55000 euros blocked by Vbet . Is this book a scam?? Looking for testimonies

[tristan]

hello,
I have a very very serious issue with bookmaker Vbet (group Vivarobet), which blocked my account with a balance of 55 K !
My balance considerably increased last week after some big wins on soccer champions league matches.
Then they blocked my account, asked for documents, which i provided. Documents were verified but they said unfortunately they had to keep my account blocked as they couldn't determine the origine of my funds: indeed, they had asked me for a document which shows my professionnal activity, but i answered them i couldn't not as i 'm unemployed, that's as simple as that! However, i'm unemployed now but worked a lot in the past and now aged 42, i saved enough money to be able to deposit money with bookmakers ! I sent them bank documents, skrill and neteller documents, screenshots showing some money i received from bookmakers, but for now they remain deaf.
I precise i've just discovered on SBR that Vbet is very badly rated : D . But i opened account with that bookmaker because it has got a licence to operate in my country (France), rare are the bookmakers who have french licence with ARJEL, so i felt i was "safe" when opening account with Vbet...
Are there people here who had very bad experience too with VBet? I'm immediately gonna post a complaint here on SBR, hoping SBR team may help me.

[LobStarMX]

Never have I had a problem with Vbet, nor have I heard of negative reviews in other forums. Paid out very fast but then again it wasn't nearly as big as your balance is. We are talking Euros right? This must be a huge amount for a soft book not well-known, might be liquidity issues, who knows...

[lonnie55]

It's the in-house brand of Armenian software provider BetConstruct which is commonly known for cooperating with scammers.

Did I get you right, you are from France and you played at Vbet.fr?

This would mean you could sue them in France which is a thing I actually envy you for. I would love to sue one of these books in my country.

Anyway, it doesn't mean you have to go that far. It could be just a matter of time until they pay. Did you file a complaint with ARJEL?

[lonnie55]

Never have I had a problem with Vbet, nor have I heard of negative reviews in other forums. Paid out very fast but then again it wasn't nearly as big as your balance is. We are talking Euros right? This must be a huge amount for a soft book not well-known, might be liquidity issues, who knows...

For my part, I didn't make a bad experience either, with none of the sister-sites STSbet, Sponsobet which also belong to Vivaro/BetConstruct. They all limited early but paid 4 figures without any incidents.

[Optional]

hello,
I have a very very serious issue with bookmaker Vbet (group Vivaro), which blocked my account with a balance of 55 K !
My balance considerably increased last week after some big wins on soccer champions league matches.
Then they blocked my account, asked for documents, which i provided. Documents were verified but they said unfortunately they had to keep my account blocked as they couldn't determine the origine of my funds: indeed, they had asked me for a document which shows my professionnal activity, but i answered them i couldn't not as i 'm unemployed, that's as simple as that! However, i'm unemployed now but worked a lot in the past and now aged 42, i saved enough money to be able to deposit money with bookmakers ! I sent them bank documents, skrill and neteller documents, screenshots showing some money i received from bookmakers, but for now they remain deaf.
I precise i've just discovered on SBR that Vbet is very badly rated : D . But i opened account with that bookmaker because it has got a licence to operate in my country (France), rare are the bookmakers who have french licence with ARJEL, so i felt i was "safe" when opening account with Vbet...
Are there people here who had very bad experience too with VBet? I'm immediately gonna post a complaint here on SBR, hoping SBR team may help me.

Under their license they need to determine 1) if you can afford to gamble and 2) if the source of the funds is legal

If they think 1) is the problem, they need to payout all your funds and close the account, so it must be 2).


I think you are going to need to find a better way to convince them the funds come from a legal origin.

In my opinion, if it can be be shown to be coming from a bank account in your name (ie: not untraceable or cash) then that should be enough for a bookmakers purposes. Sometimes they do try to act like deputy dawg and want much more explanation than that though.


I think you were correct to feel confident the French licence should protect you. But on the flip side, if you are betting with non-declared untaxed money that licence will also mean Vbet are required to do this.

My advice is to find a better way to convince Vbet that the source of your money is legal and has been taxed.

If you cannot convince them, then ARJEL is probably your only real course of dispute.


I would try to handle this myself first if I was you, as SBR do not speak French and ARJEL do not offer an English translation or act very helpful with English language enquiries. But you are also welcome to try sending in a complaint here if you wish https://www.sportsbookreview.com/sportsbook-complaint/

[tristan]

Never have I had a problem with Vbet, nor have I heard of negative reviews in other forums. Paid out very fast but then again it wasn't nearly as big as your balance is. We are talking Euros right? This must be a huge amount for a soft book not well-known, might be liquidity issues, who knows...

