PartyPoker $50 bonus, fraud? Please help...

[guitman03]

Ok, So I've got about 10 new PartyPoker players today with my get $50 instant bonus, but I've had some fishy activity. I have checked IPs using outlook express (right clicked on the mail then went to Properties then looked under the "received by" (is this the correct way?) and all the IPs are unique.

I just started advertising at a site today and I suppose it is possible that I got all these sign ups from there but usually I don't get more than 1-2 signups a day.

Some of the e-mails are rather fishy though and I don't know how to handle them.

Here is an example
-----
Hi, my name is (girls name) i just registered for free 50 dollar deal and my acouunt name is XXXXXX i would apreciate the free 50 as soon as possible


Thank you,
(girls name)
-----

The e-mail on the account is a different person though (a male). All the other e-mails have the same PartyPoker name as on the e-mail account, and are from unique e-mail addresses and IP addresses. Do I just send the $50 and hope? If the players turn out to be the same person (although all quickcash transfers I have done so far have shown up as unique users) will PartyPoker send me money back?

Thanks again,
Nick

[Brandon]

I would for sure go investigate this first. Seems like you have a chance to get rolled for a lot of money.

[JohnG]

Guitman,

My personal advice is sites like this are not worth the hassle. I have some experience with them and the amount of fraud is insane. A few steps you can take to slow it down are:

1. In your registration have a place to upload a photo ID and require it
2. Get an automated phone system (expensive)

Just some ideas to help you out. I do not understand how you guys make money anyways cause you are on MGR. Also, anyone who is pushy in these emails is 100% commiting fraud. They are not just assholes. Trust me like I said i have some experience with this. If you want some ideas of security measures look at sites like

xxwww.pokersourceonline.comxx
xxwww.partybackers.comxx
xxwww.partystakers.comxx

All these sites have added fraud protection and you can learn from them. Once again proceed with caution, you will get alot of fraud as you are giving out free money. Not trying to discourage you just help you out. Good luck with your venture.

John

[Kyle]

Like I said in a previous post I had a couple of buddies in college who scammed instantbankroll for like 2 'g s a piece. It is certainly not difficult to change your e-mail ip.

You should try to manually confirm them on the phone, this is the best way. Make sure you call all of them one after the other within 5 minutes so some sick kid can't pull of a scam on you somehow.

[guitman03]

OK, I am now verifying their phone numbers and checking IP addresses and put some scary messages on my site to try and stop scammers.

Just to check, is there anything to stop someone creating accounts using 3-5 of his friends phone numbers, then telling their friends the information?

I was thinking of asking them a few poker related questions that anyone who has played play money should know and also verifying their identity.

Any other ideas? I don't have the money for automated phone verification right now (I don't even know what it costs, but I probably don't have it). So I will just call these people myself.

If this doesn't start turning out at least a few solid MGR players within a few months I'll probably quit offering it...