The Completely Insane Saga of CoinBet.cc

[ManeBjorn]

All right this article blew me away.
So many scams going on in Bitcoin and Crypto Currencies and this one is no doubt another big one.
I cannot believe how they ran what was considered a legit site and ran away once someone broke their silence on their shenanigans.

http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/news/completely-insane-saga-coinbet-cc/2014/04/20

The emails are damming in and of themselves that they were up to no good.

It All Starts With One Man

Meet Michael Katz. Katz is an American poker player from a small town in New Jersey. Throughout his career, Katz has won well over half a million dollars playing online poker. However, on 15 April 2011, the United States indicted three major online poker sites – PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker, for violating the Illegal Gambling Business Act of 1955. The online poker community soon dubbed this date “Black Friday,” since it essentially ended online poker for Americans. As a result of Black Friday, Katz no longer obsessed over poker and instead was able to concentrate on other aspects of his life, including his family and his own start-up businesses. You could stop reading now and believe that Michael Katz lived happily ever after with his winnings and his family. Unfortunately, the true story has a far more miserable ending. This is the story of how a man lost over $300,000, and in the processes, exposed one of the biggest scams in the Bitcoin world.

Check the rest out.  I do not know what to say from here other than stories like this make me lose a bit of faith in humans sometimes.  Not all people are like this I know it just sucks so many get away with it.

[killinitsoftly]

I can't believe that users of Bitcoin are still throwing tons of coin into these blatant scams.
I have withdrawn every satoshi out of every single online entity there is.  So much bull**** going on right now.

[ManeBjorn]

The worst part was is that they would not let him withdraw it.
It is crazy with all the scammers and cons going on in the crypto world.  It is too bad as this is a tight community for all that it is spread world wide.

I can't believe that users of Bitcoin are still throwing tons of coin into these blatant scams.
I have withdrawn every satoshi out of every single online entity there is.  So much bull**** going on right now.

[Stevenrm87]

When in doubt, do nothing!

[Bit_Happy]

At first, Katz wanted to expose CoinBet’s shadiness to every possible forum. However, he stumbled upon CoinBet’s Terms and Conditions that state:

    "By joining CoinBet.cc, you agree to keep all experience, winnings, losses, payouts, disputes, and gameplay confidential and are forbidden from releasing any information publicly, including but not limited to, message boards, news agencies, forums, blogs, or other websites, without the express written consent of CoinBet.cc. Any information publicized without the express written consent of CoinBet.cc will result in immediate termination of the account in question and forfeiture of any winnings or account balances."

I read it all, and was surprised how horrible they treated customers.
"Completely Insane" is one way to say it...

[ManeBjorn]

It was a hedge to try and bail stealing someone's money. 
I wonder if he is going to be able to get anywhere from a legal standpoint.

At first, Katz wanted to expose CoinBet’s shadiness to every possible forum. However, he stumbled upon CoinBet’s Terms and Conditions that state:

    "By joining CoinBet.cc, you agree to keep all experience, winnings, losses, payouts, disputes, and gameplay confidential and are forbidden from releasing any information publicly, including but not limited to, message boards, news agencies, forums, blogs, or other websites, without the express written consent of CoinBet.cc. Any information publicized without the express written consent of CoinBet.cc will result in immediate termination of the account in question and forfeiture of any winnings or account balances."

I read it all, and was surprised how horrible they treated customers.
"Completely Insane" is one way to say it...

[Bit_Happy]

It was a hedge to try and bail stealing someone's money. 
I wonder if he is going to be able to get anywhere from a legal standpoint.

At first, Katz wanted to expose CoinBet’s shadiness to every possible forum. However, he stumbled upon CoinBet’s Terms and Conditions that state:

    "By joining CoinBet.cc, you agree to keep all experience, winnings, losses, payouts, disputes, and gameplay confidential and are forbidden from releasing any information publicly, including but not limited to, message boards, news agencies, forums, blogs, or other websites, without the express written consent of CoinBet.cc. Any information publicized without the express written consent of CoinBet.cc will result in immediate termination of the account in question and forfeiture of any winnings or account balances."

