(Updated 11/16/22 at 12:40am)
On October 20, an account was quietly created in my name on legalized sportsbook BetMGM West Virginia. I never had an account on any BetMGM site, and in fact I have never set foot in West Virginia in my life.
The fraudster creating my account had a lot of information about me. He had my full name, my address, and at least the last 4 of my social security number. Using this information, he deposited $10,000, which came right out of my bank account.
The perpetrator was likely not in West Virginia. He could not place any bets, but that didn't matter. Gambling wasn't his plan. On the same day he created my account and deposited, he hit the cashout button. He did a cashout of $7500, to a Venmo Debit Mastercard, created specifically for this purchase. The debit card was connected to a phony Venmo account, also made in my name. I already had an existing Venmo account, but this wasn't affected. This was a brand new Venmo, also in my name, created just for the purpose of getting the stolen money out.
Once processed, the fraudster then transferred the money out to another Venmo account in another name, which is how he made off with the money.
But what happened here? How did the scammer get all of my information, why was I targeted, and how did he know I had $10,000 in that particular bank account to steal? And how did he do all of this so quickly -- all on October 20th? (The last $2500 was withdrawn in similar fashion, on November 4.)
It turned out I wasn't the only victim. And it turns out that known poker pros are the ones being targeted.
Read on...