Coral.co.uk stole my money

**Alfie White** · 09-24-23, 04:31 AM

Are you an UK resident?

**Optional** · 09-24-23, 05:48 AM

Originally posted by Slawomir

Hello.
I have problem with coral.co.uk. I opened there account 13.09.2023 and sent them all documents. My account was verfied and I depostied 250 pounds. Place few bets and won some money. I had there 549 pounds. After this they blocked my account 17.09 and after 2 days 19.09 they unblock my account! So all was ok and I wanna made withdraw but I can only do it to my bank account. My deposited method was paypal so I wanted withdraw on my paypal too. I asked them on chat why I can't withdraw to paypal and after 1.5hours of waiting there they told me my account is closed and they stole all my money!! So I asked what is going on and why... They said they wouldn't give me that information. In the meantime, I wrote them 5 emails, a message using the resolver and I wrote to trustpilot uk. It was 20/09. Up to this point I have received literally no response... I asked them what right they had to steal all my money, why my account was closed, if they checked it for 2 days and everything was fine, and to tell me the legal basis on which they stole my personal deposit of 250 pounds. I am asking for help, maybe someone had such a situation with them, I also wrote an official complaint to them and received a reply that they have 28 days to respond, it's unbelievable.

It is true that they have 28 days to investigate.

And also true that they do not have to explain why.

But if they have already told you that your money is confiscated it sounds like the investigation phase is over. In which case they should supply you with a DEADLOCK NUMBER which can be used to initiate third party mediation via https://ibas-uk.com/

If they have not formally said they are confiscating your money, then you are kind of stuck waiting for now. Your best action will be to simply send a short message about weekly asking if their investigation has been completed yet as you want to use your account.

The reason they initially insisted that you withdraw to a bank account is due to people selling accounts with ID and matching Paypal accounts. Making you withdraw directly to a bank account gives a more positive identification. In most cases they will let you use Paypal again after that one withdraw.

I would guess that you said something that made them think you were refusing or were unable to take the bank withdrawal to result in them then locking your account. And i would guess they are now querying Paypal about the validity of that account and/or checking your other ID more carefully then 1st level KYC.

If they don't approve you again you will be able to have a mediator look at the evidence they are relying on make an impartial judgement if they are being reasonable or not.

I am sure none of that makes you feel any better but hope it helps you understand what is going on a little bit better.

**Slawomir** · 09-26-23, 03:03 AM

If they told me that I had to withdraw money to my bank account, there would be no issue, they simply threw away this option without any information, so it was natural for me to think that it was some kind of error after unblocking the account... I never once said that I couldn't withdraw money to my bank. I even entered my bank details but I realized that it makes no sense to wait a few days for the payment instead of a few hours... The fact that you say that they can do this is some sick law and theft. I understand closing the account if they have a problem but withdraw first all money but stealing all of someone's money and giving literally no information why is not normal for me. I have been writing them messages for several days and they have not responded to any of them. I don't understand how a bookmaker can steal a player's deposit, regardless of winnings.

**Alfie White** · 09-26-23, 04:30 AM

Where are you resident at?

**Optional** · 09-26-23, 04:37 AM

Originally posted by Slawomir

If they told me that I had to withdraw money to my bank account, there would be no issue, they simply threw away this option without any information, so it was natural for me to think that it was some kind of error after unblocking the account... I never once said that I couldn't withdraw money to my bank. I even entered my bank details but I realized that it makes no sense to wait a few days for the payment instead of a few hours... The fact that you say that they can do this is some sick law and theft. I understand closing the account if they have a problem but withdraw first all money but stealing all of someone's money and giving literally no information why is not normal for me. I have been writing them messages for several days and they have not responded to any of them. I don't understand how a bookmaker can steal a player's deposit, regardless of winnings.

If they are not replying try asking for a deadlock number so that you can ask IBAS to investigate.

Asking that might make them decide to move faster or at least respond to you.

SBR can try to help if they do not follow the required dispute resolution procedure but for now you need to try and play the game.

