- David ‘DJ’ Gardiner, 65, put £100 on Kyren Wilson winning the Crucible crown
- The Kettering resident’s winnings were nabbed 100 miles away in Stoke
- Do YOU know the scammer? Email matthew.cox@mailonline.co.uk
A gambler who scooped £1,300 on the Snooker World Championship final had his entire winnings stolen by a fraudster after he posted his betting slip on Facebook.
David ‘DJ’ Gardiner, 65, put £100 on Kyren Wilson winning the Crucible crown with odds of 12/1 and was left jumping for joy when he beat Jak Jones on May 6.
But when he went to collect his winnings from Coral bookmakers he was stunned when he was told they had been claimed 100 miles away just half an hour earlier.
Mr Gardiner, of Kettering, Northamptonshire, said he felt sick when he realised why and remembered posting a picture of his betting slip the World Snooker Tour Facebook page.
It is believed a scammer managed to take a screengrab of the ticket and then scanned the barcode at a branch in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
The shortchanged punter said: ‘I was mortified but it’s my own fault. I just didn’t think.
‘It was probably just the excitement getting to me knowing he was about to make the final. I posted it when he was on the brink of winning his semi-final.
‘I’m a big snooker fan, I owned a snooker hall in London years ago, and I know Kyren is a home town lad so I was excited he could win his first world championship.
‘I was kicking myself but it’s not something I knew fraudsters had the capability of doing without having the actual slip itself. I just want to warn others out there.
‘Everyone is posting pictures of their bets on Facebook so people need to be aware this can be done.
‘Anybody on a phone could take a picture over someone’s shoulder and then scan that – it’s got to be a loophole in security.’
DJ said when he went to pick up his winnings on the morning after Wilson played late into the evening to beat Jones 18-14, a member of store staff informed him that the betting slip had already been paid out at a kiosk at a Coral branch in Stoke.
Staff rang the store and were told CCTV showed a man scanning a slip, placing a £200 bet from it and withdrawing the remaining £1,100.
To add to his frustration DJ said he was told the winnings were claimed at 8.33am – less than half an hour before he went to collect them himself.
DJ believes the image was enhanced by the offender because its barcode wouldn’t scan properly when staff tried it at the Kettering branch.
He said: ‘He was a clever so and so and must have been tech-savvy. He clearly knew what he was doing and must have known how the systems work.
‘The irony is that had Kyren won earlier in the evening I’d have gone and cashed it out straight away.
‘I’m totally gutted but there’s nothing I can do about it now – it’s just gut-wrenching.’
The former Army veteran had to give up his limousine business when he became his father’s carer four years ago. He died just before Christmas.
Mr Gardiner was hoping to use the winnings to help get his father’s house ready to sell.
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He asked Coral to pay the bet out given the circumstances as a gesture of goodwill but they said they would not do so.
‘I find that disgraceful from a company making millions of pounds,’ Mr Gardiner added.
‘I thought when I explained the situation they might give me the money I won fair and square. They have given my winnings to somebody else.’
A spokesperson for Entain, which owns Coral, said: ‘In order to prevent this kind of fraud from happening, we urge customers to keep their betting slips safe and to not share with them anyone else – either in person or online – until they have been safely cashed in at one of our shops.’
After going to the police about the case, Mr Gardiner was referred to Action Fraud, where he reported the incident.
Pauline Smith, head of Action Fraud, said: ‘It has been recorded on our system as an information report.
‘An information report can be made when a fraud has not been committed or there is suspicion of criminal intent.
‘An information report is also made if somebody is reporting a fraud on behalf of a victim or a person is the victim of identity theft.’