After less than two months in operation, online tournament site Zosoz.com has closed its doors following numerous reports that were lodged on player message boards of alleged dodgy dealings and bounced winner’s cheques.

Reportedly owned by a private firm based in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, US-legal Zosoz.com launched at the end of October and charged a subscription fee of $19.99. For this consideration, the site stated that ‘players will be thrilled with our Flash-based games client and the potential to win part of our $3.5 million in annual sweepstakes prizes’.

“What makes Zosoz.com different from other online poker clubs is that we give away the most online poker tournament sweepstakes prizes annually; daily $1,000 tournaments, weekly $10,000 tournaments, monthly $100,000 tournaments and a yearly one million dollar tournament,” said Tim Belisle, alleged co-founder of Zosoz.com, at the launch.

However, players visiting Zosoz.com from last week saw an announcement stating that the site had stopped all operations due to ‘circumstances beyond our control. " All subscription membership fees have been refunded in full,” read the statement on the site.

“No cash-out required, all sweepstakes winners will be paid via cashier's check. Only winners of $600 or more must be validated to receive full payment. All documents supplied to us are stored on our secured servers. This information will be used to send 1099 forms to both the IRS and to you." The statement went on to say; “We would like to thank you for your participation in Zosoz.com over the past two months and apologise for any inconvenience this causes you.”