I feel really stupid, can someone explain to me what people are allegedly doing here?
My understanding is a Poker company (for example) puts all transactions from US customers through these fake stores. Then the organisation running the fake stores reimburses the Poker company outside of the US and takes a small slice for the service?
Credit card details are passed to a "payment processor" who uses one of these storefronts who have a legitimate merchant account (due to their legit-enough looking website), they charge the cards and load credits into online poker accounts.
The poker company puts transactions (deposits, anyway) through the fake stores. The organisation running the fake stores may well be the poker company or a wholly owned subsidiary, so they don't necessarily keep a cut.
If they took deposits in their own name, the credit card companies and banks would refuse to do business with them.
I would think this is primarily to hide gambling activities so it doesn't affect your credit score. If you're applying for a loan or credit card your bank statements can be assessed and if it finds transactions to known gambling sites or ATM withdrawals from known gambling venues or hotels then that will affect your credit rating badly.
My understanding is a Poker company (for example) puts all transactions from US customers through these fake stores. Then the organisation running the fake stores reimburses the Poker company outside of the US and takes a small slice for the service?