A bit of history...
Remember when it came out in November 2022 that, dating back to October of that year, fraudsters were setting up fake BetMGM accounts in poker pros' names and stealing from their bank accounts?
The scheme was simple, yet effective:
1) Obtain the last 4 digits of the social security number and date of birth of a known poker pro
2) Set up a BetMGM account in a state where he/she does not live, using their name and info
3) Deposit to the account using Global Payments' "VIP Preferred" service, which will automatically give a dropdown to select a previously used bank account, if the person has used that service before
4) One the deposit hits, immediately cash out to a Venmo Prepaid Debit Mastercard, and make off with the funds
I was one of the victims of this, for $10,000.
If the correct SSN last 4 and date of birth were entered, and the player had been seen before by Global Payments (the payment processor), the fraudster was immediately assumed to be that person, with no verification done. Awful, right?
I made a huge deal about this last year, and after it appeared on a front page espn.com article, BetMGM and Global Payments finally took some measures to at least partially close the loophole.
Unfortunately, the key term was "partially", and now people are being hit by a second wave of account thefts. Read on...