Following its recent analysis of online fraud trends in 2023, including transactions, deposits, bonuses and other user actions, SEON is exposing the darker corners of the global i-gaming market and the specific risks facing operators around the world.
SEON, the fraud prevention software provider, analysed its own data points to provide insight into the various fraud landscapes worldwide while identifying the dubious techniques that persistently exploit the igaming market.
The result of this research has culminated in the company’s latest report, ‘The State of iGaming Fraud 2023’, providing an overview of the different ways this specific area of fraud is evolving across the world.
The report differentiates the global i-gaming market into eight key regions. For instance, fraudsters in Europe prefer using sophisticated tools like virtual machines to bypass robust risk management systems. Meanwhile, fraudsters in Asia derive the majority of their fraud value through basic click-farm-type bonus abuse setups.
As the findings show, while all regions currently face a fraud challenge, there is a huge difference in the methods and techniques deployed by fraudsters towards their goal.
Bonus abuse
The report goes on to highlight how bonus and promo abuse remains all too common throughout i-gaming fraud.
Fraudsters were found to be exploiting bonuses and promotional marketing offers that typically target new customers by signing up for a service multiple times, seizing ill-gotten bonus payments in the process.
After analyzing more than 365,000 user actions, the company discovered that fraudulent players use 2.7 times more bonuses than legitimate users. In some regions, such as Latin America, where approval rates are up to 70 per cent higher, this type of bonus abuse has become incredibly common.
Similarly, the research shows that fraud rates are lower across affiliate sign-ups, with fraudulent signups with affiliate IDs coming to 12.77 per cent compared to 19.24 per cent without. Despite this, affiliate fraud is still more common in the i-gaming sector than in any other sector.
Speaking on the new report, Tamas Kadar, CEO and co-founder of SEON, explains how it “scrutinises the state of fraud in this rapidly growing sector” and puts the findings forward as a “must-read” for those in the space who want to protect themselves from losing out to high-risk and fraudulent actors.
“As our research shows, the temptation of shiny bonuses, quick access to money and de facto online wallets continue to be too alluring for organised criminals and habitually abusive users,” adds Kadar.
“However, while all fraudsters are ultimately after the same thing, the methods they use to go about their crimes are vastly different.
“Operators working across multiple markets, or those with plans to expand into new regions would do well to read the [report] to learn more about these nuances and to avoid costly regulatory fines,” he concludes.
