An interesting/disturbing convo w/ a BOA CC Rep. re: ePassporte

[Augie]

So after Neteller flew away (and I caught with only a few hundo on Stars) I naturally began investigating options on how to fund my account.

Click2pay is a no go on Stars, CCs don't work, everything else is for Europeans . . . I'm left with ePassporte and their ridiculous 5% tax, but I need some sort of option, so I give it a try.

After creating an account, I decided I would try and fund it via a CC. Tried a couple of Mastercards, and they were decilined.

Thought I would give it one more try, so I used my BOA Visa. Transaction declined . . . and I'm starting to think the new B&M Hochunk might be my only option for poker.

Anyway, a couple of hours later as I'm playing some last MTTs on Stars, I get a phone call from a BOA representative that goes roughly like this:

BOA: Sir, this is BOA fraud investigation.
Me: Yes?
BOA: Are you aware of an attempted charge on this account by a company called ePassporte?
Me: Yes.
BOA: Oh, so you authorized this charge?
Me: Yes.
BOA: Well, ePassporte is on a list of companies that are used to fund 'illegal internet gambling'. So these sorts of transactions are blocked.
Me: O, well my understanding is that ePassporte is basically an online CC that can be used to purchase products/services on the web.
BOA: Ok, so you are not using ePassporte as a method of funding for illegal online gaming?
Me: (steaming a bit inside and thinking 'none of your f****** business, but keeping my head) No, of course not.
BOA: Ok, I am going to unblock transactions to ePassporte for you in the future.
Me: Thanks.

That was the jist of the convo w/BOA. My transaction w/ePassporte went fine afterwards, BTW.

Anyway, thought some of you would find this interesting.

I think this simple and short conversation has quite a few nuggets of information about how the future may look, but I'll let others elaborate.

Be good,

Augie

[boedeker]

i think this is the obvious play. way not to [censored] it up.

[BluffTHIS!]

augie,

This is standard kinda. You have to verbally authorize it on the phone, and would also have to with may other charges to foreign retailers. epassporte's big out is that they in fact do have a big non-gamlbing business unlike neteller.

[xadrez]

Be glad big brother is looking out for you...

[Barrin6]

Ugh,
Doesn't sound good. Hopefully I don't have to run into this stupid [censored] when I try to link my checking account with Epassport

[SpaceMonkey13]

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" comes to online poker

[Augie]

BluffTHIS!,

I'm definately aware that sometimes CCs have standard procedures in this area.

My only concern is that if USA financial companies have lists of other companies that do gaming transactions, that in the future, to 'comply' with regulations, USA banks will simply refuse to do business with any company that is affiliated in any way with gaming transactions.

This could happen, and would mean the end of USA players using any sort of ewallet/Neteller type of company to fund their accounts.

I'm not crying doomsday or anything, just saddened that our government is forcing online poker into the backroom, so to speak.

Be good,

Augie

[adanthar]

Notice how all of these types of problems have been coming from BoA?

[APerfect10]

I think this is a good thing. There is a ton of credit card fraud. I have no problem with them blocking transactions to what they perceive to be shady sites. As long as they allow the transaction upon approval. Asking what you are using the funds for is a completely different story and is none of their freaking business...

[Augie]

adanthar,

Yes, I've read some of the other posts re: BOA.

However, I will say that BOA was the only 1 out of 3 CCs I tried that actually gave me a call . . . and they did allow the transaction after I told them it was for online shopping.

The other two CCs I tried were a Capitol One card, and an ATT Universal card. Both of these declined the transaction outright, no phone calls.

Be good,

Augie