How to Get Your Money Back After Engaging in Online Gambling

My question involves a consumer law issue in the State of: New York

Hello and thank you in advance for any responses and advice.

I'm Michael and I'm from NYC.

I was contacted by an acquaintance I used to speak to on social media, if I was interested in betting sports online. I was interested and deposited over a few weeks into PayPal accounts using the friends and family option to the betting sites owners accounts. Before starting to bet he sent a form over to sign, that was an authorization form saying I received financial consultation and that the payments to the PayPal email was all legitimate. I never truly received any type of financial consultation since it was all for online gambling.
I ended up losing over $10,000 and I had about $500 left in my account, and he said the website is having an issue that they're moving all the accounts to another website they've partnered with. I ended up having about $300 in the account after a week or so, when the guy said he has to either cash me out or move me to another place due to the acquaintance of mine having issues with his account. He moved me to another betting site with the money I had left in my account. Now, I did some googling afterwards, and found out that that website has a few negative reviews. Especially recently, by another member stating that he had gotten scammed by the website where they took his money and ran, even the winnings th and another website reporting from a few people that it was a scam website. So, what I believe happened was even if I won I wouldn't have gotten anything paid to me.
So I decided to call PayPal and they said they can't help me there since the deposits were sent by friends and family option which PayPal has no protection for the sender. They told me to call my bank, which I did and they said they'll be investigating it, where they made me send screenshots of the chats between the site employee from Twitter messaging, (where I deleted a few of the messages) along with the deposits made and them basically saying that it was a fake PayPal I sent the money to.

Another day passes and a guy contacts me on Twitter and says that he was also kicked off the site, and that he feels like we all got scammed. I spoke a little to him, and he decided to send part of our chat to the email of the guy who kicked us all off to try to scare him by saying he'll report it to the bank as well.

He then tells the guy to tell me that he sent the chat to PayPal and he has the form (which wasn't even close the the signature on my drivers license) and will win the chargeback. He then tells the guy that he Intends to file falsifying evidence and fraud charges against me.

If he's US based, how is he running a gambling operation? If he's Europe based as he claims, don't you have to be in NY to press charges? But then isn't it illegal for the credit card company to process the deposit to the company? Then again, isn't the UIGEA forbidding US people to play?

Paypal will also (and in many cases is legally enjoined) from helping you if you find that you were using their service in furtherance of gambling which is in violation of their rules and in many circumstances ILLEGAL. Similarly most agreements for credit card will disclaim any assistance if the funds in dispute were used for any sort of gambling (legal or otherwise).

Almost certainly the sites are not operated in the US. UIGEA primarily tightens down on the funding services and banks that will transfer gambling services.

He's blowing hot air. No banking institiution, credit card company, nor paypal is going to stand behind someone who used the service to attempt to receive gambling funds. Criminal charges are not (in all but certain circumstances) not "filed" by people. They may make a complaint but it is society that is harmed by criminal activity and it is the state that brings the action.

As you have learned, off-shore gambling is ripe with fraud and cheats. Do a little googling on sites like "Ultimate Bet" and other online poker. There's hackers, backdoors, ponzi schemes, etc... ripe with the unregulated operation of these in largely lawless countries.

So what should be my next step?
Regarding the chargebacks, the bank is looking into that. Will I get the money back? Or will they most likely cancel the chargeback and make me pay for it?

The second person to contact me who told me about how they will press charges also said that they'll give him back everything they lose if he shows them our entire conversation.

In all reality, am I safe and it's just a bluff that they're doing?

I mean it won't add up in my opinion?

US based = illegal
Offshore = can't take US customers

Financial consultation authorization form, isn't really what I did. It was online gambling.
Then to come to NY to press charges against me for fraud and falsifying evidence but it was for online gambling.

I'm just a little worried, as the charges for fraud and falsifying evidence could be years in prison.

It should be no big surprise that many online gambling sites are scams of one kind or another. Even with legitimate sites most people lose their money. The odds in any casino game, whether a physical one or online are always stacked in favor of the house. So it was always very likely that you were going to lose your money going into this.

Now, you evidently gambled and lost the games you played. So it doesn’t sound like the site failed to pay you money you were due from games you won. That being the case, what do you think you are due from anyone here, other than the few hundred bucks that were still left in your account? You may, of course, sue the operator of site that has the money you hadn't gambled away yet for a refund of that deposit — if you can find the operator of that site. If was a scam, good luck with that.

It was illegal for you to gamble online in the first place. It was illegal for the site to offer online gambling to a person in the U.S. The site operator knew that which is why they set it up they way they did to make it look like the funds were being used for something other than gambling (financial consultation) and why they had you use the Pay Pay friends and family option. U.S. financial institutions cannot knowingly assist in facilitating illegal online gambling. What this means to you is that at the end of the bank investigation you likely will not get credit back to your account for the funds you put into the online gambling site. The bank is certainly not going to eat the loss for this, and my bet it is that it will be unable to reverse the transactions as the site and the money you transferred will be gone.

Anyone may make a criminal complaint to a U.S. law enforcement agency. The person does not have to live in the U.S. for that. A European person who got scammed by an American, for example, certainly could make a complaint to the relevant U.S. law enforcement agency about the scam. I wouldn’t worry too much about the site operator making a criminal complaint against you, though. Criminals are not in the habit of running to law enforcement agencies for help given their own potential for being prosecuted. Chances are the $10,000 you lost will be the extent of your troubles out of this, which is bad enough.

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Quoting Michael90

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I ended up losing over $10,000 and I had about $500 left in my account....

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When we cut to the chase, what you seem to be telling us is that you made bad bets and lost money -- as happens to most gamblers.

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Quoting Michael90

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So I decided to call PayPal and they said they can't help me there since the deposits were sent by friends and family option which PayPal has no protection for the sender. They told me to call my bank, which I did and they said they'll be investigating it....

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So now you'll have to see what, if anything, your bank can do for you.

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Quoting Michael90

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If he's US based, how is he running a gambling operation?

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Many people in the U.S. have run illegal gambling operations -- many think they can do so legally, or avoid prosecution, by using an overseas server. Some are presently incarcerated.

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Quoting Michael90

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So what should be my next step?

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You can see what your credit card company can do for you. You can follow the random stranger's suggestion and see if the gambling site's operator does more than laugh when you start making threats. You can report the gambling site to the feds. You can try to find somebody who you can sue, sue them in an appropriate jurisdiction and, if you win, try to collect a judgment.... I'm sure you can think of other possibilities, as well.

I hope that you get your money back and that you have learned a lesson not to gamble on-line.