Fraudulent gambling accounts

jwil

Hi everyone, looking for advice please.

I discovered a couple of months ago, some searches for gambling accounts in my name on my credit report.  I queried with the gambling companies, and they blocked the accounts or said they'd pass to security.  I was able to get more details from one, and they said that the account had only recently been opened in my name and was using a different address.  I reported the searches to the credit reference agency as well, and they removed them.  I changed my passwords, scanned the computer for malware and nothing was found.  My email address shows up on youve been pwned, but that was years ago, I was aware of that and had changed passwords at the time and there's nothing new.  It's definitely not anyone in my household.

Today I have an email welcoming me to yet another gambling site.  I've been in touch with them and asked for it to be blocked.  I've scanned my computer, changed my email password and have now switched on 2 factor authentication for my email.

What else can I do to protect myself?  I check my credit reports regularly and there's been no activity other than these identity searches (and good luck to anyone trying to get credit in my name )  but clearly I don't want it to go any further and for credit applications to start happening.  Should I ask for a note to be put on my credit report?  Anything else?

SiliconChip

You could look into whether CIFAS Protective Registration would be appropriate to your circumstances.

https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr

jwil

Thank you, I'll have a look at that.

[Deleted User]

This is an odd one because although signing up to gambling sites and depositing money is relatively easy, when it comes to withdrawing any winnings, they usually go through the full legal requirements of KYC (know your customer) as they are usually happy to find any reason to not payout winnings.

Withdrawing funds usually involves providing a photo ID with address, bank statements showing the source of funds, photos of the debit card used to deposit back and front and even selfies in my experience of this (not going into it here but I've signed up for literally hundreds of gambling sites - no I don't have a problem - never lost a penny!).

So whoever used your name / dob / email to sign up is unlikely to be withdrawing any winning funds successfully, but they do have enough basic info about you to complete the initial process. I'd think again about it being somebody you know - seriously.

How they would profit from this might be more complex though. One type of scam would involve using a stolen debit card to deposit to an account, playing a card game like poker with somebody who has a verified account and losing lots of money to them.

This way the person using your details will never need to withdraw a profit and will lose nothing if the account is shut down, but a stooge playing the same poker game will take away the lost money in a nice clean fashion without any cause for suspicion.

Other legit players not involved in the scam may also profit from it without knowing, and this makes the whole thing difficult for the gambling site when they detect fraud like this because they don't really want to take winnings away from innocent customers, so it all tends to get ignored.

What makes this really strange is that on the latest one they used your email address - which strongly suggests this person has or had access to your email account. There is no valid reason to use your email account. Email accounts don't have any kind of verification as to who they belong to, and the scammer could have easily used any other throwaway email account.

I'd also look at any under-age family / friends that may be using your ID to prove their age without actually intending any financial fraud.

jwil

Thank you for your reply.  I really appreciate it.

I have genuinely wracked my brain as to who it might be.  I initially thought it was my son (9) trying to sign up to play games.  He says no, and there's nothing in the internet history to suggest he might be.  I'm pretty sure he's not at a level where he would know how to find and delete the history.  The computer is in the front room so we can supervise.  My husband is computer illiterate, and my daughter (6) definitely wouldn't be able to do it without help.

When I first spotted the searches they were only dated the day before so I was able to get on to them fairly quickly, but there was one I couldn't figure out which site it was as it was an umbrella company.  They didn't give out a lot of detail, but one confirmed that the sign up was new, it was using my name and birthday, but a completely different address not here.  That's what makes me wonder if I've been hacked somehow.  I'm not a social butterfly, and there would only be a handful of people that would have my email address.

I can't think of anyone within my wider circle who may want to use my details, but I guess you never know.  But there's not even anyone who I have a slight suspicion about.  So, in the absence of having any idea who it might be, I want to try and protect myself as much as I can.

ConfusedGuyHere

Hello

This has happened to me. What was the outcome of this?

They might use email to show off, distract companies? Might have access to email address? Some of these sites don't need email confirmation though. Confusing

ConfusedGuyHere

Also I am now with Cifas because of this. Family members also with them

MattMattMattUK

ConfusedGuyHere said:

Hello

This has happened to me. What was the outcome of this?

They might use email to show off, distract companies? Might have access to email address? Some of these sites don't need email confirmation though. Confusing

ConfusedGuyHere said:

Also I am now with Cifas because of this. Family members also with them

What do you mean "I am now with Cifas"?

They do not need your email to open an account in your name. 

ConfusedGuyHere

SiliconChip said:

You could look into whether CIFAS Protective Registration would be appropriate to your circumstances.

ID fraud is very big now because of data leaks from websites. So many leaks. It's very bad. My Dad got scammed recently. Some people got a phone contract with his details

jwil

ConfusedGuyHere said:

Hello

This has happened to me. What was the outcome of this?

They might use email to show off, distract companies? Might have access to email address? Some of these sites don't need email confirmation though. Confusing

The actions I took seem to have resolved the problem.  I haven't had any issues since and no further searches have appeared on my credit reports.  Thankfully I didn't suffer any losses, and I'm still in the dark about what happened.

So from memory:

• I contacted the specific gambling sites that had accounts set up and informed them they were fraudulent
• Scanned my computer for viruses and malware to make sure there was nothing on there
• Changed email password
• Enabled 2 factor authentication on my email
• Checked 'you've been pwned' to see if my details were compromised at all
• Reported the searches to the credit reference agencies
• Regularly monitor my credit report(s)
• Self excluded from all gambling sites so no one could join up in my name (I don't gamble anyway so it wasn't an issue).

ConfusedGuyHere

Ok. Thanks for reply