Online Gaming Scams during Pandemic. How to Stay Safe.

[Mahanton]

Those that you have mentioned are the general ways on how to be safe on surfing over the internet.  Though some also avoid you to loose some of your money/information.

To atleast be safe playing on online casinos make some background check on the casino you're planning to play at.

It would really be just your own common sense if you do make some background research first before making any deposits.This doesnt only limit out in gambling industry but also
with other businesses or industry as well.As long it do talks or deal with money then its just normal that you would really be needing to check out first because we dont want
to lose money so its just normal or sensible to do your homework and verify things out before making any step further.
Just be aware on how thing works and if its obvious to be a scam then better stay away.

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[1715356107]

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[Fortify]

The title of the topic, I took directly from the article, I thought it was very suitable as I experienced: the reason I am tired of deleting incoming gmail from various gambling sites, during this pandemic, which hit the world / including my country., out of nowhere they got personal gmail.

Honestly, so far what I often experience is points 2 and 3, for that I conclude what I experienced I should tell my friends in this forum, to be more vigilant and stay safe while you play online gambling, Indeed many people consider this information trivial, many ignore it, but the effects of the behavior of a scam gambling site are already at full risk.


For that if you experience something like the one below, you should increase your awareness and be more careful in responding to gmail that you don't know which offers various games and things related to gambling.

Link: https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/threats/coronavirus-gaming-scams

7 Tips for online gaming safety
1. Only use official websites for any purchases related to the game. Do not click on links that redirect you to third-party websites.
2. Don't respond to emails or direct message requests asking for your banking, financial, or personal information. Even if it appears to be from the gaming platform: legitimate companies do not ask for details via messaging.
3. Don't share personal information, identifying data, or account information online. Do not share login credentials with friends.
4. Use a strong password for the game login. A strong password is one that is difficult to guess and includes a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, plus numbers and symbols. Avoid using the same password for multiple accounts.
5. Use two-factor authentication. This means that you (and anyone else trying to access your account) will need two pieces of identification to log in — usually your password and your phone number. Typically, you enter your password to log onto your gaming account. Your account then sends a code to your smartphone, email, or using an authentication app. You must enter that code before you can access your gaming account. This extra step makes it harder to hack into your accounts.
6. Never click on any links asking you to reconfirm your password. Instead, delete any email that asks you to update your login information.
7. Avoid using debit cards for purchases. This is because credit cards normally offer greater security protections.

I hope that what I have to say can be more vigilant and more careful in playing online gambling during the pandemic.

Regards.

I think these are a bit too general and relate more towards video gaming rather than gambling in particular. Owning crypto (particularly from a device you control) takes the need for security to another level entirely. There are quite a few more that could be added. Some general ideas off the top of my head:

1. You need to be extremely careful about what software you download on a device that holds crypto-wallets or 2-factor authentication abilities for your exchange accounts. People who want to steal your wallet have come up with some rather ingenius hacks over the years - you should generally be ok with mainstream software provided by large companies, but anything else should be considered vulnerable.
2. As you mentioned, it may be worth setting up a separate card/cryptowallet and email address that only handles your gaming related stuff, that way if your email does get leaked from a cryptocoin casino then you will be less likely to receive phishing and other spam emails.
3. Be very careful where you share your personal documents - some fraudsters are able to setup very professional looking websites that may even have basic functionality to harvest personal data. The sole purpose can be to get private documents (passport photos/driving licenses/etc). These sort of documents can be used for identity theft and impersonation later on, so a poor decision can have years of after effects. Also be wary of the security of every casino you use that requires KYC information, as even legit casinos can get hacked and lose your details unintentionally. If you have any doubts or red flags, move on.

[acquafredda]

Thanks YOSHIE, I believe those can be considered like basic cyber-defense rules that apply to most of our online activities. They represent the kind of common sense behaviors that should be adopted whenever we deal with potentially sensitive services online.
I would add, whenever possible, the use of a good VPN.

[imstillthebest]

Number 1 can be subjective because there's some that have a partnership to the other site but we must confirm things first before doing a transaction .

2. legitimate companies do not ask for details via messaging.

never been contacted thru phone call but I have received lots of scam phone calls asking for my bank details  . Scam can happen on any medium ( call , Tex , emails , others )

Number 6 , you can get the same email if you modify your account but if you don't , you shouldn't click and fill up to something . The rest don't need to be questioned and should be followed promptly .

[Renampun]

...

My email is also full of links from scammers, I just 'ignore it'...

Those who like to gamble and register a lot on various gambling sites will often get emails from fraudsters. before opening the word, it is better to check carefully whether it comes from the gambling site that you are following. agree with number 5, using 2fa authentication is absolutely mandatory.

[Lanatsa]

...

My email is also full of links from scammers, I just 'ignore it'...

Those who like to gamble and register a lot on various gambling sites will often get emails from fraudsters. before opening the word, it is better to check carefully whether it comes from the gambling site that you are following. agree with number 5, using 2fa authentication is absolutely mandatory.

