BEWARE OF AUTO BETTING BEWARE! I’m a victim of an automatic betting service amounting to almost £2,000 of bets over 8 months!!! I’m telling my story to warn others, to save them the stress and anxiety that I’ve experienced. MANY TRANSACTIONS I DID NOT RECOGNISE Last weekend I saw a payment on my online bank that I didn’t recognise. I called the bank straight away and it was intercepted. Phew! While on the phone to my bank we were talking about fraud and she said there has been an increase in paypal fraud. “Oh crikey, I never check my paypal”. So, I logged straight into my paypal account and felt sick to my stomach! There was transaction after transaction I did not recognise to ‘Annexio (Jersey) T/A LottoGo' dating back to March. I remember signing up to LottoGo.com via one of their ‘free lines’ adverts back in March but I hadn’t used it since March. I felt so stupid for not checking my paypal regularly. How hadn’t I spotted this? I guess as the amounts were small it simply didn’t raise alarm. I tend to pay for lots of things with paypal so I’m used to seeing lots of transactions in my bank account payments simply listed as ‘paypal’. CONTACTING LOTTOGO Well that was a joke! I spent hour after hour trying to find contact details for the company. The only number on their website doesn’t connect and the only email that actually worked was to ‘support’. I sent an email straight away stating the urgency but It was the weekend so I just had to wait it out. I just couldn’t sleep I was so worried. Had someone cloned me? Hacked my account? I was thinking the worst. In desperation, I contacted my bank again and paypal but neither could do anything. I even contacted the UK Gaming authority who were able to confirm that LottoGo are still trading which gave a little relief. FINALLY SPOKE TO LOTTOGO Once I finally got to speak to someone at LottoGo, he basically told me that I had opted for a subscription which automatically enters me into draws several times a week! “WHAT??!! I CERTAINLY DID NOT!” It took a couple of further calls, but I finally spoke to COMPLAINTS and she immediately told me they will refund me which was a huge relief. I almost cried. But then she said the most they could refund was £952! What?? Why?? Via email she explained how their subscription service works and that by me pressing the big bold button under my lotto entries labelled ‘subscribe’, I had given them the authority to automatically enter draws each and every week on my behalf! UNBELIEVABLE! GAMBLING BEST PRACTICE I’ve used the national lottery site before and it is very clear what you are betting on. No misleading buttons which fool you into unwittingly signing up for a service you do not want. So why can’t LOTTOGO be this transparent? ESCALATED MY CASE I asked for my case to be escalated as I did not intentionally sign up for an automatic betting service and that in my option the advert that I signed up to was not transparent. I didn’t hear from the senior manager, but yesterday Complaints got back to me and confirmed that they have reviewed my case and will only give me the £952 refund and not the full amount. Beware!