The world of iGaming is fiercely competitive, and attracting and retaining players is a constant challenge. Promotions and affiliate programs play a pivotal role in scaling growth, but the associated risks of promo and bonus abuse, as well as other forms of multi-account fraud, can undermine acquisition investments. While many operators have accepted these challenges as the cost of doing business, it’s time to explore a more proactive approach.

The lure of easy account creation, signup bonuses, and loyalty programs is undeniable. However, these features also create opportunities for fraudsters to exploit businesses and their customers. As fraud rates surge, operators are seeking solutions to minimize the impact on revenue and maintain a secure gaming environment.

How multi-account fraud hinders iGaming growth

Multi-account fraud is the cornerstone upon which many iGaming attacks are built. Fraudsters create dozens, even hundreds, of accounts using fake credentials in order to tilt the balance in their favor online. This tactic can be used to commit various scams, including bonus/promo abuse, gnoming, and chip dumping.

Bonus abuse (also known as promo abuse) is a huge part of multi-account fraud. Fake accounts receive new signup bonuses, coupons, and other promotional offers. These promos are a great way to attract new players, but they can quickly become a financial burden if they aren’t properly restricted. Since bonuses can typically only be used once, fraudsters will set up multiple accounts to get repeat bonuses.

Some platforms have created alternatives to bonuses, such as exclusive items that provide perpetual cash back, leading to better retention than a sign-on bonus. The numerous fake accounts benefit from new signup bonuses, coupons and other attractive offers. While these promos are an excellent way to attract new players, they can quickly make your platform run at a loss if you hand out too many of them. 

Fraud rates in iGaming have become a significant revenue leakage concern, largely driven by spikes in multi-account fraud and bonus abuse. The industry is now turning to advanced technologies like machine learning and AI for enhanced insights and control over fraud losses.

How Sift helps iGaming operators prevent account fraud

Sift is redefining the balance between fraud prevention and business expansion with unprecedented player insights and refined control over the player journey. With Sift, operators can attract new and old players with promotions—without being hindered by the fear of fraud. Sift’s solution is highly configurable and data-driven, created in partnership with iGaming leaders, and fast tracks legitimate players while automatically preventing the bad ones.

Sift empowers a 3-pronged approach, maximizing the return of player acquisition investments by identifying, automating, and accelerating promo/bonus abuse fraud prevention. They include:

1. Highly dynamic, industry-specific automation built in partnership with iGaming leaders enables operators to prevent multi-account abuse by identifying the nuances between legitimate users and fraudsters. Unlike traditional rules-based engines, Sift’s approach to automation is rooted in machine learning, analyzing the behavior along the player sign up journey and removing promo offers based on configured decisions at each stage. The criteria can be easily configured to include common indicators (e.g., IP/email) and highly customizable indicators unique to operators.
2. Unprecedented player insights empower guided insight that can help identify possible fraudulent activity. ML-based risk scores include detailed analysis of risk across the sign up journey in addition to real-time fraud patterns from Sift’s global network. In addition Sift’s Network tab provides a visualized dashboard of connected users through a number of key attributes ranging from IP analysis to other custom criteria. This can help showcase instances of multi-account creation. 

3. Accelerated manual reviews using embedded case management capabilities that enable fraud teams to streamline reviews of complex cases not addressed through automation. In doing so, legitimate account creations can be fast tracked to ensure high conversion rates.

Sift has proven success in preventing fraud for the iGaming industry and is a driving force in iGaming market growth. Sift has played a crucial role in the rapid and safe growth of 75% of the U.S. iGaming market. With Sift’s advanced ML-based solution, iGaming businesses reduce manual reviews to 1.3%, ensuring a 95% safe interaction approval rate while minimizing fraud.

Learn more about how to ensure the sustained growth of your iGaming business.

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*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Sift Blog authored by Sift Product Team. Read the original post at: https://blog.sift.com/a-fortified-approach-to-preventing-promo-bonus-and-other-multi-account-abuse/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-fortified-approach-to-preventing-promo-bonus-and-other-multi-account-abuse