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Online Gaming Scam

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Online Gaming Scam Reports & Reviews (6)

- Owatonna, MN, USA • Jan 22, 2025
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I started playing a game made by this corporation (Sincerely Studios, Inc.) called Soundmap. It is available on iOS and Android, and it is marketed as a game similar to Pokemon Go where you can collect music by walking around town and opening drops on a map. It is listed with an age rating of 4+.The App Store description on Android states the following: "Walk around the with the app open to collect songs from nearby drops. Each song can be common, uncommon, rare, shiny, or epic. Get those drops before they are claimed by someone else!" This turned out to be misleading, as the developers have made it impossible to pull shiny or epic songs from map drops on multiple occasions. The app's developer also made it seem as if this was a finished product, as it is fully released on both Android and iOS with an address and phone number listed, and a website link is provided as well. There is an issue however, as there are several different addresses. The website lists their address as 433 Broadway, New York, NY, 10013, United States, while the app store has an address at 565 Broome St. Apt S7A. This is confusing, as there is yet another address listed on a website for an app created by the same developer. This app is on the iOS store under the name "Sincerely - Off My Chest" and the address listed on the developer website is 2261 Market Street STE 10168, San Francisco, CA 94114. The developer name on the app store is also different (MWM Apps), and most of the apps created by them are AI-based. All of these corporations are owned by the same individual, Zibo Gao. I suspect he is committing fraud in some way, as there are several different current addresses and misleading information regarding Soundmap on the app store. There is no disclosure about the game being based on a lootbox system where the chances of getting the item you would like are very low. There is a premium option available for purchase that states that your rates for pulling a song from an artist you like are increased after purchasing, but this does not appear to be the case, as myself and many others have had no improvement to our drop rates after purchasing premium. The developers have also failed to maintain a quality product, as I (and many others) have had a lot of difficulty playing the game due to the app having an excessive amount of bugs, crashing often, and the team has neglected to resolve these and other problems with the app. Their support team receives countless requests daily, and I have seen many others complain that their tickets get closed without any resolution offered. I have experienced this too. The developers also outright refuse to be transparent about the drop rates for certain rarities for songs, and have been unprofessional in their conduct when speaking with consumers who paid money for their product. They refuse to answer questions and disclose information on many of the game's mechanics, and are generally very deceptive. I have paid over $400 USD for premium, coins, and trade boost perks on this app. The trade boost perks were altered after payment was received, and there was no information about this disclosed by the developers anywhere. I feel as if I have been scammed out of all that time and money by what appears to be a gambling game disguised as a casual collecting app similar to Pokemon Go. I am asking that the Better Business Bureau look into this application and its owner, Zibo Gao, as I highly suspect that he is attempting to scam people out of money based on all of this information (as well as his behavior when interacting with individuals who purchased his product). I am unable to refund any of the purchases I made on the app store without contacting the developer directly, which I am hesitant to do as I fear this may result in my personal information being compromised. While I take some responsibility for getting addicted to this game and spending an excessive amount of money on it (which I could not afford, I've had financial trouble as a result), the app is designed to get its users hooked. Lootboxes are banned in many countries for this reason, as they are seen as a form of gambling, which is well-known to be highly addictive. If the developers had disclosed that this game is based upon a lootbox system and essentially a gambling game, I would have avoided it entirely. Instead, they took advantage of my poor mental health (and resulting poor judgement), and scammed me out of nearly $500. I've learned my lesson but I am writing this report to warn others about this game, as it is taking advantage of many younger individuals like myself and misleading them to play a game that may cause them to develop a gambling addiction.

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- La Junta, CO, USA • Aug 14, 2024
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I saw a post for Cashbly of one of my friends pages on Facebook in June 2024, it claimed to give a $50 sign up bonus and is one of the play and earn websites. The advertisement said that a person only had to complete 5 offers to receive varying amounts of payout (depending on which tasks chosen). With a nagging 'this cant be right', feeling, i hesitantly proceeded, curious and hopeful. I did more than the five required offers, probably more like eight or ten, as i am a determined person and do not give up easily plus I had to see if it was true. It probably took a good week of my time trying to satisfy every requirement of every offer. I couldn't believe it when it requested that i had finally finished the five required offers. It continued on stating that my account would have to be checked for authenticity and i would not receive payment for approximately a month later on August 28, 2024. So i left it for a while respecting policy. I went to show my friend i had actually completed to task and was waiting for cash out and we decided to log in to my account, with hopes of an early finish. after entering my email and password a box popped up stating "Error! Our system has detected activity that violates our terms of service and/or VPN usage policy, resulting in a permanent ban." I was totally shocked I cant believe these company's can state blantant lies, make it next to impossible to achieve, and when someone actually does achieve it they just ban/block that person and on to the next. I tried to contact them to find out what i did and the email never went through with a message stating "Delivery incomplete. There was a problem sending your message to [email protected]. Gmail will retry for 48 hours. You'll be notified if the delivery fails permenetly. That is what brings me here. I couldn't find much online about this company's legitimacy they are rather vague but hopefully this will help someone else and they wont waste a week of their time just to earn a permanent ban. One of the tasks you can do to get credit is to post an advertisement on your media site for them. That is how they are getting people to post things that obviously are not true, before they have a chance to really find out as I did.

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- Punta Gorda, FL, USA • Jun 22, 2024
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I was playing this game called fruit connect challenge. It is said withdrawal complete. It said it would take 3 business days. It',s been passed those three days. Nothing in my pay pal account

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- Stanley, VA, USA
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It's an online slots game I paid money to play I won 130 and they refused to cash out my winnings unless I sent $20 more so I sent it the they wanted mm to send more money before they would give me my winnings... I refused so I'm out what I paid to play the game the money I won plus the $20 I sent trying to get my money

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This app says if you get this much you can cash out and it will be sent to your PayPal account. The app is called Lottery Scratch Win. Well I put in my PayPal email address and wait the specified days and they send something saying in the app the email address is wrong because THEY ADD ON AN EXTRA NUMBER TO THE EMAIL ADDRESS!! I HAVE TWO CASHOUTS FOR $100 AMD $500 AND I WANT THEM BOTH IN MY PAYPAL ACCOUNT NOW....SCREENSHOT PROVIDED. MY PAYPAL EMAIL IS ********************

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- Ronkonkoma, NY, USA
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It's a Facebook online fishing game with you send them money and you play the game if you win then they supposedly send you your winnings if you lose you lose I've played for 8 months to a year and I won $13,000 and they shut my account down and blocked me and paid me nothing.. so all the money I've given them they stole

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