Group of UK poker forum posters taken for 100K by scammer

KevIRL

Pretty epic thread, really gets going from page 20, lots of pages but well worth the read

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=48399.0

(Description from IrishScandie and cliffs from The C Kid on IPB)

A from regular Neil Blatchley starting a staking thread to trade football games on betfair,with all activity to be done pre game always "greening-up" or minimising loses,so no in-running betting.He got a lot of investors as he had a reputation as a huge winner on betfair trading but stated this was a new venture for him so was going to do it as something for the community at the same time as finding out of himself how profitable it would be.

When he put up a staking thread for the WSOP and some side games in Vegas,questions started being asked as to why he needed staking for games which he would be comfortably rolled for as someone who makes their living trading on betfair.

This was when a relativey new member "arbboy" came along and started ruffling some feathers,which is where this thread took off..

Cliffs...

- Blatch asks for staking for a pre-game football trading system
- Starts off small, apparently runs good, makes monies for investors
- Bigger investors get interested, funds get bigger, fund around 80k.
- Blatch holidays in Miami, boasts of buying house etc
- Fund going well, but Blatch asks for staking for WSOP event and Vegas cashgames
- Arbboy starts thread asking why Blatch missed out trading the biggest game of the world cup in betting terms, Korea - Greece
- Blatch says was out, missed it, money tied up in England game.
- Arbboy makes good argument about how poorly scheme is run for such money, asks to see proof of P+L.
- Blatch doesn't respond
- Investors become worried and look for reassurances behind scenes.
- Blatch comes clean and says he lost it all six months ago, and had been paper trading since while trying to chase with new investment. Says he lost it all on on Liverpool - Stoke game when he slept in and missed trading out. Says will repay all investors through working.
- WSOP staking was also used to chase back the lost funds.
- Investors get send spreadsheet from Betfair account.
- People question certain bets on account, where he backed 1.01s in low-liquidity markets that had no chance of winning. Clear sign of account dumping.
- Looks to be clear fraud from the beginning.
- No trading at all really, just clueless gambling and using the funds to fund his life.
- Police now involved.

Bog Warrior

Amazing thread and story!

okidoki987

Did you read all 148 pages?

Bog Warrior

no are ya mental?

Pablo Picasso

Amazing story.

Seems a little harsh that the guy who started the thread got banned after raising some valid q's,(how long more would the scam have gone on if he hadn't ?),especially as things could have been cleared up so easily with a P&L screenshot to an admin

Without having some kind of proofing system for presenting 'results' admins seemed to have let the forum become a tool for the scammer to seduce investors and have lost credibility in the process...

Fromvert

I think he's paying the money back, well his family is. Some of the investors have got their money back anyway.

The investors where fools, never asking for screen shots or a few of them should of had access to the account to make sure everything was right.

JimsAlterEgo

whats that old saying about "fools and their money"

orourkeda

I cant believe people would invest such sums without being absolutely satisfied as to the bona fide of such a scheme. To say it seems rather foolish is something of an understatement.

okidoki987

Maybe his name and/or reputation were good enough for some?