Online Betting Scams: The Dark Side of Internet Bookmakers
In the era of digital transformation, sports betting has largely moved to the online world, opening new possibilities for bettors but simultaneously creating fertile ground for criminals. The world of illegal bookmaking is a complex ecosystem in which criminals exploit advanced technologies and sophisticated psychological methods to lure and defraud potential victims.
Stage One: Building the Façade
Everything begins with creating a convincing façade. Contemporary criminals no longer operate in suspicious establishments – instead, they create professional-looking Internet platforms. They invest significant resources in advanced design that mimics legitimate betting sites, fake certificates and licenses often impersonating recognized jurisdictions like Malta or Curaçao, extensive marketing systems including social-media advertising, fabricated user reviews and testimonials, and ostensibly professional customer service.
Some illegal platforms go so far as to create entire “ecosystems” of mutually authenticating sources, including fake discussion forums, social-media groups, and advice sites for bettors.
Stage Two: Recruiting Victims
The victim-acquisition process is carefully planned and uses diverse techniques. Criminals employ advanced profiling to reach potential victims, particularly focusing on young people seeking quick earnings, passionate sports fans, people with a history of gambling, and users searching for alternative investment methods.
They offer extraordinarily attractive welcome bonuses and promotions, often exceeding market standards: high bonuses on first deposits (even three hundred to five hundred per cent), free bets without turnover requirements, guaranteed refunds in case of losses, and exclusive odds significantly higher than at legitimate bookmakers.
Stage Three: Manipulation and Control
Once the victim is on the platform, the real psychological game begins. Initially, the platform often allows the user to win smaller amounts, building a false sense of security and encouraging larger deposits. This is the classic “bait” technique.
Fraudsters employ various odds-manipulation techniques: dynamic changes to odds just after a bet is placed, cancellation of winning bets under the pretext of “system errors,” and selective scamming – defrauding only selected users to make detection of the scheme more difficult.
Stage Four: Blocking Withdrawals
This is the crucial moment when the fraud comes to light. Criminals use various methods to prevent withdrawal of winnings. Technical obstacles include system “failures” during withdrawal attempts, endless identity verifications, “payment-processing” problems, and account blocks under the pretext of “suspicious activity.” Bureaucratic excuses include demands for impossible-to-fulfill verification requirements, references to nonexistent terms and conditions, accusations of violating platform rules, and requirements for additional deposits before withdrawal.
Selective Scamming in Online Betting
Selective scamming is one of the most sophisticated and difficult-to-detect fraud methods used by many Internet bookmakers, including companies that nominally operate under existing licenses. Unlike straightforward scams, where the operator defrauds all customers, selective scamming relies on careful victim selection and a long-term strategy of building apparent credibility.
The essence of selective scamming is that the operator deliberately defrauds only a selected portion of its customers, while the rest can use the service normally. This makes it harder to detect fraud at a systemic level, allows the platform to maintain positive reviews from some users, makes negative reviews easy to dismiss as isolated cases, and sustains the appearance of legitimate operation longer.
Operators using selective scamming conduct detailed user profiling, considering deposit size (small deposits usually left alone, medium deposits partially targeted for fraud, large deposits the main target), and behavior patterns (betting frequency, types of bets chosen, hours of activity, use of bonuses and promotions).
Fraudsters apply various victim-selection criteria. The financial-threshold strategy involves defrauding only players attempting to withdraw amounts above a certain threshold, while smaller withdrawals are processed normally to maintain appearances. Thresholds are often dynamically adjusted. Geographic profiling targets players from countries where prosecution of Internet crimes is difficult, while users from countries with strong legal systems are treated better.
The Psychology of Selective Scamming
The fraud unfolds in stages. The initial phase features problem-free small withdrawals, efficient customer service, bonuses and promotions, and positive user experiences. The transitional phase introduces gradual minor problems, tests user reactions, and assesses potential risk. The final phase implements the full fraud, exploiting previously built trust through psychological manipulation.
Manipulation techniques include gaslighting – undermining the player’s memory, denying previous agreements, suggesting errors on the user’s part. Frustration management involves prolonging the verification process, offering false hope, and gradually exhausting the player’s patience. Social-pressure exploitation includes suggesting that other players have no problems, pointing to positive reviews, and isolating dissatisfied players.
The Broader Challenge
Online-betting fraud is a complex problem requiring a comprehensive approach to prevention. It’s crucial to understand that this isn’t an isolated issue but part of a larger criminal ecosystem exploiting the latest technologies and psychological methods.
Effective combat against this phenomenon requires not only legal and technological action but also broad social education and international coöperation. Only through understanding the mechanisms by which criminals operate and continuously adapting prevention methods can we effectively protect potential victims and reduce the scale of this activity.
What makes online-betting scams particularly pernicious is their exploitation of the gray zone between legitimate gambling and outright fraud. Many operators exist in a kind of regulatory limbo – licensed in jurisdictions with minimal oversight, operating across borders that law enforcement struggles to navigate. The selective-scamming model is especially insidious because it creates a two-tier system: satisfied customers who serve as unwitting testimonials, and defrauded victims whose complaints can be dismissed as sour grapes or user error.
The psychology is elegant in its cruelty. By allowing small wins and processing minor withdrawals, the platform establishes a pattern of legitimacy. The victim’s own experience becomes the trap – they’ve seen the money arrive, they’ve felt the thrill of winning, they’ve navigated the interface successfully. When the big withdrawal fails, the cognitive dissonance is overwhelming. Surely the problem must be temporary, surely there’s been some mistake. The platform that paid out a hundred dollars last week wouldn’t simply steal ten thousand this week. Except, of course, it would. That was always the plan. The small payouts weren’t generosity; they were investment in a longer con, building the trust necessary to steal something worth stealing.
Founder and Managing Partner of Skarbiec Law Firm, recognized by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna as one of the best tax advisory firms in Poland (2023, 2024). Legal advisor with 19 years of experience, serving Forbes-listed entrepreneurs and innovative start-ups. One of the most frequently quoted experts on commercial and tax law in the Polish media, regularly publishing in Rzeczpospolita, Gazeta Wyborcza, and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. Author of the publication “AI Decoding Satoshi Nakamoto. Artificial Intelligence on the Trail of Bitcoin’s Creator” and co-author of the award-winning book “Bezpieczeństwo współczesnej firmy” (Security of a Modern Company). LinkedIn profile: 18 500 followers, 4 million views per year. Awards: 4-time winner of the European Medal, Golden Statuette of the Polish Business Leader, title of “International Tax Planning Law Firm of the Year in Poland.” He specializes in strategic legal consulting, tax planning, and crisis management for business.