Hello Lobstar, never had any issue with them too from my registration..I had even done several withdrawals , no problem, and i have to say they paid very quickly by wire (money was there in one day on bank account!). And they have too good live chat service (good things have to be told! Their operators on live chat are very patients and polites, nothing to blame about that... As i tried to explain, my issue began when my balance suddenly climbed so high..

[tristan]

It's the in-house brand of Armenian software provider BetConstruct which is commonly known for cooperating with scammers.

Did I get you right, you are from France and you played at Vbet.fr?

This would mean you could sue them in France which is a thing I actually envy you for. I would love to sue one of these books in my country.

Anyway, it doesn't mean you have to go that far. It could be just a matter of time until they pay. Did you file a complaint with ARJEL?

Hello Lonnie, yes you undertood correctly, i live in France and i played at vbet.fr
And yes i felt a complaint with ARJEL, and now i'm waiting for ARJEL contact Vbet

[lonnie55]

If you're betting professionally it's better to tell them the truth and show them screenshots of betting histories of other sportsbooks instead of lying about the source of your funds.

[Tom R.]

Ok, what kind a proof about source of wealth I can show them, if I never had a job and all of my life I play in bookmakers. I live on winnings money.

[lonnie55]

Ok, what kind a proof about source of wealth I can show them, if I never had a job and all of my life I play in bookmakers. I live on winnings money.

Screenshots of betting histories

[lonnie55]

BTW:

I just remember that bookies of that Vivaro Group have recently asked all of their (active) customers for a source of funds:

So this might be just a standard procedure @OP

This was the email from STS:

Hello,

Thank you for signing up with us.

I would kindly inform you that as part of our legal and regulatory obligations you have been asked to provide es with a document to prove your source of wealth. For Source of Wealth, we will accept documents that prove the following sources of income:
• Salary
• Property sales
• Commercial enterprise
• Investment portfolio
• Inheritance
• Gift from Parents/family member
• Compensation or legal settlement
• Betting activities

If we can be of any further assistance, please contact us again and we will be happy to help you.

Kind Regards,
Dina

And this one the email from Sponsobet:

Hello,

Thank you for choosing Sponsobet.

I would kindly inform you that as part of our legal and regulatory obligations you have been asked to provide es with a document to prove your source of wealth. For Source of Wealth, we will accept documents that prove the following sources of income:

• Salary
• Property sales
• Commercial enterprise
• Investment portfolio
• Inheritance
• Gift from Parents/family member
• Compensation or legal settlement
• Betting activities

If we can be of any further assistance, please contact us again and we will be happy to help you.

Sincerely,
Alicia

[tristan]

If you're betting professionally it's better to tell them the truth and show them screenshots of betting histories of other sportsbooks instead of lying about the source of your funds.

You're totally right Lonnie, that's why i never tried to lie about the source of my funds. As i told them i saved some money with my former years as a teacher and now i receive/earn some money from bookmakers... And concerning "betting histories" by the way, with a simple look at my betting history they can see i'm seriously betting: i mean i know there are frauds, there are some people who make deposit, almost don't bet and then withdraw the money for money laundering, but look at my account: i made hundreds of bets, often more than 20 bets a day, isn't it the betting history of a real gambler??

[tristan]

Under their license they need to determine 1) if you can afford to gamble and 2) if the source of the funds is legal

If they think 1) is the problem, they need to payout all your funds and close the account, so it must be 2).


I think you are going to need to find a better way to convince them the funds come from a legal origin.

In my opinion, if it can be be shown to be coming from a bank account in your name (ie: not untraceable or cash) then that should be enough for a bookmakers purposes. Sometimes they do try to act like deputy dawg and want much more explanation than that though.


I think you were correct to feel confident the French licence should protect you. But on the flip side, if you are betting with non-declared untaxed money that licence will also mean Vbet are required to do this.

My advice is to find a better way to convince Vbet that the source of your money is legal and has been taxed.

If you cannot convince them, then ARJEL is probably your only real course of dispute.


