Agree on ESB (English Sports Betting)
They were the first offshore I ever posted up with, and being careful for the maiden voyage it was for but a small amount - a few hundred I think. This was maybe 8 years ago.
They did always ask your balance. Once, I told them they should know my balance, why would they ask. Company rules, the clerk replied. What they were hoping is you would quote a lower balance than the true one, and they would say "yes, that's right."
So one day I called in and when asked that leading question gave them a balance three times what it really was. "No sir, we show you as having only ----- dollars in your account." "Well, OK," replied I, "but I don't know what happened to the rest. Did anyone there steal it?"
Followed by great protestations of honesty on their part, and bogus hurt feelings.
I once got lucky and hit a huge boxcar horse bet, and they claimed I had called too late, after the post. Total lie. I got out from that place same day.
What was funny is that while they operated out of, I think, Jamaica, the owner, Dennis Atiyeh, lived in the U.S. Pittsburgh, I think.
Even funnier is that he hired some shithead to pretend to be an ombudsman for the sports bettor. I forgot this guy's name, but he managed to get his "reports" into several publications, knocking every other book but ESB. He was on Dennis's payroll. He even convinced Rolling Good Times to publish his bullshit for a while.