Operators warned of spike in fraud around World Cup
Fraud attacks expected to increase by 50% during this summer’s tournament
This summer’s World Cup will lead to a major rise in fraud attacks on online gaming operators, according to new research from identification specialist HooYou.
The firm surveyed a range of fraud managers at gaming operators ahead of the tournament, warning that major ecommerce events are targeted by criminals in an attempt to mask their activities.
One fraud manager at a leading UK gaming operator told HooYu they were “expecting an increase in attempted fraud of around 50% during the tournament.”
The head of fraud at another major European operator also admitted: “The sheer number of markets we will be covering makes detecting fraud much tougher.”
According to HooYou, the most common attempted fraud during this year’s World Cup will be “Account Take-Over”, where criminals use phishing and spoofing techniques to gain access to a legitimate account in order to either steal from it, or for the purpose of money laundering.
Ex-Metropolitan Police financial crime investigator, Tony Doyle said: “The gaming sector needs to adapt how it operates and instead of relying solely on static login credentials, use an advanced mix of facial biometrics, geo-location, ID document validation, proof of address matching and database checks to confirm a user is really who they claim to be.
“The sites that I have worked with that have adopted this approach have reported a substantial reduction in on-boarding fraud and prevented unauthorised account takeovers.”
The World Cup kicks off in exactly one month with almost half the world’s online population (47%) planning to tune into the action in Russia while bookies a have estimated that British gamblers will wager more than £1bn over the course of the tournament.