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Thread: Newest Lock Poker scam: Big withdrawals canceled, support unresponsive

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Newest Lock Poker scam: Big withdrawals canceled, support unresponsive

    Lock Poker has been acting a lot like a broke online poker site lately.

    They are taking an inexplicably long time to process all cashouts -- even ones for non-US players that should otherwise be taking no more than a few days.

    They are segregating their high and middle limit players from the rest of the network player pool, so as to avoid having to pay the other "skins" on the network when the Lock players lose.

    They have put into place a system where good players are not allowed to play bad players, again presumably to stop winning players from rolling up money they will want to withdraw.

    They have separated their tournaments from the rest of the network, again to avoid having to pay the other "skins" on the network when the Lock players lose.

    But maybe you're still in denial, and think there's a good reason behind all of the above.

    Just in case you thought Lock Poker wasn't broke, there's now a new, disturbing scam occurring at Lock Poker:

    High limit players' withdrawals are being canceled with flimsy/false reasoning. Lock support/security is completely unresponsive, aside from kicking out form letters. Worst yet, many of these canceled withdrawals are occurring weeks or months after they were submitted and were supposedly "in process".

    This all came out when longtime 2+2 user "the juggernaut" posted that his withdrawal of $10,000 was canceled by Lock Poker, and a bogus reason was cited:

    http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/19...-rake-1324070/

    He got this e-mail:

    Hello thejuggernaut,

    Your withdrawal has been rejected due to our strict policy of not allowing the withdrawal of transferred funds. A player is only allowed to transfer funds if they are being sent with the sole intent of the receiver using them to play. The only exceptions ever made are with a true staking account or affiliate earnings. This is reviewed on a case by case basis.

    This decision is final.

    Best,

    Joseph Stone

    Lock Poker
    Toll free - 1 800 284 5952
    The "decision is final" line is my favorite part.

    The ridiculous thing here is the fact that juggernaut was NOT one of those guys who simply received a transfer and withdrew the money! He submitted this particular withdrawal request months ago, had not made a transfer since, and had played a LOT of poker on Lock since then. He was also a regular player before that.

    Shane, the smarmy and double-talking Lock Poker rep on 2+2, showed up in the thread to basically accuse juggernaut of being a manipulator of Lock money trading. See, Lock cashouts are so horrendous that people on 2+2 are selling their Lock money to others at a rate of about 50 cents on the dollar, something Lock allows. Shane claimed that juggernaut was part of a ring of people who are buying up Lock money at 50 cents per dollar, and then "using affiliate accounts" to withdraw quickly at full value.

    But hang on. What are "affiliate accounts", and how can they withdraw quickly?

    Well, as already stated, players on Lock are experiencing EXTREMELY LONG withdrawal times -- about 4 months right now on average. However, Lock Poker "affiliates" -- the sites that place Lock banners and sign up new players -- are getting their commissions MUCH quicker. Apparently Lock Poker is giving priority to affiliates withdrawing their money from the site. They are doing this because affiliates are bringing new players to the site (i.e. new deposit money), and they know affiliates will drop Lock like a hot potato if they are forced to wait 4 months to get paid. So basically, Lock's attitude has been, "Affiliates get paid quickly, since they bring us new deposit money, but fuck the players who pay thousands of dollars of rake to us. They can wait, because they aren't as immediately valuable."

    So back to juggernaut's situation. Shane accused juggernaut of being part of a supposed scam where affiliates are buying up Lock money on 2+2 on the cheap, and then cashing out that money at full value through the priority affiliate cashout system.

    Now, of course none of this would be happening if Lock processed cashouts in a timely fashion, or if they weren't giving affiliates unfair priority to cash out.

    But let's put that aside for the moment.

    There was no evidence that juggernaut, an active Lock high stakes player, was part of this supposed scam. Shane refused to provide any such evidence. In fact, Shane would not name a single affiliate who was actually guilty of this, but just kept claiming that security "recently discovered this scheme", and was canceling cashouts of players who appeared to be involved.