When using up emails then it should really be a new one and not your main emails because this would be a common thing where you do receive lots of spams
and scam attempts when your email got exposed since you wouldn't able to track on where you had been used it.

When it comes to 2fa then it should be a standard thing but majority of us do really just neglect out this basic security which would be helpful for you
on not to get hacked.

[Rengga Jati]

-snip-

Again, they will really always send us emails once they knew it.
And their offering through email is always very promising, like going to make us rich overnight 
And what happens is that many people still believe in them and get trapped in their scam gambling.
Moreover, if it is an advertisement in a video, game, and other platforms that sometimes drive us to click that scam platforms or phishing, this is also very often happening. Well, scammers will always send and try everything to get victims to be scammed and they will never stop.

Phone authenticator is safe but not as safe as 2 factor authentication through app, though sim swap attack may not be common, but it can occur. The 2fa app is best to be on another device rather than on the device we use to access the online sites.

Did you mean Google Authenticator?
Yeah, I personally always prefer to use GA than other types of 2FA. Moreover, if we are using a phone number for authentication, I will not choose it if there are some other options.

[AmoreJaz]

...

My email is also full of links from scammers, I just 'ignore it'...

Those who like to gamble and register a lot on various gambling sites will often get emails from fraudsters. before opening the word, it is better to check carefully whether it comes from the gambling site that you are following. agree with number 5, using 2fa authentication is absolutely mandatory.

When using up emails then it should really be a new one and not your main emails because this would be a common thing where you do receive lots of spams
and scam attempts when your email got exposed since you wouldn't able to track on where you had been used it.

When it comes to 2fa then it should be a standard thing but majority of us do really just neglect out this basic security which would be helpful for you
on not to get hacked.

better use a different email when you are signing up in gambling sites. not your main/personal email. nowadays, it is easy to create email. so should not be a problem. most users will only apply 2fa when their account is hacked or of that sort. which is really not a good practice. better secure your account all the time. you'll never know when scammers will attack your account.
also, make sure that the emails that you are opening are coming from official sites, most of them are phishing sites luring you for too-good-to-be-true offers/rewards.

[Wexnident]

Just don't open any suspicious links tbh. It's rather easy to see if one is actually suspicious, especially if it came from your email. How to determine? Well if you never visited the site then that should be suspicious point #1 (if it came from your email). Point #2 is the name. If you were sure on visiting a site, and just found it on an article somewhere, check the link. It may be possible it's a fake site, so looking for multiple sources of the link should prove to be quite helpful.

Though tbh the easiest solution here is just to block everything, except for the gambling site's main email. Should be easy to filter.

[crwth]

What a confusing start of the title because I was expecting that there are actual examples that scams are happening. I think it's best to have examples so it's better absorbed by the readers of the article at the start.

In the article, the examples are listed below.

• Directing gamers to third-party websites
• Targeting gamers’ IP addresses
• Phishing
• Fake mobile versions of popular online games
• Targeting children

Knowing those type of things, people tend to have a sense of skepticism on how they act on the internet. Thanks for sharing OP.

[hahay]

No wonder when there is a problem, that is where the scammers start their action and they always use any trend and / or issue to take advantage. But yes, whether there is a problem or not, the scammers will continue to act and we should be aware of this. Also, this is an email which would certainly be very interesting if there was a good offer but yes, I personally never respond to emails I don't recognize even if they are in my inbox and that way at least I'm safe from any scams.

[YOSHIE]

Knowing those type of things, people tend to have a sense of skepticism on how they act on the internet. Thanks for sharing OP.

Lately there are hundreds of gambling sites circulating on the internet, various modes, sending messages via email, telegram, and so on, indeed there are no real victims yet, I hope it doesn't happen both for me and for others.

Points 2-3 is something that is often experienced especially for me personally, but I ignore it, to never do things that endanger myself, Therefore, regarding the content in the article, it doesn't only happen to children's games, if you are not careful and do something suggested in the article, on the contrary, most likely in online casino gambling mistakes can happen that we do.

Because of the rise of gambling sites today that we don't know officially, this topic reminds us to be more careful and alert to emails, sites that come in for us, meaning: remembering means safe, either third parties, web leads etc.

[Strongkored]

This is commonly understood by many players who have been in online gambling for a long time but not infrequently those who also underestimate it, especially for number 6 when they see a very tempting offer can be careless by not checking whether the link is from the right source or leads to a phishing site.

[crwth]

Lately there are hundreds of gambling sites circulating on the internet, various modes, sending messages via email, telegram, and so on, indeed there are no real victims yet, I hope it doesn't happen both for me and for others.

I think there are victims. It's just that we do not know it. Maybe it's not that large, or it's negligence for thorough research on the user's part. I hope no one gets victimized by these types of scams or ANY scams in any matter.

