[BluffTHIS!]

Anything that the sites can do, including providing extra security for greater fees if necessary, should be done. As should *quick* replies regarding such issues brought to them by a customer, and *quick* resolutions of such issues.

We constantly see in these forums both sides of the coin. On one side is those who get scammed, and on the other side are those who are wrongly accused/suspected of fraudulent activity. The first situation needs to be handled very quickly as time is of the essence to stop a con, but the second also needs to be handled in a reasonable time period coupled with *good* communication with the player. Obviously the sites have a hard time balancing all of this, and for the sites that have the highest stakes play, it is also obvious, to me at least, that Full Tilt, UB and Prima have the most shortcomings.

BUT, there also are many common characteristics of these situations and the players involved:

1) transferring money via interaccount transfers on a site

2) same as above but on neteller

3) surfing sites known to be more likely to infect your computer with a trojan or other security threat, e.g. porn sites and torrent sites

4) communicating via IMs to online "friends" who are still anonymous and have never been met in real life and clicking on a keylogger virus ostensibly for the purpose of looking at a hand history

5) allowing a B&M friend to use one's computer

6) playing from multiple computers, especially on those of a friend



There are legitimate reasons for doing all of the above, and if one is a good judge of not just human nature, but also of the current potential level of desparation with a formerly trusted friend, then *mostly* you won't have a problem. But it is clear that your chances of having a problem are greater than for someone who never does any of those things (like me).

The simple fact is that if you jaywalk, even if you look both ways first and generally are an accurate judge of speed and distance, you could be wrong one day, and with disasterous consequences.

So it really comes down to 2 things:

1) your level of risk avoidance

2) your level of gullibility, especially regarding potential conmen who specialize in the "long con" of first building up a relationship before striking, and regarding those formerly trustworthy "friends" who are now in desparate financial straits.

Note that I used quotes around "friends". The level of trust regarding financial and other matters some of you place in either people you know in real life, or long time but still mostly anonymous online friends, is far greater and extends to more such people than is the case for me.

This past holiday season one of my sisters was in town with her family and stayed at my parents' house. They came over to mine one day and one of my nephews asked to use one of my computers to check his email and I said sorry but no. Now I trust that kid 100% as far as not stealing from me. And I have excellent security procedures on my computers. But I also take care not to surf potentially dangerous sites and not to click on suspicious email links, and I can't trust a kid with that when I have a lot of money online in various accounts. So I was not willing to take any risk whatsoever, just for the convenience of a trusted family member. Maybe that makes me paranoid, but my chances of ever posting a "I got my roll scammed" thread are much less than most here, plus I would hate to even in the back of my mind suspect a family member or friend of screwing me. If something bad happens, it will either be my fault, or at least not the fault of someone I love or trust as a friend.

The poster kyleb has given and relinked in other threads, good info on avoiding hacking, and all here should read and implement same. But all here should also take the greatest care to avoid entangling themselves with anonymous online "friends" (includes those met in other cities on only a small handful of occasions), or in placing a greater level of trust in real world friends or family even than is prudent or necessary.

Regarding posters on 2+2, there are a handful I have friendly PM correspondance with, and whom I regard as some of the most trustworthy posters on this site. But I have still never actually met any of these people in real life. So I wouldn't transfer $1 to them on stars or neteller or whatever. I wouldn't even mail them a check and let them have one of my bank account numbers. There simply is no good reason to take the attendant risks with same. And that goes doubly because although they practive a form of gambling that is +EV, they still are in the gambling world where lots of cons and scams abound, and because you not only are trusting them, but everyone they trust as well, when you allow an online account of yours to get linked to someone else's, and who then links to a 3rd party and so on.

My motto regarding financial dealings:

"In God I trust. All others pay cash."