Sports betting scammers await NC

RALIEGH, NC (WNCN) — With mobile sports betting potentially becoming legal in North Carolina, experts are warning you should prepare to protect your personal information.

This is because criminals have already used access to these betting apps to steal money.

In the past 5 years, Americans have legally bet over $220 billion on sports, and for scammers, that’s like a license to print money.

As the mobile sports betting bill makes its way through the general assembly, experts warn that people across the state could fall victim to scammers who use sports betting apps to steal money. money using your credentials.

“The actual security breach was not necessarily caused by insecurities with the sports betting app itself,” said cybersecurity expert Tony Sabaj of Checkpoint Software Technologies.

They do this using a technique known as credential stuffing.

This is where hackers buy stolen IDs and passwords from the dark web.

Last week, the US Attorney in New York indicted a Wisconsin man who gained unauthorized access to 60,000 sports betting accounts using credential stuffing.

“Because people reuse usernames and passwords all the time, he took those same usernames and passwords and tried them on sports betting sites and was able to just log in as users,” Sabaj said.

With a sports betting app, you need to enable so-called multi-factor authentication.

“You normally enter your username and password, an email account and password, and then it will require secondary authentication,” Sabaj said.

Use a special password only for your sports betting application.

In fact, use different passwords for each account you have, and use good, strong passwords that are unique.

Consumer researcher Steve Sbraccia wanted to know if there was anything mobile sports betting companies should be doing or if all of the safety rests with the consumer.

“It’s largely up to the consumer to ensure they take advantage of some of the additional security settings provided by the app,” Sabaj said.

You should also never link your sports betting app to your bank account or use a personal debit card as a source of money.

Since these apps are not allowed to accept credit cards for betting, you need alternatives.

“I would use something like a PayPal where you put money or other services like that,” he said.

A reloadable debit card would also work.

You should also check the permissions requested by the app…

“Does a sports betting app need to know who my contacts are?” Sabaj said. “Does he really need my camera?” Why does a sports betting app need my camera? It’s not, he says. “He’s just going to need access to my location, my internet.”

Remember that the more data an app collects, the more information about you that could be accessed during a data breach.

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