Points 2-3 is something that is often experienced especially for me personally, but I ignore it, to never do things that endanger myself, Therefore, regarding the content in the article, it doesn't only happen to children's games, if you are not careful and do something suggested in the article, on the contrary, most likely in online casino gambling mistakes can happen that we do.

This is the part that we need to share with everyone that we know, knowing that it's pretty much everywhere. Targeting kids is bad, but they are the most vulnerable on the internet, and the parents would be part of that catastrophe and save the day.

Because of the rise of gambling sites today that we don't know officially, this topic reminds us to be more careful and alert to emails, sites that come in for us, meaning: remembering means safe, either third parties, web leads etc.

I instantly remembered the ads that I saw in CMC, there is a specific site known here to be a scam, but it's still being shown on the site. It makes it even scarier for newbies to be baited into the bad sites easily.

[Oshosondy]

Did you mean Google Authenticator?
Yeah, I personally always prefer to use GA than other types of 2FA. Moreover, if we are using a phone number for authentication, I will not choose it if there are some other options.

I am not specifying on any 2fa, but some people are not using Google authenticator because it is close source. Also google authenticator is not protected with password or pin which is another reason some people are not using it. There are some better open source authenticators someone can use with gambling sites which are also passward protected, Aegis is a good example, andOTP is another good example. But for exporting conveniences, some people will prefer google authenticator.

[BlackFor3st]

Did you mean Google Authenticator?
Yeah, I personally always prefer to use GA than other types of 2FA. Moreover, if we are using a phone number for authentication, I will not choose it if there are some other options.

I am not specifying on any 2fa, but some people are not using Google authenticator because it is close source. Also google authenticator is not protected with password or pin which is another reason some people are not using it. There are some better open source authenticators someone can use with gambling sites which are also passward protected, Aegis is a good example, andOTP is another good example. But for exporting conveniences, some people will prefer google authenticator.

I agree to this I think it's much more secure if the google authenticator can be locked because if someone managed to get on your computer they can easily open up the google authenticator app and copy it unlike when it is lock. There's really a lot of vulnerabilities the only thing we can do is to keep our computers clean from viruses avoid clicking anything on websites especially if we are not familiar with this.

Most of the time I don't open the promotions and any other email from the bookies on where I play with not unless that I ask to change password I know that an email will come to my email but any other than that don't open unexpected emails from bookies for our safety.

[LogitechMouse]

With online gambling becoming a trend since the start of the pandemic, its already expected that those scammers will swarm the online gambling industry again .
When I'm still gambling back in the days, I used 2FA to secure my gambling account even though I'm depositing not that huge amounts of money into it. Luckily, I didn't received any emails or private messages into some random people/scammer out there.

Although these tips are already common, these are very helpful to those who want to start gambling online and for those who aren't aware with this tips but even though we are sharing this tips to everybody there will be still some gamblers out there who will fall into the trap of these scammers for some reasons. Well, I just hope that those who have read this tips will be more vigilant when they are gambling and might be more picky when they are choosing a gambling site .

[peter0425]

Gamblers are into Online betting since the pandemic happens so scammers knows that Noob is there to take care off.
they even know that not all gamblers are knowledgeable about online and their stepping here comes a luring point from those scammers.
best that we knew where to enter and knew where to goes out,

[Oasisman]

Did you mean Google Authenticator?
Yeah, I personally always prefer to use GA than other types of 2FA. Moreover, if we are using a phone number for authentication, I will not choose it if there are some other options.

I am not specifying on any 2fa, but some people are not using Google authenticator because it is close source. Also google authenticator is not protected with password or pin which is another reason some people are not using it. There are some better open source authenticators someone can use with gambling sites which are also passward protected, Aegis is a good example, andOTP is another good example. But for exporting conveniences, some people will prefer google authenticator.

Man, I feel so so safe with OTP through my mobile number or my email.
I don't know If all gambling websites, exchanges, and even crypto wallets are allowing this account security options.
I'm not so techy but I don't trust google authenticator that much.
If were so concerned about our account security better not engaged when someone is asking for your account and financial info. That's the best way to keep yourself away from being scammed. One thing to remember, If it's too good to be true then that's probably a scam.

[Oshosondy]

Man, I feel so so safe with OTP through my mobile number or my email.
I don't know If all gambling websites, exchanges, and even crypto wallets are allowing this account security options.
I'm not so techy but I don't trust google authenticator that much.
If were so concerned about our account security better not engaged when someone is asking for your account and financial info. That's the best way to keep yourself away from being scammed. One thing to remember, If it's too good to be true then that's probably a scam.

There should be some online gambling sites that can even support more than one option, it is also more secure and safe to enable more than one type of authenticator, though one can be enough but two or more is safer. Like for example, to enable sim, email and 2fa app authenticator at ones, this will make the account safer. About the Google authenticator, I can not also trust it because it is close source, but like I said before, you can use the open source ones like Aegis and andOTP.