Bingo identity thief claim

A Reading pensioner has claimed that over £6000 was ‘lost’ after thieves hacked into 3 accounts at different internet bingo sites, one of them being Dream Bingo. She says that a total of £9000 had been gambled and lost, with only £3000 being withdrawn back.

Rita Tapping started to play online bingo in 2007 after her husband suffered a stroke. He would go to bed at 6pm and she would play online, though she said only a maximum of £20 at a time. Despite her claims though both the Financial Ombudsman and her bank, Natwest, have said that she is not entitled to any compensation as any winnings could only be withdrawn to Mrs Tapping’s bank account and therefore they could find no motive for anyone to play bingo on her accounts.

She believes that thieves hacked into her unsecure wireless network and played without her knowledge. Dream Bingo are alleged to have offered her a refund of £3,600, which Natwest advised her not to accept as that would mean she could no longer claim she had been a victim of fraud.

She says that the stress caused by this led her into having a breakdown and that she had to then put her husband into a care home as she was no longer able to look after him herself.

Mrs Tapping told the Reading Post: “My only crime was I used an unprotected wireless router. I think somebody local picked up on that. They did not need to get into my account because I was already in it. They picked up on where I was and I believe they gambled for fun and kicks. If I had been mentally strong enough and had not had this on my mind I would have had him at home, but I had to put him in a home. I had a total mental breakdown. He was aware of it but there was nothing he could do. He was incontinent and paralysed. I used to go to the nursing home and he would just say, ‘I want to come home’. It was definitely a contributing factor in his death, definitely. He could see that I was stressed. I was so stressed I could not look after him. I had to have him put in a home. It was a very sad time in my life and he died still worrying about the money.”

As strange stories go this is one of the strangest we’ve heard in a long time, and one which will probably never come to a satisfactory conclusion.

This sad news is brought to you by London Bingo News

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