Banker Steals Millions To Support Online Betting Habit
from the never-caught dept
A banker in Australia apparently stole millions of dollars from his bank to feed his online gambling addiction. He continued to do this consistently for over five years without getting caught. The only way this ended was because he turned himself in. It certainly makes you wonder about the safeguards the bank had to keep bank employees from accessing the bank's money. Even worse, though, is that the article quotes a number of employees of the online betting site that admit that (a) they knew this guy was a bank manager, and probably taking money from the bank and (b) no one bothered to enforce the official gambling limits the company was supposed to offer - letting this guy bet a lot more than they claimed they would allow. Clearly, they knew they were profiting off this scam and couldn't come up with a reason to stop. Like many gamblers, the bets got bigger over time, in an attempt to cover losses - but they say that even when the guy won, he just rolled the winnings into new bets, and only emptied a few thousand dollars out of his account.
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This surprises you?
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Re: This surprises you?
Almost anyone can walk into their place of employment tomorrow and steal something. Some people will even get away with it.
Hardly anyone can keep going back to the same place of employment and walk away with 19 million dollars over 5 years and not have someone notice (unless your name is Bob and you run Bob's Bank and Trust).
I wonder if the bank will be able to sue the online gambling service in an effort to recover some of their losses? It appears that they had reason to suspect that the bets weren't made with his money...
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Re: This surprises you?
While I agree with Mike and Oliver that someone should have caught this, I tend to agree with you that the gambling service won't cut off their best customer. After all, and I've said this many times before, the only reason Casinos and other gambling outlets exist is to remove you from your money as quickly and easily as possible.
Before everyone jumps on me again for saying this, gambling is a cheap form of taking risks...I take risks all the time (driving an automobile, stepping out of the house, living in a run-down neighborhood with gang-bangers living down the street, etc.), but I do not gamble, because unlike taking risks, with gambling the odds are not at all in your favor and you are more likely, over time, to end up with less money than when you started. Now of course, that doesn't mean I am against gambling, as I know many people who see putting $50 into the slots as entertainment, and I have no problem with that, so long as they are using their money and not mine. This guy, of course, was using other people's money, which I have a serious problem with, since a few of those people might be like me, and not wish to throw their money away for the sake of someone 'elses idea of entertainment.
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