Ontario residents are being urged to exercise caution as fraudulent online casino schemes continue to proliferate. Recent reports have surfaced regarding deceptive advertisements on social media platforms, falsely linking reputable establishments like Casino Rama to unregistered online casinos.

Vigilance Urged as Ontario Cracks Down on Online Casino Scams

Ontario’s law enforcement agencies, including the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), have sounded the alarm after uncovering a series of scams targeting unsuspecting gamblers, reported local media CTV News Barrie. The fraudulent ads, which tout enticing gaming opportunities purportedly associated with Casino Rama, lead users to unregistered platforms such as WinSpirit Casino.

A spokesperson from the OPP cautioned that while the allure of online gaming may be tempting, it was imperative for individuals to remain vigilant. They emphasized that those fraudulent advertisements posed a significant risk, potentially compromising users’ personal information and financial security.

Authorities emphasized the importance of using regulated gaming sites that adhere to stringent standards of game integrity, data security, and player protection measures. 

In Ontario, licensed gambling establishments are subject to rigorous oversight by the AGCO, ensuring a safe and fair gaming environment for all participants.

At the same time, AGCO and iGaming Ontario recently released an IPSOS study indicating that 86.4% of Ontarian players utilized regulated sites for online gaming in the past three months, showing an increase from the previous year. 

Despite this, over 13% of Ontarians still use unregulated sites, prompting concerns about the risks involved, as highlighted by AGCO’s CEO Dr. Karin Schnarr. 

AGCO Urges Caution in Online Gambling with Tips to Avoid Fraudulent Schemes

A representative from AGCO emphasized the significance of exercising due diligence when participating in online gambling activities. They highlighted the importance of verifying the registration status of gaming sites and using common sense when encountering online advertisements, suggesting that residents could reduce the risk of being ensnared by fraudulent schemes.

This cautionary advisory comes in the wake of similar warnings issued across Canada in response to a nationwide surge in online casino scams. In January, Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries (MBLL) warned Manitobans about fraudulent social media posts promoting an online gaming app for Club Regent Casino, urging caution and reporting the ads to Meta. 

While PlayNow.com was highlighted as the province’s sole legal online gaming site, the MBLL emphasized that neither Club Regent Casino nor McPhillips Station Casino offer mobile apps or online gaming options, advising against engaging with fake ads to protect personal information. 

As the prevalence of online gaming continues to rise, authorities remain steadfast in their efforts to combat fraudulent activity and safeguard the interests of consumers. 

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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an international organization consisting of 10 states in Southeast Asia, received the support of China for a new initiative that seeks to address transnational organized crime groups involved in illegal gambling and scams. The initiative, organized in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), seeks to sever the activity of such criminal groups that have been growing their presence recently.

In particular, the initiative will fight against criminal activities in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Vietnam and Myanmar, among other countries in the region. Ultimately, the plan seeks to prevent criminal groups from growing their presence, identify them and at the same time protect the victims that may be involved.

The strategic plan encourages effective collaboration between law enforcement and criminal justice officials for investigations related to, but not limited to illegal gambling, scams, human trafficking and migrant smuggling. A recent report released by UNODC revealed that forced labor and trafficking are only a few of the aspects of transnational organized crime groups operating across Southeast Asia.

The report reveals that transnational crime groups are often involved in large-scale money laundering, cybercrimes, as well as cross-border illegal gambling, among other related criminal activities. Additionally, such groups have also been involved in extortion and in some cases torture. UNODC’s report uncovered that transnational organized crime groups sometimes even present themselves as legitimate businesses and may have established relationships with influential officials and companies.

Robust Approach Is Required to Fight Transnational Crime Groups

While the total profits of organized crime groups in the Philippines are difficult to estimate, the scam industry alone may be generating between $7.5 billion and $12.5 billion, according to the report. This figure represents nearly half of the gross domestic product of the country. Additionally, the whitepaper revealed that ill-gained funds move through different businesses in the region, including casinos.

“Profits of organized crime groups in the region have reached unprecedented levels, and illicit money is increasingly moving through the regional casino industry and other large cash flow businesses, including through a surge in the use of cryptocurrencies,“

reads the recent report by the UNODC

Jeremy Douglas, UNODC’s regional representative, spoke about the increasing threat of trafficking of people who are forced to participate in scams and illegal gambling operations run by criminal organizations. He called for cooperation that can help reduce the crime rate in the region, particularly around the Mekong. Douglas explained that criminal organizations “are converging in the region where they see vulnerabilities.”

