 at Pokerstars.