The world of online Betting is exciting and fast-paced, but there is a lot to look out for if you plan on investing your money in sports betting. Because this has become such a popular pastime for people all over the world, many fraudulent companies have emerged to try to scam people out of their hard-earned money. The best thing you can do in order to prevent a scam from happening to you is to stay vigilant and look out for all of the potential red flags that are listed below. 

Overpromising

As you begin your search for the perfect sports betting website, do a general scan of the home page and what they have to offer. If there is an unrealistic offer being made for beginners, then the website may be trying to lure you in. Offers and promises that seem too good to be true are probably just that. 

Something big to look out for when you first click on a sports betting website is the promise of guaranteed wins. The point of betting on sports is that you never know the outcome of a game or a match until it is over. There is no way that a betting website can tell the future and guarantee a win unless something suspicious is going on. Any mention of a guaranteed win should not be trusted and should be seen as a red flag.

A scam website will try to advertise that your first bets are free but you still have to input your credit card information. This is a red flag. Once they have that information, they can do with it what they want, so be sure that if you are putting in credit card information, it is done safely. Check the Untrustworthy Payment Technology section below for more information on this step of the betting process.   

Unsolicited Contact

Due to the increased scrutiny of our online activity, some fraud websites might flag that you are someone who has been searching the web for sports Betting Websites. Because of this, you may be contacted by websites that you have never heard of and offered unrealistic first-time discounts on certain bets. It is important to be wary of this kind of contact because it is likely to be a scam. 

Most reputable sports betting websites do not contact you unless you have shown interest first. You may see advertisements for certain betting platforms on social media, but if you are receiving unsolicited emails, you must question how they got your email in the first place. It is also important to take into account how many of these spam emails you are receiving from various betting websites. If it is several per day from the same place, it is a safe bet that they are trying too hard to get you and they are likely looking for susceptible victims. 

Lack of Communication

If you have signed up for a betting website and put in a little bit of money to start but have heard nothing since then, be wary of using the website again. After putting money down on a bet, the betting company should notify you immediately that they have received your bet and will contact you when they have the results. Not hearing back about a bet after you have paid for it means that you may have been scammed by a fake betting website. 

In the case that this has happened to you, there are resources out there to help you get your money back. Websites like totomawnag help to manage the online sports betting world and they offer a platform on their website where people who have been wronged can report fraud. This way, bettors can be aware of the many scam websites that are out there right now. This kind of service is making the online betting world feel a bit safer because bettors are banding together to make sure that no one else gets scammed like they did. 

Another way to prevent this kind of scam from happening is to pay attention to how attentive the website is before you put in the money. If they are very eager and doing everything they can to convince you to place bets on their website, then you should probably take a step back and find reviews about their services to see if people have been scammed by them before. The last thing you want is to make a bet and then find out that you have been ghosted by the betting company.

Pressure to Give Money

One of the biggest turn-offs, when someone is trying to make a purchase, is when the seller is trying way too hard to get the customer to make the sale. This aversion should translate to the sales of bets as well. If you are on a sports betting website that will not stop hounding you to put money down, then it should be a red flag. No one likes to be pressured into putting down their hard-earned money unless it is a sure thing. 

Betting websites or companies that put too much pressure on their potential customers may not be the most reputable places around. If you notice that the company’s website makes you put money down right away before even seeing your options, then you may want to check out other websites before you settle on that one. Never give away money without having a full scope of knowledge about the company and its operations. 

Untrustworthy Payment Technology

As with any online transaction, you must check to see that wherever you are putting your credit card information, it is safe and trustworthy. A betting website may seem legitimate until you get to the payment page and find that it is a bit sketchy. Sports betting websites that are trustworthy will have a variety of payment options like PayPal, Apple Wallet, and other well-known third-party payment platforms. If a website doesn’t have a good selection of payment options, then it may not be very well established. 

It is also good to look out for their security measures when it comes to payments. Most online payments these days require the buyer to do a security check. This can either entail typing out numbers and letters that are in weird fonts or picking out objects in a set of photographs. If a sports betting website does not include this step in the payment process, it may not be very secure. 

Websites that do not put much thought into cybersecurity are often susceptible to cybercrime and you as a customer will be taken down with the ship. Not having added payment security is a red flag on any website because even if the company has good intentions, it cannot prevent online hackers from obtaining your credit card information after it has been plugged into the system. A good rule of thumb is to only place bets on websites where you know that they have at least two forms of secure payment available. 

Little to No Reviews

As there are a lot of sports bettors on the internet now, there are also a plethora of reviews about the various sports betting websites available around the world. The beauty of online sports betting is that you can bet on games and matches that are happening at all times of the day. If you are just starting out in the world of online sports betting, reviews are everything. Once you have found a handful of betting websites that look promising, read reviews on Google or on certified betting websites to see what people are saying about their experiences with the different platforms. 

It is a big red flag if one of your potential betting websites has little or no reviews because it either means they are really new to the online betting scene or that they are not real. If the betting website is new, it is not necessarily a red flag, but it does mean that you should do a bit more research on them in order to determine if you should put your faith and your money in their hands. They could be the next up-and-coming betting website, but it is hard to know that when they are just starting out.

If you are just starting to break into the world of sports betting, it is a much safer choice to go with a more established company and maybe circle back around to the newer ones once other people have tried it out and left reviews. It is better to be safe as a beginner than to put your faith into a new venture that may not pan out. 

Bad Reviews

As with every other product or service on the internet, bad reviews mean bad business. Every company is going to have some amount of bad reviews because that is just how business goes, but if you notice that a particular betting website has more than the normal amount of complaints, then it is good to turn away before you even get started with them.

No Sign of Licensing of Registration

All reputable betting websites will have proof that they are a licensed betting operation and are registered with the government. This means that they are legally allowed to operate as a gambling business. This is one of the first things you should search for on a betting company’s website. If you can’t find the license on the website, try searching government websites to find the register of listed websites that have the authorization to operate. 

You do not want to be making deals with a company that is not licensed to operate, because it means that they could be shut down at any time. If that is the case, then you could lose whatever money you have given to the company and you may never see it again. Even if the company seems trustworthy and you have tried out a few bets on their website and succeeded, it may not be the best choice in the long run. The best option is to always go with sports betting companies that are licensed to operate and have a good reputation for being above board. 

Suspicious Links

Along the lines of over-advertisement, if you are receiving emails or messages on social media with links to different deals on betting websites, do not click on them. No matter what the promise is or how high the discount is, these links are likely a virus that will mess up your device. Hackers know how tempting a good discount can be and they prey on people who are looking to make some extra cash by betting on sports. 

Only click on links that have been sent to you by professional betting websites and that you know have been sent to you for a specific reason. There are many preliminary discounts that exist for those who want to create an account with certain betting websites, but those can be found on the website, not in a suspicious email or direct message. 

A Disorganized Website

Sports betting is a very calculated and organized process that requires both knowledge of sports and some ability to coordinate different bets for different types of sports. If you click on a sports betting website that has no organization and seems chaotic, it may not be the best place to invest your money. You want to work with professionals who know what they are doing and can make an informed decision with your money.

A good betting website should be organized into categories by sports, types of bets, and discussion forums. The best way to tell if a sports betting website is good for you is if you can find what you are looking for within one minute of entering the home page. 

There are red flags for websites all over the internet and sports betting is no different. The best way you can arm yourself from potential scams is to stay knowledgeable about all of the tactics that scammers use and to pay attention to all of the red flags that are listed above. Have fun out there and bet safe.

The post How to Identify Red Flags for Potential Sports Betting Scams appeared first on Premier League Heroes.