I read it all, and was surprised how horrible they treated customers.
"Completely Insane" is one way to say it...

...from a legal standpoint.
Pretty hopeless for an American, since gambling online (with "money") is illegal.

a) If CoinBet.cc is in any way considered a "legit business" the victim has no legal case since the terms of service is/are an "agreement".
b) If CoinBet.cc is "illegal" he has no legal case...or it would appear that way.

[ManeBjorn]

That is too bad.
A successful scam it looks like now.
I think TOS like that should be illegal.  Those kind of TOS allows a company of any kind to steal from their customers.
Customers need to also read these TOS agreements and not use services that have this kind of wording.

It was a hedge to try and bail stealing someone's money. 
I wonder if he is going to be able to get anywhere from a legal standpoint.

At first, Katz wanted to expose CoinBet’s shadiness to every possible forum. However, he stumbled upon CoinBet’s Terms and Conditions that state:

    "By joining CoinBet.cc, you agree to keep all experience, winnings, losses, payouts, disputes, and gameplay confidential and are forbidden from releasing any information publicly, including but not limited to, message boards, news agencies, forums, blogs, or other websites, without the express written consent of CoinBet.cc. Any information publicized without the express written consent of CoinBet.cc will result in immediate termination of the account in question and forfeiture of any winnings or account balances."

I read it all, and was surprised how horrible they treated customers.
"Completely Insane" is one way to say it...

...from a legal standpoint.
Pretty hopeless for an American, since gambling online (with "money") is illegal.

a) If CoinBet.cc is in any way considered a "legit business" the victim has no legal case since the terms of service is/are an "agreement".
b) If CoinBet.cc is "illegal" he has no legal case...or it would appear that way.

[jonald_fyookball]

That is too bad.
A successful scam it looks like now.
I think TOS like that should be illegal.  Those kind of TOS allows a company of any kind to steal from their customers.
Customers need to also read these TOS agreements and not use services that have this kind of wording.

It was a hedge to try and bail stealing someone's money. 
I wonder if he is going to be able to get anywhere from a legal standpoint.

At first, Katz wanted to expose CoinBet’s shadiness to every possible forum. However, he stumbled upon CoinBet’s Terms and Conditions that state:

    "By joining CoinBet.cc, you agree to keep all experience, winnings, losses, payouts, disputes, and gameplay confidential and are forbidden from releasing any information publicly, including but not limited to, message boards, news agencies, forums, blogs, or other websites, without the express written consent of CoinBet.cc. Any information publicized without the express written consent of CoinBet.cc will result in immediate termination of the account in question and forfeiture of any winnings or account balances."

I read it all, and was surprised how horrible they treated customers.
"Completely Insane" is one way to say it...

...from a legal standpoint.
Pretty hopeless for an American, since gambling online (with "money") is illegal.

a) If CoinBet.cc is in any way considered a "legit business" the victim has no legal case since the terms of service is/are an "agreement".
b) If CoinBet.cc is "illegal" he has no legal case...or it would appear that way.

Could easily be argued that the contract (TOS) or at least that part of it, was invalid based on a number of different legal reasons.

[Bit_Happy]

Could easily be argued that the contract (TOS) or at least that part of it, was invalid based on a number of different legal reasons.

Not sure if that matters for Americans, since BTC gambling is a grey area legally, so the entire company would (probably) not be viewed as "legit".

That is too bad.
A successful scam it looks like now.
I think TOS like that should be illegal.  Those kind of TOS allows a company of any kind to steal from their customers.
Customers need to also read these TOS agreements and not use services that have this kind of wording.

Legal Terms/TOS can be really hard to read.
When a lot of money is involved, you are correct that people need to be diligent.

[gagalady]

I read all the story yesterday. This is horrible, i feel sorry for Michael    But you much choose really carefully where you play before depositing such big amount of money into bitcoin casinos or sportbooks because not all of them are legit.

[jonald_fyookball]

I read all the story yesterday. This is horrible, i feel sorry for Michael    But you much choose really carefully where you play before depositing such big amount of money into bitcoin casinos or sportbooks because not all of them are legit.

Yep. Another goxxing.