    As the 2+2 thread progressed, several others came out of the woodwork with the identical story. Apparently pretty much anyone with a large withdrawal has had it canceled recently, all with this false reason of being part of this likely nonexistent affiliate cashout ring:

    Quote Originally Posted by gadolparah
    ... withdrawal cancelled ...
    Quote Originally Posted by Mennas Joint
    I had a withdrawl cancelled in the amount of 10k ... just some generic BS
    Quote Originally Posted by isunkurbttlship
    same here
    Quote Originally Posted by LegitimizeMyFries
    10k cancelled as well.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jah Onion
    10k also got cancelled.
    All of these people are longtime 2+2 users and known high limit players on Lock.

    Shane then conceded that perhaps the "investigation" into this cashout ring was too overaggressive, and that any innocent parties who were unfairly accused should e-mail Lock Security to investigate.

    Everyone above did just that (including juggernaut), but simply got form letters back from security that their withdrawal was canceled due to receiving transfers and not playing enough. None of their points were addressed, and security would not respond to further e-mails about it.

    Shane also claims that people need to bet "as much money as received in transfer" in order to cash out, which nobody had ever been told prior to that. However, everyone above easily reached that requirement several times over.

    There is currently no resolution to this.

    It is clear to me that Lock is canceling these large withdrawals (after making some people wait months, believing their money was coming) because they simply don't have the money to send. This whole "affiliate cashout scam" is nonsense, and I doubt it's actually occurring. Even if it is occurring, it should be very easy to identify the guilty parties without canceling cashouts of legitimate players.

    Lock is clearly broke. Do not deposit there. Do not play there.

  2. #2
    Bronze BuSTMeANuT's Avatar
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    I think you should tweet at Shane and try to get him on the radio show for next week.

  3. #3
    Cubic Zirconia
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    mason got paid so all is well.

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    Platinum nunbeater's Avatar
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    It has gotten worse. Lock is now refusing player cashout requests if they recieved a transfer at all.

    Steven
    APR 27, 2013 | **:**PM EDT

    Hello,

    Thank you for your reply, there are no wagering requirements; player transfers are ineligible for payouts. Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.

    All our best,

    Steven

    ---
    CSR, Lock
    Security

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    Platinum nunbeater's Avatar
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    http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...3&postcount=16

    unfucking real. So glad I told all my buddies to get their cash off lock before this shit happened. Last time I played there was last week after not playing for months save a tourney here and there. I had 50 bucks in a long forgotten rackeback payment sitting in my vault and I decided to run it to 1k or bust and I could grab a quick 500 at least. Shit when I had money on Lock it was all play money to me anyways.

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    Serial Blogger BeerAndPoker's Avatar
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    Lock even getting reamed hard in this article over on calvinayre.com.

    http://calvinayre.com/2013/04/27/pok...s-all-is-well/

  7. #7
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BeerAndPoker View Post
    Lock even getting reamed hard in this article over on calvinayre.com.

    http://calvinayre.com/2013/04/27/pok...s-all-is-well/
    I like CalvinAyre.com and writer Peter Amsel (especially their hatred of Lock), but the above article was pretty much ripped off from mine.

    Even some of the phrasing is identical.

  8. #8
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    I've heard from an inside source that Lock lost a lot of money in the Cyprus bank failure of 2012, and that's primarily responsible for their current situation.

    I was told that all of the player money is gone, and they are lying to everyone with all of their recent excuses as to why cashouts have been canceled.

    They are hoping to get enough deposits to right the ship, but it's really starting to look like a capsize is in the future.

  9. #9
    Platinum Deal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    I've heard from an inside source that Lock lost a lot of money in the Cyprus bank failure of 2012, and that's primarily responsible for their current situation.

    I was told that all of the player money is gone, and they are lying to everyone with all of their recent excuses as to why cashouts have been canceled.

