We talked about this briefly on TSB, but i did finally find the number of sites.
Fraudsters are flooding Discord and other social media platforms with ads for hundreds of polished online gaming and wagering websites that lure people with free credits and eventually abscond with any cryptocurrency funds deposited by players. Here’s a closer look at the social engineering tactics and remarkable traits of this sprawling network of more than 1,200 scam sites.
Can you believe that we still allow people to create web sites with no inquiry on what they’re doing with it? I don’t know if that includes that many domains, but that is where I have the problem. Websites can be anything, I get that. But they start somewhere, either through a domain that offers free hosting or whether they buy a domain.
Icann does stipulate that if a site is a problem, they can in fact stipulate that they can take the domain away from you. But sites that host content? Maybe they need to evaluate the site and question its owner if it becomes a problem. I don’t necessarily have a good solution to this but I know I know what all my sites I host have.
The article by Krebs continues:
The scam begins with deceptive ads posted on social media that claim the wagering sites are working in partnership with popular social media personalities, such as Mr. Beast, who recently launched a gaming business called Beast Games. The ads invariably state that by using a supplied “promo code,” interested players can claim a $2,500 credit on the advertised gaming website.
The gaming sites all require users to create a free account to claim their $2,500 credit, which they can use to play any number of extremely polished video games that ask users to bet on each action. At the scam website gamblerbeast[.]com, for example, visitors can pick from dozens of games like B-Ball Blitz, in which you play a basketball pro who is taking shots from the free throw line against a single opponent, and you bet on your ability to sink each shot.
The scam comes out when you ask for your payouts, and you either hear nothing or as the article states, asked to pay at least $100 and then possibly be asked for more.
The fact it uses Crypto seems to be a red flag to me, but crypto is the rage these days. Seems like lots of folk have it, lots have it as their life savings, and we know lots have lost it because of a convincing scam. The article states:
However, any “winnings” displayed by these gaming sites are a complete fantasy, and players who deposit cryptocurrency funds will never see that money again. Compounding the problem, victims likely will soon be peppered with come-ons from “recovery experts” who peddle dubious claims on social media networks about being able to retrieve funds lost to such scams.
The article goes in to more detail on the research that was done about this, but sadly, if domains are baught, I think Icann needs to be involved.
The article is titled Scammers Unleash Flood of Slick Online Gaming Sites if you want to read the full article.
Only one web site was named, maybe two or three, but there is a full list which I didn’t bother to go through.
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