In our time, a game poker online is as safe and secure as could be – at least most of the time. Online gambling sites use the latest technology to allow players to gamble with real money without worry, but sometimes criminals still find a way to bypass these security systems.
A few weeks ago, the poker community was shocked to learn of an online poker scam case that surfaced recently. What exactly happened? And how can you keep your online poker account safe and secure? Learn more about this pressing issue RIGHT NOW!
New Online Poker Scandal Revealed
Over the course of several weeks, numerous poker players have reported that money has disappeared from their bank accounts. According to their claims, the fraudsters were able to create online gambling accounts in their names, stealing thousands of dollars in the process.
Todd Vitelles, one of the victims of this elaborate scam, explained what happened in an interview. According to Witteles, someone opened an account on a legalized online gambling platform under his name, depositing almost $10k into that account. Shortly thereafter, the money was withdrawn to a fake Venmo Debit Mastercard account, also using the victim’s name.
Other players like Joseph Cheong, Brock Wilson and Keena England were also victims of the same scammers.
Now the most important question is: how do scammers operate? In a lengthy post, Witteles explained that it all comes down to the payment processor that most online casinos use.
Apparently, Global Payments Gaming Solutions offers VIP services at online venues, allowing frequent bettors to store multiple payment accounts in one place to facilitate the depositing process. This means that after you create an account at an online location using Global Payments, some of your information is stored in a database for future use.
This service aims to help regular gamblers and high rollers sign up for multiple online casinos with minimal hassle. But in this case, what should have been a privilege turned into a real inconvenience.
It is speculated that the fraudsters in question found a way to access this information and used it to their advantage. Because players who already have a Global Payment account do not have to verify their identity when registering on other websites, fraudsters have used existing accounts to steal money undetected.
Global Payments released a statement saying they were investigating, confirming that their own servers had not been compromised. At this point, they believe the information was stolen from a third-party site, but we’re still waiting for more details.
How to keep your online poker account safe
Although online casinos are mostly a safe place to bet with real money, there are still some precautions you can take to keep your personal information as secure as possible.
- Choose a gambling site that is trustworthy – Only create an account at a reputable online poker site – OURS. According to experts, you can detect a secure website if there is a padlock symbol in the address bar, a valid certificate and “https” before the URL itself.
- Use strong passwords – Predictable and short passwords are easy to crack, so don’t use your name, date of birth and common numeric combinations as a password. Instead, consider a long and seemingly random password that includes lower and upper case letters, numbers, and symbols.
- Do not share your password with anyone – Keeping your personal information private is critical. Do not share your password with anyone. And if you write it down – make sure no one has access to it.
- Use an e-wallet whenever possible – Depositing money through a third-party service provider adds another layer of security to your account. Even if someone gains access to your poker account, it will not be directly linked to your bank information.
Bet and be safe!
To have a great online poker experience where you can relax and forget about any problems you may have, you need to find the perfect place – again… OURS! Make sure you can bet in a safe environment, take some extra precautions and you can let the adventure begin!