Fraud on client funds again?
WorldSpreads recently entered special administration after the company said in a statement that as at close of business on Friday 16 March, the board of directors believed there was a shortfall of some £13m in clients’ money. I offer my sympathy if you have been affected.
Basically it looks like they have been trading using clients funds, though official information is always a big foggy in these cases. If so, it would not the first time a company has done this and, unfortunately, it will not be the last. IG index was quick to come out with a statement that re-assured their clients. I’m not concerned that this could happen at Betfair as there is no motivation to do so, but this episode has prompted me to voice my concern with client funds at Betfair, which is account fraud.
Betfair have a curious attitude to fraud in that they generally wash their hands of it, as they can’t cancel the counter party bet; or don’t want to. But hardly a week goes past when I hear of someone that has had money bet from their account. In my view, too many not to be an major issue. If you are reading this and have also been de-frauded then I suggest you join the discussion.
Therefore I urge Betfair to address their users concern on account security and have a more open dialogue. I realise its probably a small number of people that have been affected, but it also seems to be quite a surprisingly common problem. The impression I get is that a lot of users feel that Betfair are not doing enough to secure accounts and totally eliminate the possibility of fraud. We shouldn’t forget however, that a lot of security lies in our hands and all users of anything online should always take appropriate measures. Be careful about what you download from the Internet as well. Unless you can be 100% sure it is legitimate, you can’t be sure what it’s up to!
I suggest taking on-board some of the advice on the forum on best practice to restrict the chance that your account could be compromised.
Hopefully it will never happen to you, but better safe than sorry.
Category: Betfair, Industry news
