Fake Online Stores Reveal Gamblers' Shadow Banking System (reuters.com)

randomErr shares an exclusive report from Reuters: A network of dummy online stores offering household goods has been used as a front for internet gambling payments. The seven sites in Europe to sell items including fabric, DVD cases, and maps are fake outlets. The faux store fronts are a multinational system to disguise payments for the $40 billion global online gambling industry. Online gambling is illegal in many countries and some U.S. states. The dummy sites underline a strategy which regulators, card issuers and banks have yet to tackle head-on. The scheme found by Reuters involved websites which accepted payments for household items from a reporter but did not deliver any products. Instead, staff who answered helpdesk numbers on the sites said the outlets did not sell the product advertised, but that they were used to help process gambling payments, mostly for Americans.

Comments

They do this in Japan

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember in the 90's seeing people ( in Japan) run out of pachinko halls with dozens of hello kitty pencils and trinkets, to a mysterious "door" front. You could not see who was behind the door. All you know, was these "hello kitty" items yielded some mucho yen.

Re:They do this in Japan

[drew_kime]

I'm pretty sure they have a way of tracking whether they came from the right place, and there are a few guys with missing fingers who can explain the penalties for trying to exploit the system.

Vice: perhaps normal life is too dull

[rmdingler]

Gambling is an interesting vice. The numbers game played out locally by organized crime is illegal, but the State-sponsored lottery is not. Betting on the outcome of a sporting event is legal, but only if you live within the arbitrary borders of an amenable State or Indian reservation.

No rational person imagines that gambling is without consequence for the addicted, yet the message sent by lawmakers is a mixed one at best.

I have a friend who can't kick cigarettes who wishes they were illegal. Where do we draw the line legislating to protect people from themselves?

Re:Vice: perhaps normal life is too dull

[networkBoy]

would your friend stop if they were illegal tomorrow?
I bet not.

I tried quitting no less than 5 times, across several years before I was finally successful about 5 years ago. Absolute *bitch* to kick.
Addiction is defined as: Continued use in the face of adverse consequences. If your friend is so much an addict as to wish they were illegal then the act of making them illegal likely won't be what gets him to finally quit. I do hope he manages to win one of these days though... it's a hell of a struggle to do.

Re:Vice: perhaps normal life is too dull

[mark-t]

would your friend stop if they were illegal tomorrow?
I bet not.

Not the OP here, but if they were illegal, I can imagine this would pose generally present a significantly greater inconvenience for him to get them, and it's not remotely inconceivable that the added inconvenience, coupled with the fact that he would also have to knowingly have to break the law to even get the cigarettes, might exceed the extents to which he is willing to go to satisfy his addiction. The result is that he might go a very long time without cigarettes, and discover that within a few months, he no longer even has any cravings for them.

Of course, some would likely still find ways around the system, illegally smuggling them into their area and taking sufficient measures to not get caught, but I would expect that the people who are smuggling them into a region where they are illegal are often not even addicted themselves, but are simply wanting to exploit other people's addction, selling them under the table at a profit to parties in their region, but this kind of activity happens "off the radar" and isn't something that a person who isn't actively trying to look for such sources of their addiction (and is quite willing to disregard the law in the process) is going to tend to know how to get. It's certainly not something that you're going to be able to find in your local yellow pages, at any rate... any would-be business or entrepreneurship that attempts to advertise their illegal activity so publicly would be shut down long before they could hope to turn a profit.

The reason people who use illegal drugs are often willing to resort to illegal measures to get them is because they *already* have a disregard for the law, or else they would not be using the illegal drug in the first place. Existing smokers, addicted to nicotine, which is legally available through cigarettes, do not necessarily have that disregard, so no assumptions about one's indifference to the legality of its availability can be made as it might otherwise apply to drugs that are illegal.

Re:Vice: perhaps normal life is too dull

[Sir Holo]

would your friend stop if they were illegal tomorrow?
I bet not.

I tried quitting no less than 5 times, across several years before I was finally successful about 5 years ago. Absolute *bitch* to kick.
Addiction is defined as: Continued use in the face of adverse consequences. If your friend is so much an addict as to wish they were illegal then the act of making them illegal likely won't be what gets him to finally quit. I do hope he manages to win one of these days though... it's a hell of a struggle to do.

Tell your friend to ask his physician about a prescription for Welbutrin. It kills the urge.

Your friend should also ignore his physician's advice to avoid nicotine gum while on Welbutrin. Because, hey, there are times when you are trying to quit, and some bitch of a situation comes up. Just one cig might make you feel better... NO. Break off 1/4 or 1/2 of a square of that nicotine gum to get you past the crisis.

Soon enough, when a crisis hits, your friend won't feel an urge to reach for a tobacco cigarette. Then your friend will have beaten if half-way.

Quitting tobacco is for life. The urges will eventually fade with the years, but do not be fooled by the, "Oh, just one puff" after 10 years off. The hooks will sink right back into your flesh, and you'll be smoking again.

In any case, tobacco cigarettes stink; they make you cough; you have to go way outside to smoke; your clothes stink when you come back; and so on. Why any of us ever started is kind of a mystery, at least once you're on the other side of this bitch of an addiction. It's harder than alcohol, and heroin is probably the only one more difficult to kick.

Sweden is a paradise for this...

[MindPrison]

...In sweden we have roughly 7.5 minutes of ads running on TV each 15th minute, 5 minutes of those are dedicated ads, and 2.5 minutes are self-ads (promos for TV shows + sponsors).

The point I am making here - is to point out just HOW lucrative Online gambling is - it's the internets next "porn" industry.

Let's say that there are 10 x 30 second ads during those 5 minutes of pure ads on Swedish tv - guess how many of them are ads for Online Casinos, betting and gambling sites? Half of them, and sometimes over. yes - thats at least 5 ads for Online Gambling each 15 minutes of TV space. And thats not counting the numerous "sponsored by this-and-that-betting".

A sure shot how lucrative this is - is how many TV stars and former Sports Champions gets paid to "endorse" the Online gambling.

Of course they have to have their entirely own Banking system!

Re:Sweden is a paradise for this...

[MindPrison]

For a really long time. Ever since I came here, the ads of this kind has EXPLODED (literally). It's now to the point of public nuisance, people literally discuss online how annoying it is with all these gambling and casino ads. For me it's enough to make me turn off the TV because it's pure brainwashing. So it's pretty obvious it must be HUGE business, otherwise they wouldn't toss this kind of money into all that advertising. Even Swedens biggest online forum (kind of like a Swedish version of Reddit if you like) has literally nothing but Gambling Ads.