Slots Safari Casino - Player challenges deposit descriptors and account closure.

Yet again another rogue casino, how do they get away with it. Again all my deposits have actual businesses as their descriptor:

Straridges.com

Goodshom.com

Achphil Variety Store

i have never purchased anything from these stores so why would they appear on my bank statement.

Slotssafari owes me £298.23.

I have copied all the businesses into all my emails - not one of them has responded. This is the last transcript I have from them 24/10/23

Slotssafari response to my issue with my money going to the three businesses:

We would like to inform you that this is a descriptor used by our payment provider, which is not up to us to decide, but we can see your deposit in our back office.

Let me assure you that your account is now closed and will not be able to deposit. 

Regarding all deposits, as our terms state, the same way that we would honour any bets placed whilst the account was open we of course cannot refund any bets placed in the reverse of this. 

Your account will not be reopened again and i wish you all the best.

Again,

If this complaint does not bring about a resolution I will resort to chargebacks through my bank!

Dear DescriptorRaptor,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m really sorry to hear about your issue with Slots Safari Casino. I’m afraid, I will need more information regarding your problem. Please could you elaborate? Why would the casino owe you anything? Did you have any remaining balance on your account when it got closed? I will be waiting for your reply patiently.

Best regards,

Nick

Hi Nick

I did not have any balance left but when I looked on my bank statement these descriptors did not have any reference to the casino, but instead 3 different businesses, who I have never heard of, let alone purchased from. Therefore, it can be concluded they are not operating legally and I will not be part of this fraudulent activity. This is why I want my money back because any questionable activity renders their casino totally untrustworthy.

‘Descriptors are intended to help the cardholder identify the transactions on their bank statement for products or services purchased’.

If the cardholder doesn't easily understand the billing descriptor and recognise the transaction, a chargeback can be initiated’.

Velobet Casino just returned £584 to me without verifying my account. Their descriptor was Webops Ltd - they asked me not to escalate the matter as they would refund all the deposits, which suggests to me they are fully aware of what they are doing and again their activity is highly questionable. These casinos can state I made the bets and played so why would I get a refund. My reply to that would be, if there is any doubts about their integrity and FairPlay this is exposed in the descriptors used and it raises a big red flag, as I have now discovered.

You will never win if they do not operate fairly and without the need to put money into completely unrelated businesses. They are NOT doing that with my money PERIOD!

I would just like to add this very interesting find:

Non-GAMSTOP casinos will hire third party payment processors who miscode payments to and from the operator, representing to the bank or card provider that the payment is for something other than gambling. This is effectively money laundering and the financial institutions work very hard to identify transactions of this nature and ban the initiating company.

Source

https://thepogg.com/en-gb/non-gamstop-casinos/

After raising concerns about my deposits showing a descriptor of the actual company We*ops Ltd full identity hidden in case it breaches CG rules (a company I have never heard of, let alone purchased anything from), I challenged Velobet Casino and after a lot of email exchanges they agreed to refund me all my deposits amounting to over £580 - I have received all monies! 😀

Just putting this out there!

Is there any reason why it’s taking so long to review my posts Nick?

REFUNDS UPDATE:

After writing to the commercial companies who illegally processed my deposits for Slots Safari, I have recieved a full refund from one business for £50.30.

The time is ticking, so if refunds from the other commercial companies/Slots Safari are not received I will be seeking chargebacks - thanks to the refund this gives me great evidence for the bank to show I have personally attempted to secure the refunds from a potential ‘money laundering’ casino!

Why are so many of my posts still awaiting approval, I assume, although one should never assume, you have tools that can hide sensitive data?!

I had a really good chat with my bank’s fraud team today and they are being very supportive and helpful.

The bank put a stop on my card so any refunds are no longer possible via the original payment method - two casinos/commercial companies wisely returned my deposits!

If I can help just one vulnerable person, by exposing non-GAMSTOP casinos who are not Anti-Money Laundering Compliant, my time will have been worth it!

IMPORTANT (source ThePOGG.com)

Every UK licensed gambling operator is required by the regulator to engage with the GAMSTOP program. There are no exceptions to this rule anymore.

The only casinos that will accept UK players that are not part of the GAMSTOP program are casinos that are unlicensed and accepting UK players illegally!

It is not legal for any casino that does not hold a UKGC license to accept UK players. Any casino not on GAMSTOP does not hold a UKGC license. However, it is the business that is committing an illegal offense, not the player.

We would like to ask the casino to reply to this complaint. We are extending the timer by 7 days. If the casino fails to respond in the set time frame, we will close the complaint as ‘unresolved’ which may negatively affect its rating.

Thank you! When will my posts be approved?!

Also I have received a refund of £50.32 so could you please reduce the amount owed by £50 please?!

Money laundering in casinos

Both online and on-premises casinos are often abused by criminals to launder dirty money. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) identifies nine potential vulnerabilities that casinos might have in terms of money laundering. They include: 

• Cash payments
• Receiving proceeds of a crime
• Prepaid cards
• Deposit accounts
• Transferring money between customers
• Multiple accounts
• Multiple operators
• Identity fraud
• Third parties

Red Flags

The FATF provides a list of red flags that you should watch out for, including:

• Transactions inconsistent with the customer’s profile
• Depositing multiple amounts of cash and receiving multiple cheques drawn on that account
• Multiple individuals sending funds to one beneficiary
• Cheques issued to a family member of a gambler
• Funds transferred into third-party accounts
• Transactions on casino accounts conducted by persons other than the account holder
• Use of third parties to undertake the structuring of deposits and wire transfers

I hope someone finds this useful, I fell, I don’t want you to do the same players!

source: https://sumsub.com/blog/the-6-most-popular-forms-of-money-laundering-in-casinos/

Hello DescriptorRaptor,

The timer was accidentally set to the casino as it was meant to be still set on the player(you). I'm glad to hear that the company refunded you some money but from our point of view, they are not obligate to. The license of the casino has nothing to do with anything as you knowingly registered into the casino and agreed to their rules. If you did lose the money there, it is simply lost and you can't just request a refund for no reason. It is the casino's decision how the money is transferred to them and as long as it did arrive on your casino account, there is nothing to talk about.

🙄

The complaint will be now rejected for the above explained reason.

Please be sure to always check the casino terms and licensing before registering in any online casino to prevent such issues to occur in the future.