I would try to handle this myself first if I was you, as SBR do not speak French and ARJEL do not offer an English translation or act very helpful with English language enquiries. But you are also welcome to try sending in a complaint here if you wish https://www.sportsbookreview.com/sportsbook-complaint/

You may be right optionnal, they may be honest and have doubt the origine of my funds is legal... I provided them bank documents to show proof of saved money, but as i made almost all my deposits with Skrill, i should better show them that the origine of my "skrill money" is legal. I followed your advice and have just sent them another screenshot from my skrill account showing a recent payment i received from Unibet (about 5K), so that they can see money comes from betting activity/betting industry . However, i submitted a complaint on SBR all the same, hoping that may speed the process...Because having 55K blocked is very annoying, i can't bet at all with that money which is not "available" for now, and that's very detrimental..

[lonnie55]

isn't it the betting history of a real gambler??

Without knowing the actual betting history it's impossible to say

20+ bets a day can mean = gambler
20+ bets a day can mean = professional

[dj_destroyer]

20+ bets a day can mean = launderer

[tristan]

i received new email from Vbet tonight. One "good" thing: i can now access again (login) my Vbet account. But they continue their "restrictions" as they haven't finished their check, which means i can't place bets and i can't make transactions. they add too that they will now analyze my bets, especially the bets for which i used the "cash out" function ?? I don't know what they are looking for but no problem, i've already explained them i was ok for all my betting history to be transfered to ARJEL anyway. That's true i love the cash out function (very useful to "limit" your loss when you feel a bet is gonna lose, but that's not a secret for them: every time they had bug or technical issue on their website and cashout function didn't work, i went on live chat and protested! And as i told them if they have a look at my bets with cashout, in 99% my cashout was less than my stake , as cashout is for me a way to limit the loss and not to make profits. But they now need to analyze bets, so i have to let them do and be a little more patient...

[Optional]

i received new email from Vbet tonight. One "good" thing: i can now access again (login) my Vbet account. But they continue their "restrictions" as they haven't finished their check, which means i can't place bets and i can't make transactions. they add too that they will now analyze my bets, especially the bets for which i used the "cash out" function ?? I don't know what they are looking for but no problem, i've already explained them i was ok for all my betting history to be transfered to ARJEL anyway. That's true i love the cash out function (very useful to "limit" your loss when you feel a bet is gonna lose, but that's not a secret for them: every time they had bug or technical issue on their website and cashout function didn't work, i went on live chat and protested! And as i told them if they have a look at my bets with cashout, in 99% my cashout was less than my stake , as cashout is for me a way to limit the loss and not to make profits. But they now need to analyze bets, so i have to let them do and be a little more patient...

I wonder if it is you cashing out that way that they dont like.

I'd imagine most people try to use the cash out function to lock in a lower than normal profit, rather than taking a smaller loss.

[tristan]

I wonder if it is you cashing out that way that they dont like.

I'd imagine most people try to use the cash out function to lock in a lower than normal profit, rather than taking a smaller loss.

Sorry Optionnal but could you explain in other words please, my english is good but not perfect so i fear i didn't understand your message.
Concerning the way i use the cash out , to illustrate with an example: supposing a soccer match, team A vs team B, i bet pre match on Team B for example, then if in live Team A scores the first goal, i prefer to immediately cash out my bet, which seems normal to me. That way i get a cashout that is lower than my stake, but at least i get something, i don't take the risk to lose everything ! What's strange with that??

[Optional]

Sorry Optionnal but could you explain in other words please, my english is good but not perfect so i fear i didn't understand your message.
Concerning the way i use the cash out , to illustrate with an example: supposing a soccer match, team A vs team B, i bet pre match on Team B for example, then if in live Team A scores the first goal, i prefer to immediately cash out my bet, which seems normal to me. That way i get a cashout that is lower than my stake, but at least i get something, i don't take the risk to lose everything ! What's strange with that??

I'm not sure how people play the cashout usually. But from the number of complaints we see about books taking away the option late in matches, I guess I have been assuming that's how many people use it. To lock in a win early, or get out late.

I've also been assuming that there is no way to use cash-out offers that is not -EV for the player.

If I was right, then you may be a minority, and cashing out early may actually make some mathematical sense.

Just thinking out loud though. Whether it is +EV or -EV, there should be no problem with it large enough to penalize you over.

[DroopyDog]

Books really love exploiting this KYC/AML as a reason not to pay winners. It only becomes an issue when someone wins. I am sure they never froze your account while losing, demanding documents.

[tristan]

VBET has blocked my account for 9 days now, with 55K on it. They don't answer emails anymore. I can contact them on their live chat, every time i ask them when they will finish analysing my bets and unblock my account, but anyway whatever is the question i ask, their answer on live chat is always the same: "you must wait for an answer by email..", but their email/answer never comes... I asked them many times to transfer my betting history to ARJEL, they never did. And when i ask them by email why they refuse to transfer my betting history, no answer...

