One poker participant made loads of headlines final week, solely it wasn’t for an enormous event win.
Instead, poker participant Rob Mercer confessed to scamming fellow gamers and supporters out of hundreds of {dollars} after mendacity about having most cancers.
News websites from San Francisco to New York to England and all over the place in between reported on the story after Mercer confessed his supposed terminal stage 4 colon most cancers was a lie.
“I did lie about having colon cancer,” he advised the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I don’t have colon most cancers. I used that to cowl my state of affairs. What I did was mistaken. I shouldn’t have advised individuals I’ve colon most cancers. I did that simply as a spur-of-the-moment factor when somebody requested me what sort of most cancers I had.
“I’m sorry for not being honest about what my situation was. If I would have done that from day 1, who knows what would have happened?”
Raising Big Bucks
After listening to his story, quite a few gamers pitched in to Mercer’s GoFundMe website, reportedly reaching $30,000 to $50,000. The money helped fund a seat within the World Series of Poker fundamental occasion, and he additionally obtained a Bellagio suite throughout the sequence.
The ordeal drew loads of curiosity amongst media shops, and GoFundMe introduced that the corporate could be refunding gamers’ donations.
“GoFundMe has zero tolerance for the misuse of our platform and takes swift action against those who exploit the generosity of our community,” the positioning famous.
“We have removed this fundraiser for violating our terms of service, all donors have been fully refunded, and Rob Mercer has been banned from using the platform for any future fundraisers. Additionally, GoFundMe cooperates with law enforcement investigations of those formally accused of wrongdoing.”
Doubts Begin To Surface
Several gamers initially started working to assist elevate funds for Mercer. Hustler Casino Live co-founder Nick Vertucci was a kind of and feels he was duped, speaking about the experience on his YouTube channel.
“It’s unfortunate, it’s sad,” he stated. “I take full accountability for the fact that I did not vet the information. I took it at face value. The whole community was rallying behind it.”
Vertucci stated he was advised of poor conduct by Mercer throughout the WSOP, which included cursing at donors. He advised the participant that his conduct towards others who supported him was inappropriate.
Mercer’s fundamental occasion run didn’t final lengthy and a few supporters started having doubts about the complete ordeal. Poker participant “SnoopDoug” then launched textual content messages on Twitter involving Mercer and a participant who donated $2,500 whereas battling his personal persistent sickness.
Mercer admitted the most cancers prognosis was a ruse and he as a substitute believed he has male breast most cancers, though he hasn’t been recognized by a physician and offered no proof. He additionally stated he has no plans to offer again the cash.
Rob Mercers (Confession) textual content messages in all its glory pic.twitter.com/9xMMK5M0Po
— Snoopdoug (@PuntingStacks) September 20, 2023
Going Underground, Possibly Facing Charges
As Mercer notes within the messages, deleting the GoFundMe web page and deactivating his social media solely added to the suspicions that his most cancers wasn’t actual. Vertucci stated many reporters have tried to succeed in out to Mercer however are rapidly hung up on.
As GoFundMe alluded to, legal costs may probably be thought-about within the case and that’s one thing some gamers have clamored for.
Todd Witteles, who runs PokerPraudAlert.com, Tweeted: “I am going to see what I can do to get him prosecuted.”
Anyone who donated to most cancers scammer Rob Mercer, Gofundme is now issuing refunds. Either contact them or Snoopdoug should you donated by means of Gofundme and haven’t been refunded but.
Thanks to @DavidSchoenLVRJ for the article which possible made it occur: https://t.co/YxzTHmdeeQ https://t.co/x8gTQPlUhE
— Todd Witteles (@ToddWitteles) September 21, 2023
Another participant took to Twitter to encourage the FBI to become involved in order that Mercer faces extra than simply warmth on social media and within the information.
“Clearly this was a fraud and scam committed by this individual,” the Twitter consumer famous. “It should be an FBI jurisdiction as it was nationwide and by using GoFundMe should amount to wire fraud charges. Should be open and shut case. Rob Mercer needs legal consequences.”
