Top 5 Online Casino Scams to Look Out For
The offer of online casinos in North America has never been as great as it is now. There are tons of different gambling sites to choose from and lots of others are appearing as you are reading this.
Unfortunately, the large gambling offer also means that it is very difficult to choose a legitimate casino site. You might think that losing a $10 or $20 deposit isn’t a big deal, but what if you win $5,000 from a $10 deposit and the casino closes your account before it pays you out?
To prevent this from happening, you should only play at reliable gambling sites. Finding a reliable casino is easier said than done, but there are ways to establish the credentials of a gambling site.
Let’s take Canada for example. The first thing that you should do is find professionals whose job is to check the legitimacy of casino sites. Examining casinos is what these people do for a living and going with the casinos they list is often your best option. When you read the reviews these experts provide you will see that there are, in fact, lots of safe and secure online casinos in Canada and you can check them here.
Another thing that you can do is to inform yourself of the ways casinos can scam you. Read on to find out more about the 5 most common casino frauds and how you can recognize them before it is too late.
First deposit bonus scams
Online casinos give you first deposit bonuses when you open an account with them and make your first deposit. These usually match your initial deposit 100% and up to a certain amount, but can also be lower. For instance, an online casino can offer to match your deposit 50% up to $100. This means that if you deposit $160, the casino will give you $80 in bonus funds.
First deposit bonuses are the most lucrative casino promotions and it is not unusual for them to be quite rewarding. However, sometimes these welcome bonuses may look too rewarding and that can be a red flag for a fraudulent casino.
There have been lots of stories of gambling sites being open for only a week or so and then shutting down shop. During this time they collect as many first deposits as they can from prospective players and then disappear without a trace.
Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to avoid these – just stick with licensed and regulated online casinos. The reason is that it takes a lot of money to get a licensed online casino up and running. If the casino’s owners close it after only a week, they would lose a lot more money than they would gain from scamming players.
However, that’s not the case with smaller and unregulated gambling sites. These cost peanuts to set up. What is more, their owners could easily use the same model to start a new site after closing the existing one.
Reload Bonus Scam
These are similar to first deposit scams with the only difference being that site owners are a bit more patient in this case. A reload bonus is awarded to existing players who have already used the welcome promo.
A gambling site may hold its end of the bargain and give you the welcome bonus in full. You will then think that the site is legit and continue spending money there. Unfortunately, the welcome bonus was only the bait.
The casino will then offer you a too-good-to-refuse reload bonus. For instance, it may match your second deposit 100% up to $1,000, but make the minimum qualifying deposit $500. This means that if you want to activate this bonus offer, you will have to deposit at least $500. To say that $500 is pretty high for a minimum deposit amount would be an understatement.
If you and lots of other people do this and the gambling site is a fraudulent one, you may be in trouble. The site’s owners may close your account first and then push you around for a while, before closing the site entirely. If this happens, you have been scammed.
Wagering requirements scam
Most first deposit and reload bonuses come with wagering requirements. These tell you how many times you have to ‘turn’ or play the deposit over before you can get the bonus funds. For example, a casino may say that you can get $100 in bonus money only after you turn your $200 deposit 2 times. This is a 2x wagering requirement and to get the $100, you will need to deposit $400 first.
As you can see, a casino doesn’t necessarily need to scam you to get lots of money from you. It only needs to put too high wagering requirements in a bonus.
For instance, a casino can put a 70x wagering requirement and list it in the bonus terms and conditions. This is a completely legal way for the casino to take large amounts of money from you.
What is more, the casino will be pretty happy if you meet the requirement and they have to award the bonus. That would mean you spent a fortune at the site and they would only give up a small part of that.
Bonus calculation scam
Steep wagering requirements are not enough for some casinos though. There are gambling sites out there that go to great lengths to not give you any bonus money at all. For instance, they can rig the wagering requirements calculating mechanism and only count every other wager you make.
When you notice that you are nowhere near meeting the wagering requirements, they will tell you that your 7-day period to meet the requirements ended and that you should have reported the issue sooner.
Identity theft scam
An identity theft scam is a pretty serious issue and you shouldn’t take it lightly. Back in 2014, CNN reported that identity theft happened every two seconds and you can imagine how high those numbers are right now.
That’s why it is very important that you are always on the lookout for casinos that try to steal your identity. They can do this in several ways.
Sometimes supposed casino sites will send you an email that needs an ‘urgent’ response. It will usually ask you to send them sensitive personal and financial data so that they can reactivate your account, card, or something else. This is called phishing.
Another way fraudulent casinos can get at you is to make you install malicious software. This is called malware and it comes in several different forms.
For example, if you install spyware, a type of malware, it will let attackers track your every move. Similarly, if you install a keylogger, it will record every keystroke you make and sent the information to the attackers.
Identity theft mechanisms have become more advanced over the years and it is essential that you know how to protect yourself. Recognizing an identity theft attempt can go a long way when you play at an online casino.
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