**semibluff** · 09-26-23, 06:10 AM

This may not apply in this case but anyone betting with UK books should be aware of the following:

Do NOT use a VPN when betting with UK books. Some VPNs connect to servers in the Netherlands when connecting to UK IP addresses, (along with most Euro zone locations). For example I live in the South of England. If I use PrivadoVPN to use their UK IP location it will connect to London via the Netherlands. Whilst the IP will show as a UK address many sites use Cloudflare to protect themselves from bot attacks and Cloudflare will detect the Netherlands servers, even if you're connecting to Cloudflare servers through 1.1.1.1.

**sebastimou** · 09-26-23, 07:45 AM

Thank you very much for your post! Unfortunately, I discovered that through bad experiences... that's why I started using agents with bookies that were not available in my country.

**Slawomir** · 09-28-23, 05:27 AM

Hi !
Still nothing but im in Uk, Im resident of UK so this is not it. I didn't use any vpn or something like this. They just stole my money becouse I won money, this is it I think... If they wanted check it they just can withdraw money to my bank account, I sent them my bank account statement like POA.

**sebastimou** · 09-28-23, 07:09 AM

I see... still, using a VPN in a bookie can be risky... thats why I always recommend using an agent for those cases. personally, with betibc I avoided all that and they still have good odds.

**Alfie White** · 09-28-23, 11:01 AM

So you came around to peddle feeibc, nice.

**semibluff** · 09-28-23, 03:31 PM

Originally posted by Slawomir

Hi !
Still nothing but im in Uk, Im resident of UK so this is not it. I didn't use any vpn or something like this. They just stole my money becouse I won money, this is it I think... If they wanted check it they just can withdraw money to my bank account, I sent them my bank account statement like POA.

No offence but this company isn't interested in stealing your £250 deposit or confiscating your £300 winnings. It's not an amount of money that would have attracted attention 30+ years ago when I worked there let alone now. If there was an issue they would prefer to pay you and get rid of you rather than mess around. That they are not doing so suggests your account has somehow raised a red flag. If so then continuing to do business with you without a thorough investigation could make them liable to fines of £50,000+. I'm sure if looks like theft from your point of view and at the very least it's incredibly annoying. However, your best plan of action is to follow the advice given to you in this thread by @Optional and to go through the process.

**Slawomir** · 10-05-23, 08:07 AM

Originally posted by semibluff

No offence but this company isn't interested in stealing your £250 deposit or confiscating your £300 winnings. It's not an amount of money that would have attracted attention 30+ years ago when I worked there let alone now. If there was an issue they would prefer to pay you and get rid of you rather than mess around. That they are not doing so suggests your account has somehow raised a red flag. If so then continuing to do business with you without a thorough investigation could make them liable to fines of £50,000+. I'm sure if looks like theft from your point of view and at the very least it's incredibly annoying. However, your best plan of action is to follow the advice given to you in this thread by @Optional and to go through the process.

If you ask people and read comments on the Internet, this is not the first case. For a long time, many bookmakers in the UK have been stealing customers' money and because of the sick law that allows them to do such things, they can block accounts for several years under the pretext of control. Believe me, if they block 1,000 accounts and take £200-300 from each one, it makes a huge difference. Do you think it's normal that they stopped replying to me after being informed that they were taking my money and closed account ? I received information that they are stealing my money and I won't even get any reason why and now they don't respond to any messages, if it were as you say, they would have given me back at least the deposit and forgotten about the case, they stole 250 pounds of my deposit and more from won bets. This is not normal !

EDIT : Look at this, this is the same company (coral, ladbrokers, sportingbet, gamebookers etc) https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.sportingbet.com

Coral is rated "Bad" with 1.3 / 5 on Trustpilot

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.coral.co.uk

Do you agree with Coral's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 2,850 customers have already said.

If you check all this brands on the trustpilot you can see what ppl think about it. Each of these websites has opinions that they block accounts and steal money, I wish I had checked it earlier, but as you say, I didn't expect that a company with such experience and "prestige" could steal money in such a way...

**Optional** · 10-05-23, 08:54 AM

Did you try asking them for a deadlock number Slawomir?

**Slawomir** · 10-08-23, 05:15 AM

Yes ! I must waiting of course...

Dear Slawomir,

Thanks for contacting Coral.

I do apologise for the inconvenience caused but I am unable to provide any further information as your case is being handled by the Complaints Team.

As stated on the 20th of September 2023, our Complaints Team will be in contact with an outcome within 28 days.