5 betting fraud schemes: match fixing, sale of forecasts and other fraud methods

Anthony Nwohiri

Contents

1. Selling fixed matches..юunder the pretence that

Let’s start with the most common fraud scheme that everyone is becoming sick and tired of. It’s about selling of “fixed matches”. This scheme has proved successful largely due to the fact that there are so many match-fixing cases in sport. News about them is regularly published on sports sites and on the website of The Bookmaker Ratings.

Having read another news about the unmasking of a network of match fixers, a player starts thinking about how great it would be to have this information and bet large sums of money without risk. After all, you know the outcome, if not the exact score of the match, already in advance! And the future millionaire has only one thing left to do — to find people who have the information about fixed matches and are willing to sell such.

Play Here!

It’s only a very small number of people that actually understand match-fixing business. These are usually professional betting players, high rollers, who have an informant or person that bets on match fixing and is looking for a partner that has an account with a large sum on it. You need solid investments in this business. By the way, you can read about this in our  interview with tennis match-fixing organizers.

Where is our future millionaire going to? To the Internet. Here you can find hundreds of sites selling information about supposedly fixed matches. And if you use social networks or you’re a member of an online sports betting community, then you don’t need to look elsewhere: you will be found and offered to buy fixed matches, even sometimes in wholesale!

However, all these are nothing but a big scam. We’ll explain why this is so.

First, up to the very end, only a very narrow circle of people know that a match will be played according to a pre-known scenario. This narrow circle of people includes the organizer of theatrical representation (or group of organizers), the client who bought the information or ordered for the match and is going to bet, and the athlete (or athletes).

Why is that? Fixed matches are often organized in medium-sized competitions and not all bookies accept bets on such matches. It may be that only two or three bookmakers have the right match in their line.

How will they react to the fact that newly registered players already have dozens of accounts, and are betting on the same outcome? The answer is obvious — the bookies will remove the match from their line, while the bets can be voided.

The fewer the number of people that know about a fixed match, the higher the likelihood organizers will be able to earn from that match.

Information leakage is possible and actually occurs frequently, but usually right before the match, when the client has already betted, and then someone — an informant or athlete — leaks the information.

First, such information is distributed in offline among “themselves” (and even if it gets on the internet, you’ll not be able to determine whether such information is that which is being sold). Secondly, the odds for a real fixed outcome will go down sharply due to leakage.

What are the tricks used by scammers to deceive bettors? I’ve been in the business of betting and sports forecast for a long time now, but fraud schemes on selling of fixed matches have remained the same over the years.

The simplest fraud scheme: a screenshot of a big at high odds. As envisioned by the fraudster, this should be an argument for the credibility of his information.

It may be screenshots of previous wins or bet on the next game, whose information is being offered to you to buy. The team names are of course blurred over. You only see the high odds and large bet. Why is this a fraud? It is because today, it’s very simple to forge any screenshot. Photoshop is not even required here. Everything is done by simply editing the source code in the browser.

Also, many not-particularly-advanced fraudsters take the website of bookmaker Betcity as an assistant, where there is a guest entrance with virtual money. There, you can bet 100,000 virtual rubles for any event, make a screenshot and present it as a bet on a supposedly fixed match.

Next, you will not necessarily be asked to make an advance payment for the fixed match: it costs the pseudo-informant nothing, you are given a bet at random, and that’s the easier way for him to win your trust. If this bet wins, you’ll have to pay for it. Moreover, some schemers don’t pursue short-term easy earnings but rather seek to lure the customer by offering the first fixed match for free.

Many bettors forget themselves when their first bet wins. Even if the person initially doubted the honesty of the informant, after this “success”, all doubts will be dispelled, and he falls into the trap. The bettor will be willing to pay for the next match and often with pretty decent amount of money.

However, the fact that one or a couple of bets won is not evidence by no means! It’s share luck and nothing else.