[lonnie55]

Maybe it helps you when I tell you that some investigations took 6-12 months or longer

9 days is NOTHING


What does ARJEL say about it? Are they any rules about maximum time of investigation or so?

[tristan]

Maybe it helps you when I tell you that some investigations took 6-12 months or longer

9 days is NOTHING


What does ARJEL say about it? Are they any rules about maximum time of investigation or so?

ARJEL ?? I don't know what they are doing. They haven't contacted VBET yet ! They answered me that , as VBET is analyzing my bets, i had to contact them again when analyse of bets is over. They could at least contact Vbet to ask them for some explanations about the situation, or ask them for the transfer of my Betting history, but no, they will only intervene when analyse of bets is over. So of course that' s not surprising that VBET won't hurry; Besides they prefectly know there's nothing illegal in my bets, they just didn't appreciate my balance climbed so high, and now they do all they can to delay my future withdrawals...

[tristan]

Maybe it helps you when I tell you that some investigations took 6-12 months or longer

9 days is NOTHING


What does ARJEL say about it? Are they any rules about maximum time of investigation or so?

Yes i know some investigations can take months or even longer , as for example when you bet on a tennis match and then one of the tennis players is suspected of cheating (it happened to me in the past with a crazy austrian called Kohlerer or something like that...), but in my situation things are really simple:
-they asked for proofs of where the money came from (i provided several screenshots of my bank and skrill with payments i received from bookmakers
-they told they had to analyse my bets. Do you think they need months to simply analyse bets??

[lonnie55]

Do you think they need months to simply analyse bets??

I don't hope so

[tristan]

I don't hope so

Anyway i'm almost sure ARJEL told me to wait they finish to analyse bets because ARJEL must consider that will be a question of days, but should it be much longer i think ARJEL would finally do its job and intervene

[Optional]

I would ask ARJEL if there is any time limit under French law for Vbet to reply within.

And then follow them both up, politely, every Monday to just ask if the investigation is completed.

[tristan]

I would ask ARJEL if there is any time limit under French law for Vbet to reply within.

And then follow them both up, politely, every Monday to just ask if the investigation is completed.

Just done. I 've just sent email to ARJEL to ask them the question. Will keep you informed when they answer...

[KittiP]

55k! oh man, I really hope you can get your money back.

If you supply them with all the documents that they require withing reason and they don't give you all of your money back, then its pure theft.

[tristan]

I would ask ARJEL if there is any time limit under French law for Vbet to reply within.

And then follow them both up, politely, every Monday to just ask if the investigation is completed.

I finally managed to contact ARJEL mediator on phone, and then she informed me by email then: from the moment ARJEL contacts VBET (or any other society), the legal time limit for VBET to answer will be 20 days. And i think normally ARJEL should contact Vbet today, but i'm not sure for that. Now i fear Vbet will do all they can to delay the resolution of that issue and wait until the 20 days legal time limit...

[Optional]

I finally managed to contact ARJEL mediator on phone, and then she informed me by email then: from the moment ARJEL contacts VBET (or any other society), the legal time limit for VBET to answer will be 20 days. And i think normally ARJEL should contact Vbet today, but i'm not sure for that. Now i fear Vbet will do all they can to delay the resolution of that issue and wait until the 20 days legal time limit...

I think that is good news and at the very least should alert Admin/Management about your account, in case only the security department had previously known what was going on.

[Vyasports]

classic.

[Vyasports]

hey tristan,
did they block your account right after the matches were over? OR after you made (big)withdrawals?

that part is unclear...

[tristan]

hey tristan,
did they block your account right after the matches were over? OR after you made (big)withdrawals?



that part is unclear...

The fact they blocked my account has no link with champions league matches that made my balanced climbed. They blocked my account on the following day, while i had submitted a withdrawal request of 5K. But the most strange in that story is : they blocked my accoud because of suspiscion of fraud as they said, but meanwhile they processed my 5k withdrawal and i received it on my bank account (whereas my account was blocked and under invertigation so!?). Do you really think that they would have paid me these 5k if they suspected me of fraud?? . They paid because they saw there was nothing irregular in my account but yet continue to block it now with 55K remaining... that is nonsense

[Optional]

That is also very promising that a 5k withdraw was approved.

It suggests that you personally are probably not the main focus of the investigation.

Maybe just caught up in an investigation of suspicious betting patterns on one match possibly.