Chris Moneymaker has tweeted that PayPal closed down his account for a terms of service violation and stole the $12,000 balance, claiming legitimate damages. The ACR brand ambassador is furious, and, according to many replies in his thread, totally helpless.
More Payment Processor Controversy in the Poker Community
So @PayPal @AskPayPal froze my account last year and said i could access my money in 180 days. Well they straight up stole the money!!!! Money out of my account pic.twitter.com/fnQtkPw7s9
— Chris Moneymaker (@CMONEYMAKER) May 18, 2021
As soon as Chris Moneymaker tweeted there was an almost instant slew of replies saying that this type of action is commonplace on the world’s largest payment processor. And what can we do about it? Nothing, apparently.
Mike “The Mouth” Matusow replied that exactly the same happened to him:
“They did same to me told me 180 days and stole 11 k from me they are straight up criminals. My attorney told me if you read fine print they are allowed to steal our money. It’s criminal but we can’t do anything.”
Did Chris Moneymaker Miss the Small Print?
Chris Moneymaker made it sound as if he believes he has done nothing wrong, but did he miss something basic in the small print?
There are strict regulations on PayPal when it comes to anything regarding gambling. As poker players we all know the story of how Black Friday came about—it wasn’t that online poker was illegal, it was that payment processors couldn’t legally transfer funds to or from gambling businesses.
One poster asked Moneymaker if he had ever tried to use his account for “gambling transactions,” and the reply was affirmative.
“I used it for fantasy football yes, but I can send to draftkings perfectly fine. Not even my money, its the prize pool for a fantasy football season long league “
There was no reason given by PayPal Support other than “violated terms of service,” but we can infer that this is the likely candidate as for why this all happened.
If the reader is still unsure how pathetic the department that handles these matters is, then check out the quote below from yet another disgruntled poster.
“Banned here for _receiving_ small amount of money to split the cost of tickets to a “Cuban Salsa” event, as described by the sender in the memo. Paypal’s algorithm identified the transaction as a violation of the US embargo on Cuba. “
If you have a @paypal account they can literally steal your money for thousands of reason and offer you no reason why. This is there response after stealing my 12k.#seeyouinsmallclaimsbitch pic.twitter.com/lJzBgD9vvz
— Chris Moneymaker (@CMONEYMAKER) May 18, 2021
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Becoming a Common Story for PayPal
PayPal messing people around over nothing serious isn’t anything new, but the company is also the owner of Venmo, who have created much controversy over the last year; especially in the high-stakes poker community.
High-profile players such as Daniel Negreanu, Justin Bonomo, and Erik Seidel all lost tens of thousands of dollars from their accounts. As is usually the case, the company retreated into a cocoon of legalities, absolving them of any direct blame and responsibility.
Don’t forget to check out the latest poker news to see what’s been happening in the poker world and find out if Chris Moneymaker was able to get a satisfactory resolution to his issues with PayPal.
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