Scams are unfortunately commonplace in many industries besides online gambling. There will always be fraudsters who attempt to subvert the system and gain an unfair advantage. Moreover, some unscrupulous operators will try to take advantage and make a quick buck for themselves. Online gambling follows stringent regulations regarding its operation. That makes it easier to identify illegal and rogue operators. Online gambling is over two decades old, and within that time, numerous advances in technology, computing and the wide availability of WiFi have transformed the industry. The evolution of features, design and themes have changed much; however, the appeal of gambling has been constant. Gambling websites sometimes get lousy press just because there are a handful of seedy operators intent on leeching your money. Such sites are often the target of fraudsters, while a reputable gambling authority might not adequately license others. Others may have lax security measures or inadequate encryption. On the plus side, there’s no shortage of online forums that help to identify rogue operators within the industry and advise others to steer clear and avoid them.
The Risk of Gambling
The risk of gambling is part of the thrill; however, online gambling sites take a different threat than players. It’s more about fraud for casinos, and the number of creative ways that individuals try to exploit is astounding. The online gambling market should reach $1 trillion by 2021, and operators are setting increasingly higher targets. There are many challenges operators face today, and they must protect their businesses to ensure long-term profitability.
Common Types of Fraud in Gambling
While fraudsters and scammers always develop more creative ways to exploit the system, there are several common attacks. Multiple account fraud is the cornerstone upon which many scam attacks occur. Scammers create dozens or hundreds of accounts using fake credentials to tilt the balance in their favour online. For instance, they could try to abuse the bonus system. It’s less of a severe issue today compared to other kinds of fraud. People tend to use bonus points through a sense of unwitting entitlement.
Casino Bonus & Promotion
There is intense competition among gambling websites with lots of pressure to attract new clients. Naturally, that leads to lucrative sign-up bonuses and daily promo deals. A bonus is an extra goody that may be a monetary deposit gift or free spins. The casinos don’t lose any money with the gifts, and they provide additional value. That is because you will need to fulfil some criteria before grabbing the extra cash—for instance, a $100 deposit bonus from an online casino. To retrieve the reward, you’ll need to wager 10x the deposit, or about $1,000, to get the extra reward of $100. When you factor all that in, the online casino will earn more than they lose. Bonus abuse is corrupting the design, finding a glitch and exploiting it. They try to reclaim the same bonus several times over or create multiple casino accounts with a VPN. These types of fraud are somewhat difficult to detect; nevertheless, online casinos have adequate safeguards against such attacks. Due to their innate design that benefits the casino, it may seem attractive to abuse such bonuses in that manner. Online casinos invariably forbid the practice and may confiscate gambling winnings if they catch a player.
Gnoming
Gnoming is essentially the same as chip dumping. You could call chip dumping a form of gnoming. The illegal practice of using different accounts to help a single account obtain an unfair advantage playing a game is essentially gnoming. The main difference is chip dumping generally refers to cheating at the poker tables, while gnoming is used exclusively in online gambling. One person playing with multiple accounts can cheat with the method. It can work with many kinds of games. Imagine the advantage of playing with three hands of blackjack online at the same time! That’s one of the reasons online gambling sites forbid players from opening several accounts at once. Scammers who collude to abuse such loopholes aren’t just detrimental to the site but the whole community. Moreover, it is unfair to every honest, decent player. Thankfully, major reputable online casinos have several ways that they deal with gambling fraud.
Collusion
Collusion is an umbrella term to refer to many different types of gambling fraud. Several individuals try to collude together under the table to accomplish their common illegal interests. The easiest way to exemplify that is when many poker participants work together on the same table with a scam. The target of such an exploit is often the bonuses and their wagering requirements. If enough players conspire together in a series of games, and they might manage to fulfil the requirements. Consequently, they will end up walking away with extra cash from the sign-up bonuses without putting any money on the table.
Chip Dumping
Unlike many hacks and scams, which are about gaining unfair hands at winning money, chip dumping is a way to deposit money. It is often a form of money laundering seen on online poker games. Chip dumping is one or several players losing intentionally to one player. In doing so, they dump all the chips into the designated player’s account. The scam can have several functions. That could effectively help one player complete the wagering requirements for a bonus. It can also help a player ease his way back to the top of an online tournament with a higher stack of chips. A more sinister function is money laundering. Players cannot put money directly acquired through illegal means into a bank account without raising eyebrows. On the other hand, winnings from online gambling are considered legal and duly taxable, so one should have no qualms depositing the winnings in a bank account. Chip dumping is legalizing illegal money through an agent participating in a poker tournament or game.
Payment Attacks
There are sometimes payment attacks at online casinos, and gambling sites are essentially digital eWallets; therefore, processing payments could cause losses. Stolen credit cards are favourites of scammers. They use stolen card data to top up their casino account, using illegitimate money to pocket winnings. Chargebacks happen after a scammer has already topped up their casino account. They subsequently request a card provider’s chargeback, which means they receive a full refund at the online casinos’ expense.
Abuse of Phone Top-Ups
If an online casino is offering phone top-ups, scammers use sophisticated ways of topping up their clients. They are burner cell phone holders and can trick them into topping up the balance, which will then fund their online gambling accounts.