How do online gaming websites protect you from hackers and cybercriminals?

Although it is often said that “crime doesn’t pay”, online fraud is a big business.

According to recent industry reports, online fraud is at an all-time high. Indeed, a recent industry report compiled by the auditing and accounting firm PwC found that around two-thirds of the tech, media, and telecommunications businesses surveyed experienced some form of fraud.

For businesses conducting their commercial activities online, these levels of fraud can present as a serious source of business disruption. As such, cybercrime and fraud top the list of the current most significant threats facing businesses.

Unfortunately, rises in cybercrime and fraud seem to be a global trend. In the United Kingdom, for example, victims lost an estimated £1.3 billion in 2021 alone—which represented a 27% rise in the number of incidents.

Given this rising threat, businesses are having to pour more and more resources into developing and deploying robust fraud prevention and detection mechanisms.

This includes the adoption of new digital payments systems that are safer and less susceptible to attack, deploying multi-layered cyber fraud assessment programs, and the use of real-time risk assessment mechanisms.

Online casinos are one of the sectors that are at the forefront of these developments. And given the volumes of sensitive personal data they manage, there is a pressing need to keep on top of any new and emerging cyber fraud threats.

Considering this, what are some of the features online casinos and other gambling platforms use to keep you safe from hackers and cybercriminals? Keep reading to find out!

Most common types of online casino fraud

Before we set out some of the techniques, tactics, and technology online casinos have deployed in their fight against online fraud, we should first highlight the different types of online fraud in this space.

Here are some of the most common types of online gambling scams:

Multiple account fraud: Scammers will create several accounts using fake information. These accounts are used to take advantage of bonus schemes or to improve their chances in games.
Stolen credit cards: Scammers will use stolen credit card information to top up their accounts and then withdraw the cash.
Phone top-up abuse: Fraudsters will trick unsuspecting victims into topping up their casino accounts for them. The payment will go directly into the scammer’s account and can then be withdrawn.

Customer identification

One of the most important ways that online casinos combat fraud is by ensuring they have proper customer identification procedures in place. This means ensuring that log-in and registration procedures are robust and can prevent unauthorised access.

The use of two-factor verification or authentication is one of the most popular methods used by online casinos. It significantly increases the difficulty of accessing the account for fraudsters and hackers hoping to gain access.

Identity verification systems look for user information such as IP address, email, and location, which are cross-referenced to ensure that the individual attempting to gain access is the authorized person. Online casinos use advanced fraud protection software which ensures this information is valid and authentic before permitting sign-in access.

Biometric authentication is also popular, especially with mobile apps. Fingerprints are particularly useful as unlike geolocation or IP address, they cannot be spoofed using a VPN.

Licensing requirements

Another way that the industry has been combatting the prevalence of fraud is by upholding licensing requirements.

Online casinos and gambling platforms must undergo licensing processes to provide service to customers. And whilst these can often be lengthy and expensive processes to go through—particularly for newer online casinos just getting started—they are ultimately necessary.

As part of the licensing processes, online casinos must prove to regulators that they handle customer funds appropriately, have comprehensive anti-money laundering processes in place, and provide an appropriate level of protection to customer accounts. This goes a long way to ensure that customer funds and personal information is safe from scammers and hackers.

Payment security

As you will undoubtedly have experienced, online casinos offer a wide range of payment options to customers. This includes credit and debit cards, bank transfers, prepaid cards, electronic wallets (also known as eWallets), and even cryptocurrency payments. Whilst more choice is a good thing for customers, these options are not of much use if they do not provide an adequate level of safety to customers.

With that said, one way that online casinos can provide an enhanced level of protection from scammers and hackers is to only use payment methods that offer the highest levels of safety. Cryptocurrencies have become particularly popular, in this regard, as they provide a highly secured way to make payments online.

Reliable customer service

One of the less obvious ways that online casinos are preventing hackers, fraudsters, and online criminals from gaining unauthorised access to user accounts, is by ensuring they have excellent customer service on offer.

A reliable customer support team is the backbone of any online casino operation. And not only can they be trained to effectively and efficiently address any customer queries that come in, but they can also be trained in the latest anti-fraud techniques. The ability to easily get in contact with a member of the customer support team is essential to ensure that potential fraud is detected at the earliest possible point. It is important that the customer support team is trained to a high level and are always available to support customer queries.