In addition to the outcome or total, there is a different kind of information that most impresses bettors — betting on the exact outcome of a match. Here schemers arm themselves with the following trick: the scammer sends different information to clients. He gives the score 1-0 to one group of people, while the other group, he tells 1-1, and so on. The same scheme can be used on home/draw/away market.

Some potential clients receive information that is true and already get trapped. I personally conducted such experiments: I wrote from different accounts to such “informants”, received different forecasts for the same match and I was able to expose them.

South American football is mostly used as a field for this kind of creative scam: Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador. I don’t know why, but that’s the truth. Perhaps, the calculation is that football in the region is not that yet particularly saturated with money; and to secure a decent life, football players are forced to regularly fix matches.

Also enough are those who are supposedly future party to a fixed match –one of the players from the home team. Or a close friend of the player. There are sometimes fantasy, but in general, the scheme is the same and has not changed for many years.

Let me list 4 rules that will save you from the fraud of selling fixed matches:

1) Always remember one simple rule as a dogma: there is no information about fixed matches on the internet! This is just a beautiful fairy tale. An attempt to turn this fairy tale into practice will eventually lead you to financial losses.

2) If you managed to bet money on a pseudo-fixed match, don’t pay anything, even if you win. You were just lucky! If you were given information on the exact score of a football match, you took the chance, and betted money and miraculously won, it means only one thing: today is your day! Try not to get caught on the hook. Or to be on the safe side, simply don’t communicate with schemers!

3) Don’t try to check “informants”. Most often, they fail completely with their “fixed matches”. However, it could be on their lucky happy day and doubts can creep in into your mind. But this, again, is always just a fluke. They were just lucky!

4) If you have decided to join a discussion, ask the fraudster one simple question: “Why are you sitting on the social media and trying to sell your information for a measly 500 rubles instead of getting on the ball and borrowing as much money as possible from friends and acquaintances to bet more or find a big client?”. Fraudsters almost always have nothing to say to this question.

2. Sale of forecasts

No less popular is another primitive and yet effective fraud model – sale of sports forecasts. Beginners sacredly believe that there are people capable of delivering amazingly accurate predictions and are ready to share their predictions for money. Here, there are two sales sub-schemes – prepayment and postpayment.

2.1 Selling sports forecasts on prepayment basis

You pay money and get a fresh forecast. As a proof of his success, the forecaster can use a variety of techniques, for example, fake statistics on websites and on social media. Such sites have one thing in common — closed comments. Because of this, those who bought forecasts cannot openly leave a review about their experiences. Moderators publish only rare positive reviews, and having come to the site or community for the first time, the person may fall for this trick. Believe me: almost 100% of real reviews from those that paid for forecasts are negative!

In social networks, scammers actively use cheat services for clicks, reposts, and, of course, subscribers, to entice the client. After all, there are many people in the group, the posts gather many likes and are reposted. However, all these are artificially driven up with the help of special programs and services.

The price of forecasts can vary. You can find forecasts for 7,999 rubles and some for 100 rubles. However, their quality is approximately the same, and it’s not worth a penny. The only different between these swindlers and us is that they decided to sell their ideas for money, while we didn’t.

2.2 Selling forecasts on post-payment basis

The difference here is that you’re not asked to pay money at once. You pay after your bet wins. This scheme inspires confidence but don’t be fooled! The so-called capper doesn’t care if you lose money on a bet we chose for less than 5 minutes in the toilet. And if you’re lucky with the bet, you’ll still have to give a part of your win. Better place at random at your discretion: the result is the same but you’ll lose less because you’ll not have to pay for forecasts.

If you lose your money, such a forecaster will never refund you your bet amount, otherwise he would have been living on the streets long ago.

As is the case with sale of fixed matches, cappers more cleverly give different people different match outcomes for the same sporting event so that a part of their “clients” can remain satisfied and share their prize with scammers whatever the outcome is.

