Why is the Online Betting & Gambling sector targeted by fraud?

Online gambling has become more popular than ever. While people always enjoyed the thrill of gambling, pandemic forced all of us to turn towards online aspects of it. When the pandemic started, people were forced to turn towards activities they could do from the safety of their homes, which forced many businesses to accept the digital transformation and embrace the online world. The gambling industry has been way ahead of those businesses as it already had a solid online presence, which only continued to grow. Without having to spend time figuring out how to accommodate customers’ changing needs and transforming their business, such as other industries, they could just continue providing excellent service to old and new customers.

Unfortunately, as in most of the other industries, the online gambling sector also discovered that growth in customers’ online presence resulted in an increased number of cyberattacks. According to the Australian Cyber Security Center’s report, there have been 67,500 cybercrimes between June 2020 to July 2021 which is 13% year-on-year increase. The online gambling sector has been targeted even more than other industries due to its financial nature. From money laundering, stolen credit cards to identity theft or account takeovers fraud, there are numerous dangers the gambling industry faces. This is why it’s more important than ever to create a fraud prevention strategy that will help you protect your business and your customers. SEON’s gambling fraud prevention strategy offers good pointers on where to start to keep your business safe while ensuring your customers have a great experience.

What is online gambling fraud?

The gambling industry has always been highly susceptible to criminal behavior, but it has become more widespread with the online gambling and betting sector development. Just think about it; more people accessing a site means more potential victims for fraudsters to target.

Online gambling scams happen when fraudsters try to manipulate or exploit an internet gambling site for their financial gain. Fraudsters use different malicious activities to ensure they get the upper hand from multiple account fraud such as gnoming or chip dumping, credit card fraud, or a chargeback fraud. The direct victims of these fraudulent activities can be either the online betting or gambling site or its customers. Still, even in the latter case, online betting or gambling providers will suffer financial and reputational damage. According to research, nearly 50% of people would not use an online service or application recently involved in a fraudulent activity. Customers want to know they are safe when using a website, especially when it has access to their financial details, so it is essential to do everything in your power to protect them and your business.

How to protect your business from online gambling fraud?

Unfortunately, fraud is everywhere, and every business sector will need to accept that they might become a target of fraudulent action. If you take proper proactive measures, you will be able to stop it before it can cause significant damage to your business.

Use KYC verification: To reduce the risk of fraudsters accessing your network, you should implement effective KYC or Know Your Customer practice and use it to verify your customers are who they say they are. By having the right data about your customers, you will be able to verify their identity and confirm their intent. That can be done through the verification process requested from customers during their registration to your network:

Implement fraud prevention tools: They can be used to identify red flags that might indicate fraud attempt and stop it before it can do any damage.

Introduce multi-factor verification: This simple step can significantly reduce the risks of account takeover or identity theft, as it will make it harder for fraudsters to access other people’s accounts.

By combining all of these steps together, you can create an effective fraud prevention strategy and protect your business and all the customers.

 

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