Someone using my details to sign up on gambling sites for free bets

Laura15

Sorry to bump such an old post but this “scam” has just started happening to me, and Google search located this thread. So far I’ve used the “Forgotten Password” facility to change it, so I can then investigate the gambling account details and make sure none of my financial info is there. So far so good…. I’ve then instructed the sites to close the account, which they have. OP - what did you do in the end? Have there been consequences? I really can’t see what this scam achieves, but obviously I’m still concerned. Thanks. 

powerful_Rogue

Laura15 said:

Sorry to bump such an old post but this “scam” has just started happening to me, and Google search located this thread. So far I’ve used the “Forgotten Password” facility to change it, so I can then investigate the gambling account details and make sure none of my financial info is there. So far so good…. I’ve then instructed the sites to close the account, which they have. OP - what did you do in the end? Have there been consequences? I really can’t see what this scam achieves, but obviously I’m still concerned. Thanks. 

It wasn't a scam, simply a wrongly entered email address.

Laura15

powerful_Rogue said:

It wasn't a scam, simply a wrongly entered email address.

Not in my case unfortunately - on both occasions, my name, address and DOB were correct when I accessed the sites. My phone number was correct the first time, the next time it wasn’t. So it wasn’t someone else’s details with my email address entered incorrectly. But I still fail to see the scam angle?! 

Olinda99

possibly not a scam but an act of 'revenge' by someone you have upset ? sign you up to multiple gambling sites and see what happens?

Laura15

Olinda99 said:

possibly not a scam but an act of 'revenge' by someone you have upset ? sign you up to multiple gambling sites and see what happens?

I did wonder if it might be someone known to me. I’m not aware of having upset anyone, but hey, you never know! I was interested to know, several months on, if anything further had happened to the original poster. If not, I won’t be too concerned!

ellie99

I've also had some of these emails this month. From Betfair and Wm Hill. I'm not sure what the scam is, but pretty sure it is one, it can't be someone with a grudge if it's happening to different people?
I've not gone onto the websites, and didn't want to click on the email.

Laura15

ellie99 said:
 I'm not sure what the scam is, but pretty sure it is one, it can't be someone with a grudge if it's happening to different people?

Sorry it’s happening to you too. Yep, I think it’s definitely a scam, but still can’t suss it out!

Misslayed

A few months ago I got an email from a very expensive restaurant in London, confirming my booking for the following weekend. I ignored it, thought it was some kind of marketing ploy. Then I got another hoping I enjoyed my meal, lovely to see you etc. So I emailed the address on their website to tell they had the wrong address. No response, but shortly after another confirmation of my booking! My email address is janedoe@*****.com, there's a fairly high profile person (on Google) with the same name, can only assume she got fed up trying to book tables and eventually contacted them to correct her address, as they stopped a couple of weeks later. Maybe her email is jane.doe@*****.com?

[Deleted User]

Laura15 said:

Sorry to bump such an old post but this “scam” has just started happening to me, and Google search located this thread. So far I’ve used the “Forgotten Password” facility to change it, so I can then investigate the gambling account details and make sure none of my financial info is there. So far so good…. I’ve then instructed the sites to close the account, which they have. OP - what did you do in the end? Have there been consequences? I really can’t see what this scam achieves, but obviously I’m still concerned. Thanks. 

I didn't get to the bottom of it and it largely stopped happening without me doing anything. If I had to guess, this is linked to matched betting. People can make a few hundred pounds by signing up to gambling sites and using introductory free bet offers. However, you can only use these offers once so there's an incentive to go through the whole process again using someone else's details.

They take details that have appeared in a data leak (for me it was my email, address, name and date of birth) and sign you up to multiple sites to gain these bonuses then move on. A lot of these sites have frustratingly rubbish security features so they can get away with it, though some now ask for proper ID when setting an account up.

JReacher1

I know it was a long time ago but this scam doesn’t make any sense to me. I understand people use personal details, name, address etc of people they’re scamming. but I don’t know why they would also use the email address. 

There isn’t a link on email address to person and it gives the scam away to the person. Why wouldn’t they just set up a gmail with the persons name and use that for all comms? Would make far more sense