Let me debunk some of the myths about selling of forecasts:

1) If people really had declared wining chance of 70%, 80% or even 95% on average odds, they would have long ago become billionaires. Ask them that question. They will tell you a story about how malicious and treacherous bookies cut their maximum bets to ridiculous sizes. Have these unfortunate forecasters not heard of such bookmakers as Sbobet, Pinnacle Sports or Betfair?

2) Sellers of forecasts often pose as an employee of a particular popular bookmaker. Of course, this is a lie. But assuming it was true, I, as an experienced bettor, don’t understand what that is supposed to mean.

Probably, they believe that all employees of a bookmaker are experts in the field of sports forecasting and are better able than others to predict the outcome of matches, which, of course, is not so. However, this trick works on new players since it is always used. But such thoughts arouse nothing but laughter.

3) All the information used by seasoned charlatans – screenshots of big wins, forged statistics on sites and public forums, video recording of visits to the bookmaker’s office to collect prize – is not at all a proof that these people are playing in the black at a distance. They are happy to show you their good luck, but are silent about their losses. And some blindly belief in what does not actually exist.

3. Spinning up betting account

Spinning up a betting account has recently become a very popular fraud scheme in the field of sports betting. The idea is that you give access to your betting account to another person. Your money is on the account and the task of the “spinner” is to multiply that amount as much as possible. This should last for a certain time or until a certain amount — it doesn’t matter.

Once the amount is fixed, you’ll have to share part of the profits with the person that made the profit. It’s usually 50% of the net win. It would seem that everything is fair. However, when things are not moving for the easy money lover, he will simply lose all your money. And, of course, no one would refund you anything.

That’s how it actually happens in most cases, otherwise these people would not have engaged in such nonsense, but rather would have spinned up their own accounts, take all the 100% of profits without sharing it with anyone. However, the reality is that they don’t want to risk their own money or they have lost everything and no more have anything to risk.

There was this successful case in which the swindler received a decent pay: he had 9 poor people, who, before their accounts were spinned up, had 10,000 rubles in there account, but now have zero rubles. That’s the sad mathematics. Therefore, you shouldn’t in any case give access to your account to other people no matter the fairy tales you hear from them!

It won’t lead to anything good. And once you want to complain, you’ll be banned, well if of course you’ll be able to leave a comment.

4. Pooling of funds together to buy forecasts or fixed match

This is another fraud scheme, the most complicated: the scammer offers a group of people to contribute money together to buy a forecast from some well-known swindler in that field.

We have already explained why you shouldn’t buy forecasts at all. Here, the emphasis is on the fact that because of high cost of forecast from a famous personality or a site, not everyone can afford to buy such forecasts alone. That is why pooling of funds together is organized. The scammer may claim any intentions, but the goal is always one — to pocket the general money and disappear into thin air or give out his personal forecast at a price.

The organizer of such pooling of funds together is often the owner of the forecasts he is offering for sale, thus attracting customers to his business.

Платный софт для прогнозирования - развод в чистом виде

Paid forecasting software – fraud in broad daylight

5. Selling of sports betting programs

There are many programs that claim to help bettors in betting. For example, Futanaliz. These programs are harmless on themselves, but don’t offer no benefit. They provide the same result as that which an average player can provide.

It is foolish to assume that there is an automatic algorithm that produces miraculously profitable bets. However, developers of such software programs assure players that their programs are effective and that is why a whole software betting industry has emerged. And this software is expensive!

The Internet is today full of advertising on this topic, and social networks are awash with so many spammers offering these “wonderful” programs for sale. These spammers can be both the creators of the software and those wishing to earn from referral program, receiving a fee for each sale. These can also be frustrated buyers of the software, who are disappointed with the results and want to return at least part of their wasted money.

It’s better to burn a lot of money and make a magnificent avatar photo rather than giving the money out for useless garbage.

So that’s all the most popular betting fraud schemes. Share your own experiences dealing with betting scammers in the comments section. I hope this material will help beginning players to avoid fraud.

Like Constantine Genich, The Bookmaker Ratings expert, always says, think with your head!

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