I won £5,000 jackpot on online slot machines – but mysterious Betfred error meant my cash disappeared 

A BUILDER was left chasing £5,000 he won on slot machines for two months after the betting company lost his cash.

Tomasz Szulc, from Walthamstow in London, was playing online slot machines on website Betfred when he struck the jackpot, winning him the whopping £5,000 top prize.

But the 46-year-old was unable to celebrate after the money disappeared and Betfred refused to track it down.

He was left for months without access to his winnings – until The Sun stepped in.

Tomasz struck gold while playing the slot machines on Betfred on February 22, and immediately requested the money be paid to his Nationwide account in two lump sums of £3,000 and £2,000.

But after several weeks without receiving the cash, he contacted Betfred and asked when he should expect it to arrive.

To his horror, Betfred said it had already paid him weeks ago – but the funds definitely hadn’t hit his bank account.

The betting website told him to take it up with Nationwide if he hadn’t received the cash and provided him with four payment reference numbers.

But confusingly, Nationwide said these references related to other recent transactions with Betfred – not the new £3,000 and £2,000 payments Betfred claimed they were related to.

“I checked the four URNs (unique references numbers) provided, however, these references belong to the four payments which were already applied to your account from Betfred on February 19 and 22, 2024,” Nationwide said in a letter to Tomasz.

“If Betfred is claiming six payments have been made, it should be able to provide you with six URN’s to evidence this, not four.”

The building society also said there were no outstanding payments worth these amounts and until Betfred could provide additional payment references, there was nothing more it could do.

But Betfred refused to provide any more information and eventually stopped responding to Tomasz’ emails, while customer services agents said they had tried everything.

“I emailed Betfred countless times and repeatedly rung the customer service lines, but they wouldn’t give me any more details and I just felt stuck,” Tomasz said.

“My bank details obviously worked as they’d provided payment references for transactions on the same day, so I had no idea what was wrong.”

That was when Tomasz decided to ask The Sun to step in and help recover his missing cash.

When I intervened, Betfred apologised immediately and swiftly agreed to look into Tomasz case.

Betfred couldn’t initially explain what had happened or why Tomasz had never received the money, but a spokesperson said it is still investigating the matter.

However, it swiftly agreed to pay the cash directly to his Betfred account so he would be free to withdraw it himself.

Tomasz has now received the first £3,000 with Bedfred promising to pay the remaining £2,000 early next week.

“Thank you so much for your help on this,” he said.

What can I do if my cash goes missing?

Bank transfers typically arrive within minutes, although they can sometimes take a couple of days if extra checks need to be made.

If you’ve been waiting for longer than this, contact the sender and confirm they sent the money to the correct account details.

If the details were incorrect and the money went to the wrong place, the sender can ask their bank to recover the payment.

If the details were correct but you still haven’t received the money, ask the sender to contact their bank and find out what’s happened.

You can contact the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if you’re having trouble with a financial company and aren’t happy with the outcome of a complaint.

Complain to the company first and put it in writing so you have a record of what was said.

The company has to respond within eight weeks to formal complaints.

If they don’t respond in this timeframe or you’re unhappy with what they say, take it to the FOS.

You can contact the FOS on 0800 023 4567 or start a claim by visiting: financial-ombudsman.org.uk/make-complaint.