"How You Can Avoid Online Casino Scams And Never Get Ripped Off Again!"

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The banners flash, the promos scroll by, and the pop-ups, well, they pop-up. In every way, it seems just like any other online casino. But it’s not. It’s a rogue, and unless you’re very careful, you just may wind up becoming a member of the not-so-elite list of players who’ve learned the hard way that things are not always as the seem, especially when it comes to online gambling.

When it comes to rogue casinos, even the most seasoned online veteran can easily be misled. Like any good scammer, a rogue casino’s livelihood depends on their ability to fool players into believing in that they run a legitimate business. And many of them are very good at their lies. But despite the rouge casinos creativity, players can still circumnavigate the cold waters of cyberspace safely and avoid falling victim to these scammers - if they know what to look for.Have you ever walked out of a department store, the proud owner of a 35″ Zenith television wondering if your new pride-and-joy was really nothing more than a cheap imitation - a Zenith shell with the guts of a lesser brand? Of course not. You know that these stores run a legitimate business and would never risk their reputation to make a few quick dollars.

The same assurance should never be associated with online gambling. It’s too easy to open up shop online, defraud your customers, disappear, get a new URL and begin the cycle all over again. While this may sound outlandish this sort of thing happens every year leaving thousands of players out in the cold.

To Skip To The List Of Approved Scam-Free Online Casinos CLICK HERE.

One of the most common fraudulent practices mastered by unscrupulous online gambling sites involves simple deception via the theft of materials from legitimate, proven sites. Graphics, general design, HTML, even banners can all easily be copied and used to create a professional-looking shell for a rogue site. These rogues know that a typical player makes their decision to gamble online before ever even visiting the site. They also know that if they get them through their virtual doors, they have to overcome the player’s instinctive mistrust of both the Internet and gambling. To do this, they have to look safe.

To achieve this without having to spend thousands of dollars in design (after all, if exposed they may have to morph within only a few weeks) they simply copy what they like from other sites and put out their virtual shingle. Some sites even go as far as making exact copies of the winners pages and testimonial pages of legitimate sites, thus making themselves appear to be great sites loaded with thousands of happy players. Only a player who is intimately familiar with the “host” or original site, would notice the scam.

One example of how brazen these site pirates can be involves the Interactive Gaming Council. The Interactive Gaming Council, or the IGC, is a not-for-profit corporation whose primary purpose is “…to provide information and education regarding the interactive gaming industry.” Although legally impotent to intervene in matters of casino operations, this group and their members are beyond reproach and are recognized as a very influential organization - whose membership costs $10,000 per year in dues. Thus, only sites who are legitimate can sport (or even afford) their logo. Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to be. More than one site has simply made themselves members by either copying and pasting their IGC’s logo on their site, or stating that there software has been endorsed by the Council, a function that is not even performed by the IGC!

To Skip To The List Of Approved Scam-Free Online Casinos CLICK HERE.

Considering the ease with which rogue casinos can steal the appearance of a legitimate site, to protect themselves, players must always take a cynical approach to any new site. Assume that this wonderful looking site is out to scam you, and do some basic checking before you play. Visit online discussion groups that involve gambling and find out if anyone has ever heard of them. Ask the important question: Did you have any problems with the software? Was there an active support team employed? Did you get paid? If you have trouble finding your site in a forum, a quick method to see what, if anything, is being said about a casino or sportsbook is to enter its name into a search engine, joined with the word “review.” This will at least pull up any sites that offer at review of the casino. Beware, however, that site reviews are NOT the final step in determining if a site is any good. Many portals simply write good reviews for their advertising sites, or, even more incredulous, many casinos establish their own portals to promote their own sites!

In a recent article, we discussed many of the important player incentive options offered by gambling sites. These included VIP membership, referral programs, and various types of deposit bonuses. If you remember, one of my warnings was to avoid sites that require excessive play before the bonus is awarded. Now, we move onto the next level of bonus problems - outright scams. One of the simplest, and most effective of the bonus scams is targeted at players that have either been banned (either justly or unjustly) from a casino, or who have already used up their initial deposit bonus money. Since online casinos are always in need of a continuous stream of deposits from proven gamblers, this gem of a scam works to draw in players who have played and since moved on to other sites. These players receive an e-mail offering them a bonus if they deposit money into their existing account. However, after the player has deposited the money, no bonus is forthcoming. Casinos simply state that the player is not eligible to receive a bonus. Gamblers, being who they are, tend to play their deposit anyway - which is exactly what the casinos want to happen.

To Skip To The List Of Approved Scam-Free Online Casinos CLICK HERE.

Even more painful, some casinos have been known to offer bonuses to get a player to deposit, give them a bonus, and then refuse to pay anything, even their initial deposit, if the player wins. Many casinos then cite “Bonus Abuse” as the reason for denying the cash out, and simply refuse to respond to any requests for explanations by the player, knowing full well that there is no governing body who can act against them.

I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying, “Fool me once, shame of you, fool me twice, shame on me.” This next little ditty of a scam works on just such a principle, and more than a few players can say, “…shame on me.” Let’s say you’ve fallen victim to a casino scam. It happens. You found a site, something along the lines of “You’re-finally-gonna-win-millions-at-this-site.com” got so excited that you couldn’t wait and plunged right in without even researching the site. After depositing $250, playing for an hour or two, you cash out what’s left of your bankroll (about $50) and you go about your life. A few days later, when you still haven’t received your cash, you query the “support” staff that promised to “stand ready to assist you 24/7″ only to be treated to a crash course in Spanish and broken English and eventually, completely ignored.

So much for the fifty bucks.

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But it doesn’t end there, because a few months later, you start getting e-mails from a new compelling site, “Win-back-the-money-we-stole-from-you.com” another scam site, possibly even the sister site to the one that ripped you off in the first place. How do they know where to reach you? Your registration form.

Remember that simple, 3-page form you filled out when you signed up with the casino? It’s going to come back to haunt you. If you’ve been scammed by a site, you can bet they will use your own personal information against you. They’ll e-mail you compelling offers, send you snail mail rewards packages, CD’s with their software, anything to get you in their clutches again. Only this time, it’s a “new site” that you don’t recognize and usually don’t associate with the one that ripped you off in the first place! Trouble’s brewing in this instance, and unless you learned your lesson the first time, you’re set to get taken again. What can you do?

While it may not always be possible to avoid the first scam (other than sticking to tested true casinos like the ones below), there is a very easy way to get around the second: separate e-mail accounts. Each time you register at a site, be sure to set up a free e-mail account (Hotmail, Mail.com, etc.,) that you use only with that site. By doing this first, if you do become one of the “initiated” you’ll know that any future correspondence to that e-mail address is probably coming from a scammer, and should be avoided.

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