Beware of UB & Absolute insider phone & email scams

[whistleblower]

For those of you who won't read anything longer than two sentences:
Beware of scam phone calls and e-mails to Ultimate Bet and Absolute VIP players. There appears to be a security breach by an insider with access to your contact details (at least).

The rest of you: be warned, I'm gonna take my time telling this. Read it or not, as you wish. Just don't complain . . .

I have been - was until very recently - a high stakes player on UB for several years. Up to $300/600, my account balance usually in the mid five-figures. I won't say more than that.

Over two weeks ago I get a call out of the blue from someone claiming to be with UB. I reserve that particular phone for poker site contacts, and on those rare occasions when it rings it's always bad news. Like my account frozen for unwittingly playing someone who prints their own credit cards or wears a Bin Ladin T-shirt or something. So I really hate it when it rings.

This time it's a chirpy young woman who launches into some patter about bonus deposit offers and free tournament entry and so on, all on account of my being a UB VIP. Now I'm confused: a direct marketing call by a poker site - who ever heard of such a thing? Well, she did have the insanely upbeat manner of someone working on commission (or on coke). But no site does that to my knowledge (the phone marketing I mean - dunno about the coke). Anyway my UB account profile clearly says No to "Communications" from them.

This is all still running through my head when she asks: Do you play a lot of tournaments? Do you enter those pretty often? What kind?
Me (stunned): Huh?!
She just goes on and asks: How much do you usually deposit to UB?
Me: (disbelieving): WHAT?!
She expands cheerfully: When you deposit to UB, what amount might that buyin typically be?
Me: Are you ****ing kidding lady? (I think but don't say.)

Finally I understand (I can be slow, and she caught me off guard): it's some kind of scam. But I'm still not 100% sure. And how the hell did they get my name and (poker-specific) phone number? So I coldly tell her that I don't talk about about these things over the phone or with strangers, and if she really is from UB and wants to know anything she can go look it up on my account. Which throws her briefly; but then she's rattling on again about deposit-this and bonus-that and free seats in tournaments. So I interrupt to say that I don't want to receive such phone calls, and if she really does work for UB and has some offer, she can e-mail it.

She immediately names my UB-registered e-mail address: send it there? Um . . . yes. (S**t, how much do these guys know? UB are the only ones I use that particular address for.) And she says sure, she'll send me a mail right away. But meanwhile, if I'll just confirm my account details with her now, she can "guarantee" me the best possible bonus . . .

So the phone call ends pretty quickly after that. I wish I could say I closed with something witty or cutting or even semi-intelligent. But in fact the whole experience really threw me - I was shaken! Sure enough, a while later I get an e-mail to that (UB-specific) address. My anti-virus and phishing filter are all over it: scam mail, delete immediately. So I quickly do that, after noting down some details. Two addresses on her end:

grethel.k@ultimatebet.com
grethel.k@absolutepoker.com

Which is why I also warned about an Absolute scam, even though "Grethel" phoned in the name of UB. Mind you, those two poker sites are now so intimate, it looks like the shotgun marriage can't be far off. It didn't make me feel any more warm or secure to see the name of We-Absolutely-Read-Your-Hole-Cards Poker involved. (I won't touch the place myself.)

First thing I did of course, was start cashing all my money out of UB. Which, with my balance, took over a week. Next thing I did, when my cash was all safe, was tell UB customer services exactly what had happened. In fact I've written them several times since then, during the last ten days, and sent copies to member services and cashier and everyone else there I could think of. But I haven't had a single reply. No, not one!

That's it: end of story. Again, I wish I could say something all pithy and insightful, to wrap it up. But I can only say that it's one thing to read about such scams, and another to actually have one of these people talking to you on your own phone. The horrible feeling in your gut as it dawns on you what's happening, the fear because they already know who you are - and you have no idea how much more they may know or be able to do.

And of course, it's a great comfort that UltimateBet is obviously right on top of it. (Ha!)

Oh, by the way: No, these scammers didn't get my info from any AOL or AIM security breach, or from the contents of e-mails, or from loose talk, or any of those ways I hear about where people's personal information gets compromised. Virtually no one even knows I play poker - I like it that way - and I am extremely careful in every way about security. Which is why this 2+2 post is a one-time use of a temporary ID and I'm sending it from a machine and IP not my own. I'll never post under this name, or to this thread, again. So don't bother asking me anything!

I'm just telling you: this scam had to originate from someone inside UltimateBet. Beware of any "VIP" contacts you may get from them or their good ol' Absolute buddies. Believe it or ignore it, as you wish.

Whistleblower