Rebecca Miller, UNODC’s regional advisor on human trafficking and migrant smuggling, added that the dismantling of transnational criminal groups requires a robust approach. According to her, the new plan seeks to implement a comprehensive and strategic approach to fight transnational crime.

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PAGCOR, the country’s regulator, has conducted a series of operations that have focused on clamping down on such activities, with the latest taking place in Las Piñas City in Metro Manila where the Philippine National Police raided a business and ordered an offshore gaming service provider to stop business with immediate activity.

Clamping Down on the POGO Sector Harder

According to a statement issued by authorities and cited by local media outlets, the business in question has to do with Xinchuang Network Technology, Inc. The business is allegedly involved with what the regulator and police suspect is both human trafficking and cryptocurrency scams.

The latter usually takes place in the form of “pig-butchering scams.” In those cases, a victim is approached by a pretend romantic partner. The fake partner continues to ask the victim for money until they cannot pay any longer. PAGCOR said that it had been tipped about the potential offenses and had surveilled the company’s offices for a month before conducting an operation last week.

The operation was a success with police authorities retrieving a staggering number of people – some 1,534 nationals hailing from the Philippines and 1,000 nationals from the region, including countries such as Singapore, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The country has had more than 41,000 illegal arrests in 2023 so far.

During the raid, authorities seized a number of electronic devices and documentation owned by the company and potentially used in the purported scams. PAGCOR chairman and CEO Alejandro H. Tengco welcomed the efforts of law enforcement and his own colleagues.

“As we have always said before, PAGCOR will not hesitate to impose sanctions on erring licensees and accredited service providers,” H. Tengco said.  The official said that PAGCOR will continue to work actively with authorities and police to ensure that its businesses are protected.

POGOs, an Ongoing Apple of Discord in the Region

The series of recent regulatory moves have to do with a toughening on the overall stance into Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations or POGOs which have been coming under a lot of heat from the regulator, but also regional countries’ governments, most prominent amongst which has been that of China.

The Philippines was recently associated with an illegal gambling website which has opportunistically stolen the domain name that was originally intended to celebrate American history in the United States but was hijacked and used to promote dangerous gambling operations instead.

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CDC Gaming Reports correspondent Buck Wargo attended the event, which reunited 600 people from the industry, interested in improving security on-site casinos and protecting against scams and cyber fraud.

Conference Highlights Ongoing Challenge in Containing Casino Scams

The conference confirmed that casinos face new sets of challenges and that the pandemic had led to a decline in the number of cheating at casinos. However, as the industry emerges from the worst of the pandemic, dangers continue to mount.

Willy Allison, the founder of the World Game Protection Conference, noted that there had been a correlation between the increase in casino revenue and the level of cheating detected and conducted on casino floors. While the industry faces cyber threats as a whole, the conference itself focused on the cheating attempts carried out in person by people on casino floors.

One of the biggest scandals caught in 2022 was “dice sliding,” Allison said cited by Wargo who attended in person and did the full original report of the story. Sliding a dice is basically a practice where the person tries not to roll the dice and just leaves them with the face value pointing up so that they can get the desired outcome.

Casino security and staff have been on high alert and received training on how to spot such players. “Dice sliders are coming out of the woodwork, “Allison explained. A big part of the scams though involve people distracting the dealers who are by default capable of spotting such offenses but may be misled by players.

Some of the criminals are in fact, former casino workers. One prominent case involves an ex-casino dealer who used his skeleton key for electronic table games (EGTs) to bet and then reset any loss they might have incurred by using the key. EGTs are particularly vulnerable to manipulation as well.

Or, rather – once a scam is perpetrated it’s harder to spot it. This mostly stems from the fact that there are fewer eyeballs on EGTs as they should be sound and safe of design, notwithstanding manipulations done to their software or using skeleton keys as in the previous case.

Casinos Bleed Cash Due to Cheating and Scams

“Scammers who want to fiddle or put USB ports in and mess with the electronics are left to their own devices,” cautions Allison. While these scams continue to be perpetrated – despite the risks for those carrying them out – casinos are bleeding money that could have otherwise bolstered their bottom lines and gone into the staff and betterment of operations.

Industry insiders confirm that scams cost them a lot of money, as many scams certainly go undetected, many executives worry. Casinos have been readily employing experienced “cheats” themselves, such as card counters to help them counter many popular forms of cheating as well. The challenges piling on for the sector continue to abound, though, as footfall returns to casino floors.

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