German poker player Max Ashkar accused of $1 million+ scam

After several scamming incidents the last few months, the poker world now sees a new scam on the High Stakes. This time, German High Stakes pro Max ‘mexx86′ Ashkar is accused of scamming some two fellow pro’s for at least $390,000. A third player has declared he lost close to $700K from Ashkar in a short period of time under suspicious circumstances.

Update November 2nd: Several High Stakes Players declared they were scammed as well. According to Dutch player Remco ‘pinowww’ de Vries announced on a Dutch poker site he knows of more than 20 players are scammed for at least $2 million, and probably a lot more.

The alleged scam consists of the German installing a ‘Trojan Horse’ from a usb-stick on the computer of the victims, which enabled him to see the hole cards of his opponents. Chances are that the suspect injected laptops from other players as well, so it’s possible this scam is much bigger than the $390K that is mentioned now.

The victims are both a Swiss and an Austrian nosebleed regular, who are currently in Baden for the European Championships of Poker together with the suspect. Allegedly, the victims forced themselves into the hotel room of Ashkar and put him under pressure to confess.

The computers and phones of the suspect are taken by the police for further inverstigation. The victims will also be charged for ‘taking hostage of the suspect’…

According to a poster on TwoPlusTwo, Ashkar tried to befriend every known poker pro on Facebook and people who have let him close to their computer should be scared of being scammed.

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