Caution: Poker fraud as a business with specialised online shops

Poker is undoubtedly one of the games of chance with the greatest winning potential. At the same time, this classic card game also offers a particularly wide range of manipulation options. These range from skilfully looking at your opponent's hands and colluding with allies at the table to marked cards and high-tech cheat tools. What many poker fans don't realise: There is actually a large market in the latter area, which is constantly producing new cheating technologies and growing all the time. Caution is advised!

Poker cheating is as old as the game itself: More than 100 years ago, crooks were already playing cards and shuffling games together. Today, there are many methods that can be used to turn poker rounds more or less safely in your favour. The really effective and yet inconspicuous tricks require a lot of skill.

However, modern technologies can also simplify things in this area. Traditional fraud tactics are increasingly being supported by highly developed technology that is almost invisible to the untrained eye. For example, hidden barcodes on playing cards in combination with special analysers, which are outwardly indistinguishable from conventional smartphones, make it easy to read out or calculate the best moves in real time.

This development poses a serious threat to the integrity of the game and requires today's poker fans to be more aware and more knowledgeable in order to protect themselves from such machinations. The first step is to be aware of the extent of the potential threat. That's why we want to take a closer look at the dubious market of poker fraud.

Hidden cameras, marked cards, invisible ink, infrared contact lenses, analysers and more

The range of equipment is immense, which is why we can only list a selection or particularly striking tools below.

• Hidden cameras: Small-format cameras can be concealed in keys, pens, lighters or similar everyday objects. Cleverly positioned on the poker table, they make it possible to capture the cards as they are dealt. The recorded images are sent via Bluetooth or WLAN to an accomplice, who analyses them at lightning speed and gives his partner at the table hints via earplugs. It is therefore always important to look out for seemingly inconspicuous objects such as key rings, make-up items or electronics. Just a few weeks ago, a sophisticated poker scam involving micro headphones and a special smartphone camera was uncovered in France.
• Marked cards: Marked cards are available in different versions. Infrared markings, which are invisible to others, can be read with special glasses. These playing cards are usually processed with invisible ink. The modern counterpart to this are barcode-marked cards, which - also invisible - are labelled with corresponding keys and can be read by special scanners. In combination with a poker analyser, game outcomes can be predicted in a matter of seconds.
• Infrared contact lenses or even ‘X-ray’ contact lenses: cards marked with invisible ink can be read with barely recognisable contact lenses as well as glasses. This technology enables fraudsters, for example, to recognise card values and colours without being noticed. The lenses are available in different sizes and can be combined with normal prescription lenses. Some shops even offer ‘X-ray’ contact lenses. The promise here is that players can simply see through conventional playing cards with the help of these lenses. However, it remains unclear how this is supposed to work.
• Analysers: Often disguised as smartphones, these devices have built-in barcode scanners. They read marked cards and analyse the corresponding data in real time. The result is communicated to the fraudster directly via the system using a hidden earpiece. As these analysers look like conventional mobile phones, they hardly arouse any suspicion, especially when they are simply lying on the table. They are available in the form of an iPhone 14 or Samsung Galaxy S21, for example.
• Poker cameras for barcode cards: These special cameras can be hidden in everyday objects such as ashtrays, cigarette packets, poker chip boxes, baseball caps, thermos flasks or even T-shirts and wall clocks. They scan the barcodes on manipulated cards and transmit the information to an analyser. They are often offered in sets with matching packs of cards and analysers.

Are such poker tools and online shops legal?

The legal situation surrounding poker fraud technologies is complex and often operates in a certain grey area. Despite their dodgy character - if only because of the goods on offer - many of these shops appear reputable at first glance:

• They often offer professional customer support, detailed product information in German and occasionally even seals of approval from established payment providers such as PayPal.
• In their terms and conditions and disclaimers, they repeatedly point out that the items sold should not be used for fraudulent purposes and that their use offers no guarantee of winnings.
• In addition, they emphasise the legal risks of poker cheating and highlight the potential consequences for players who use such tools in poker rounds.

When placing an order, one quickly comes across unusual practices that put the reputable impression into perspective:

1. While simpler items such as marked cards can be purchased immediately via the online shop, more expensive and complex devices such as analysers can often only be purchased by contacting the company - via chat, WhatsApp or telephone.
2. Such orders are not very transparent: prices are often only disclosed on request and the top payment systems initially advertised - such as PayPal - are suddenly no longer available.

Other conspicuous features are the number combinations in the URLs of some shops. They indicate that the original addresses had already been blocked in the past due to legal problems. The platforms then reappeared under new identifiers.

The main providers of such products are predominantly based in China, which makes any legal action even more difficult and casts further doubt on their trustworthiness.

Conclusion

Image source: https://pixabay.com/photos/go-pro-action-cam-camera-drone-6919164/