    They are hoping to get enough deposits to right the ship, but it's really starting to look like a capsize is in the future.
    Old news, saw it on your twitter feed. Reminds me of what Micon use to do.

     
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      garrett: Biggest fool on this site.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jasep View Post
    I have always tried to carry myself with a high level of integrity in the poker community and I take it very personally when someone calls that in to question.

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    Old news, saw it on your twitter feed. Reminds me of what Micon use to do.
    Hater?

  11. #11
    Platinum Deal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kmksmkn View Post
    Old news, saw it on your twitter feed. Reminds me of what Micon use to do.
    Hater?
    Bad read.

     
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      garrett: You do not know what a read is!
    Quote Originally Posted by Jasep View Post
    I have always tried to carry myself with a high level of integrity in the poker community and I take it very personally when someone calls that in to question.

  12. #12
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    I don't want this thread to turn into arguing or unrelated discussion, but the reason I posted it on Twitter first was because I received this info while on my phone, and it was a lot easier to post to Twitter than post here.

  13. #13
    Diamond chinamaniac's Avatar
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    Lock chips selling below 50 c now, they should be under 20 c by sunday

  14. #14
    Cubic Zirconia
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    Great job as usual exposing the scum of the poker world!!

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    Shouldn't those representing lock poker at this point be treated the same way those who represented UB Back in the day? Disgusting seeing these ppl still pimp out playing on Lock on their twitters.

  16. #16
    Bronze DutchDoDo's Avatar
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    Just curious Druff, do you feel sorry for these players that (most likely) lost their lock poker money?
    You always say that you don't feel sorry for any UB player losing money, after the scandal was exposed.
    I mean you've been warning everyone for a long time now that Lock poker is shady.

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Getting even worse:

    Hello,

    Thank you for your reply, please note that player transfers and winnings derived from player transfers are not eligible for payouts. if you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.

    All our best,

    Steven
    A poster on 2+2 received this.

    So not only are transfers themselves ineligible to be cashed out, but so are winnings that you end up making with your bankroll boosted by a transfer.

    So basically, if you ever got a transfer, you can't cash out.

    Lock is broke.

    I have also been informed by a separate reliable source that CEO Jennifer Larson is currently having some sort of expensive "retreat" in Portugal for herself and several Lock pros.

    Indeed, look at this tweet from Michael Mizrachi:

    Name:  grindertweet.png
Views: 2918
Size:  11.6 KB

  18. #18
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    How about calling out "lock pros" to step down from the site?

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    I'm going to be doing that very shortly.

  20. #20
    Gold Steve-O's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    Getting even worse:

    Hello,

    Thank you for your reply, please note that player transfers and winnings derived from player transfers are not eligible for payouts. if you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.

    All our best,

    Steven
    A poster on 2+2 received this.

    So not only are transfers themselves ineligible to be cashed out, but so are winnings that you end up making with your bankroll boosted by a transfer.

    So basically, if you ever got a transfer, you can't cash out.

    Lock is broke.

    I have also been informed by a separate reliable source that CEO Jennifer Larson is currently having some sort of expensive "retreat" in Portugal for herself and several Lock pros.

    Indeed, look at this tweet from Michael Mizrachi:

    Name:  grindertweet.png
Views: 2918
Size:  11.6 KB
    They do this retreat every year. I interviewed the whole lot of them and several of them brought it up. I also saw several Facebook photos of each pro recieving a very expensive wine/champagne christmas gift around the holidays. The way they were gushing about it (two bottles of something I couldn't make out, in a handmade wooden box) my guess is it's at least a $1k price-tag. Might explain why pros are loath to call the site out or believe the forum chatter. Not really sure what the deal is (I've heard conflicitng intenral chatter that I cannot repeat at this time) but even if the company is 100% legit they are basically digging their own grave with the uber-slow-cashouts and lack of communication -- basically a self-fulfilling prophecy
    I write things about poker at my Poker Blog and elsewhere on the Internets

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