Gambling In 2023: Here’s How Online Gambling Fraud Is Targeting Your Business And Users
Online gambling fraud involves cyber criminals conducting financial fraud against gambling operators or players. The gambling industry is huge with a 2023 market value of about $702.45 billion and a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 56.4%. Just like the industry is high value itself, online gambling fraud also involves huge financial assets.
Understanding online gambling fraud:
At its core, gambling fraud involves fraud in all situations. These include poker rooms, bingo rooms, bookmakers, online casinos, slot websites, and multiple online gaming sites. By definition, online gambling fraud includes each and every unlawful and harmful practice that may harm an online gambling dealer or website. It covers financial assets of all kinds including funds, bonuses, and bitcoins.
Common types of online gambling fraud
As mentioned, online gambling involves financial harms that an individual may carry out against a gambling website, in any way. However, there are some very specific types of fraud that the industry is particularly susceptible to.
- Multi accounting
Multi-accounting refers to using fake credentials to create multiple accounts on a specific gambling website. Such criminals use these fake account to hack the gambling system. In this way, they can acquire much more financial benefits through the gambling system.
Since identity theft is essentially the prerequisite of multi-accounting online gambling fraud, financial criminals dealing with this type of fraud also deal in other crimes. Identity verification for online gaming allows ensures that there is no repeat account. Moreover, it also reduces fake identities or fake accounts.
- Chip dumping
As an extension of multi accounting, this type of online gambling fraud involves using these multiple accounts to access gaming tables and help a particular user win or lose. When a single party is authorizing majority of players on a specific table, obviously that party is going to get the results that it wants.
In online gambling fraud, chip dumping may be used to help a particular user win or lose. However, when the intention of the fraud is to simply help someone win, it is called Gnoming. Gnoming is common in both group games as well as in head-to-head games in which the website awards the winner a specific bonus.
- Bonus abuse
Another type of online gambling fraud rooted in identity theft is bonus abuse. Such criminals use fake identities to simply sign up for new accounts on gambling websites. The fraud aspect of this situation comes into play when a specific website is offering sign up bonuses.
The more fake accounts a cybercriminal has, the more they can attract sign-up bonuses, coupons, or other forms of financial or in-game promos. With online game verification we can greatly reduce the likelihood of new signups being based on fake or stolen identities.
- Carding
Carding is a type of online gambling fraud based on the intersection of financial and gambling fraud. This is because carding involves criminals storing credit cards of real individuals, in real life, to top up their gambling accounts. While using stolen card information, the money still helps the criminal play real games to win real financial prizes.
KYC or know your customer processes are essential for all businesses dealing with financial transactions. Thus, online gaming verification with KYC authenticating card information can help gambling sites not only stay in compliance with the regulations but also reduce crime facilitation on their websites.
- Chargebacks
Carding is clearly detrimental to the person whose identity got stolen. A gambling website may think that it does not concern them.
However, that is not the case.
The moment a user realizes that their information was used on a gambling website, they complain to their credit card company. Companies then refund the legitimate cardholder, and this refund comes at the expense of the gambling websites. In this case, the operator has to suffer the refund charges as well as processing charges. This is all for products that have already been bought by the fraudster. Thus, the facilitation of online gambling fraud, even if through negligence, is harmful to operators not just legally but also financially.
- Top-up abuse
Many online gambling operators offer top-up services for phone credits, digital wallets, and sometimes even coupons for different sites. Using stolen IDs and credit cards is a very simple way to abuse this system. Moreover, many times, gaming compliance can lead to phishing scams or simple manipulation of users. In such cases, criminals can use already established accounts of real people to fund their top ups or to access coupons.
Gaming Verification to fight online gambling fraud
Gambling operators are one of the biggest targets of digital financial fraud. This is due to the large amount of money that is flowing in the gambling industry. Additionally, money laundering and terrorism financing are also commonly facilitated by gambling services.
When it comes to online gambling fraud or other crimes, the onus rests primarily on gambling operators. It is their responsibility to ensure effective verification systems for all their users as well As for all financial transactions.
Gambling websites are one of the biggest high-risk businesses, and almost every transaction on such a business is a high-risk one. This is why gambling sites need to be under even more strict scrutiny by payment gateways as well as international financial authorities.
Utilizing effective KYC systems can help such gambling operators protect themselves and their users in simple ways without disrupting any of their usual processes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, online gambling fraud poses a significant threat to the integrity and security of the digital gambling landscape. As the popularity of online gambling continues to surge, so does the sophistication of fraudulent activities aimed at exploiting unsuspecting players and gaming platforms. The evolution of technology has both enabled and complicated this issue, making it crucial for the industry to adopt robust security measures and remain vigilant against emerging threats. Additionally, users must exercise caution, stay informed about potential scams, and only engage in gambling activities on reputable and licensed platforms. By taking collective action and prioritizing fraud prevention, we can foster a safer and more enjoyable online gambling environment for all stakeholders involved.
