Online Casino Phishing Scams - An Example

June 07, 2011 | Article Category: Casino Banking

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Phishing scams work in a few ways, the most common being that of a spam email. The way that these scams usually operate is that emails are sent out to large number of people telling them that their password for their e-wallet provider is about to expire. The email is usually sent from an email address that looks fairly credible. For example, if the e-wallet provider would usually send an email out from an email address that reads pumpkin@pumpkinmoney.com, the phishing scam would send out something along the lines of pumpkin@pumpkinmoneyfinancial.com or perhaps simply adding in or leaving out a number or a letter, such as pumpkin@pumpkinmoney1.com or perhaps leaving out the "o" in money, which may not be noticed at first, second, or even at third glance . While these email addresses may look credible, if the email comes from an email address that is even slightly different from the one you regularly receive emails from, it is best to treat the email as spam.

It is important to note that the email in and of itself will not allow the hackers to phish for your personal details. This can only be done if the player follows the instructions given in the email. If you receive an email that is a phishing scam, it is helpful to make the email as spam or junk mail in your email filters. Once the player has received a scam email, the way that the hackers get the player to give away their personal details is as follows.

As mentioned above, the scam email will inform the online casino player or e-wallet holder that, for example, the player needs to change his/her password because it has not been changed in a specified amount of time. There will then be a link provided that will 'take the player to the site' in order to change the soon-to-be-expired password. This link will take the player directly to a site that looks similar to the real site that is used by the legitimate e-wallet company, however, it will be a fake site that has been put up by the hackers. As soon as the player enters their username, and their 'old' password, the phishing software keeps a record of the player's log in details and password. One of the common ways that the hacker will be able to transfer the funds into his/her own account is by using the funds to make a bogus purchase for a large amount of money at a site that they own, and then quickly moving the money away from that site.

Of course, since this is not the real site, the password has not really been changed, which could make it take even longer before the player realizes what has happened. This is because it is likely that the player will at some point attempt to go into their account on the regular e-wallet site, and will be unable to get in using the 'new' password that they created on the fake site. In this time, the hackers have time to remove funds from the account, and they can change the real password to one that the owner of the account does not know.