I NSI GH T
So what exactly is preventing e-wallets from trying to stop
this behaviour? The problem is that, other than avoiding relatively
small fines, there really is no motivation for wallets to properly
clamp down on activity like bonus abuse.
“Bonus abuse is further exacerbated by
fraudsters who scale up their activity
by creating dozens of fake accounts”
Something needs to change, though, because some affiliate
sites currently function as a notice board for fraudsters
to browse the latest bonus deals and pick those they like
the look of.
By the time an operator realises that the money they
spent on their latest bonus campaign has resulted in zero
new players, it is too late for them to do anything about it.
Clearly this is not OK and affiliates need to recognise their role
in enabling such behaviour and take serious steps to prevent it.
HOW DO WE SOLVE THIS?
In fact, e-wallets often stand to benefit through the massive
transaction fees generated by this behaviour. Worse still, some
wallets actively encourage their users to make payments/
transfers as often as possible, usually via cashback incentives.
While this is not illegal by any means, some would call it
‘wallet operator fraud’, since they are gaming the system
and encouraging users to make transactions for the sake
of transactions.
DO AFFILIATES ENABLE BONUS ABUSE?
Given their role connecting players and operators, affiliates
play an important part in this ecosystem too.
A typical scenario would be an affiliate promising an
operator that they can identify a certain number of new
prospective players for their promotional campaigns. This may
sound like a win-win situation (the affiliate gets paid and the
operator gets new players), but all is not as it seems. The problem
is that affiliates don’t care who signs up to these bonus campaigns,
only that they are signed up. In many cases, there is no due
diligence from affiliates to ensure that bonus promotions are
used by legitimate players.
The jury is still out on the role of affiliates in today’s igaming
industry, since they can and do serve a valuable purpose.
These are serious problems, but there are ways that the industry
can go about achieving change. For instance, were e-wallets
linked to a single app or device, the cost of scaling scams such
as bonus abuse would become prohibitive and far less popular.
Likewise, if e-wallet providers were more transparent with
operators and shared better/more data, which is still possible
under GDPR, it would be much easier for operators and regulators
to shine a light on fraudsters. The arrival of open banking and
open APIs could also be a chance for the industry to change the
status quo.
“Some affiliate sites currently function
as a notice board for fraudsters to
browse the latest bonus deals and
pick those they like the look of”
It’s clear that the operator/affiliate/e-wallet relationship
cannot continue in its current form, and something has got to give.
I believe that 2018 is the year that the industry decides enough is
enough, and it will be fascinating to observe how things change
over the next 12 months. Watch this space.
iGB Affiliate Issue 69 JUN/JUL 2018
59