Betting tips & predictions

Betting Scams: How Fixed Football Match Scams Work and How to Avoid Being Scammed

28th January 2019

Articles

One of the most prevalent Facebook or Twitter con is the fixed match football scam.

There are a few things to look out for when someone approaches you claiming to be selling inside information that a match is rigged to go a certain way - and it is one of the easiest cons to be suckered in by.

If you know how fixed match scams work, they are easy to spot. The information in this article may help you avoid losing your money in the future.

How do fixed football match scams work?

The scam works via the conman casting a wide net and taking advantage of the Half Time/ Full Time betting market.

The Half Time/ Full Time market is perfect for this scam as there are only nine outcomes and they all have decent odds. For example, in the FA Cup game between Manchester United and Arsenal this weekend the shortest odds available are 3/1 in this market.

The con works by the scammer originally sending out a ‘free match’ the trickster will privately message a large group of people on Twitter or Facebook with all nine outcomes being given out at odds of at a minimum of 3/1 in our example.

If the scammer chooses a pool of 900 people to send his ‘Fixed result’ to, 100 of them will back the winning result. This means the other 800 will have received one of the eight losing tips and won’t be scammed.

These 100 winners will now begin to trust the conman and he will begin charging small fees. £50 is usually the benchmark which the victim will happily pay as they have just been given a winner at odds of at least 3/1 so will likely be able to use their previous winnings in future bets.

The cycle starts again with another game and the nine outcomes are sent out evenly between the 100 remaining marks.

Whilst all this is happening the scammer is tweeting or sharing the winning tips and growing his following as more and more people are intrigued by this ‘sure-fire’ way to make money fast.

This time 11 or 12 will be winners depending on how lucky the conman is and another 88/89 people will be out of pocket. Meanwhile the scammer will have net almost £5,000.

Now we have a 11 or 12 people who’ve had back to back winners at long odds. Again the trust grows and the scammer starts to charge more usually selling the line “I had to work harder to get this one so it will cost more.”

These select few will now potentially pay up to £500 for this information as they trust the source following two correct outcomes. The scammer repeats the cycle again whilst potentially netting another 5 grand for himself.

On the third cycle there would only be one or two winners but the scammer has now earnt their absolute trust as they may well have won thousands of pounds through his picks.

The scammer once again ups the ante and can charge almost whatever he wants at this point as the victims feel almost absolute confidence after three long odds winners provided by this account. It isn’t unheard of for scammers to charge up to £5,000 for one game at this point.

The scammer then has a one in nine chance of picking the winning bet to continue the con, if not it ends there and he runs away with his pockets full of the victim’s cash. It really is the perfect scam in their minds. The victims themselves won’t report it to the police as betting on fixed matches is an illegal practice.

How to avoid fixed football betting scams

Take the above information on board and question everything.

If an account messages you trying to give out fixed results report their activity and block them from whichever platform is being used.

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