Investigating Gaming Community: What are the growing instances of deceptive practices in the gaming realm?
In the ever-evolving world of online gaming, casinos are stepping up their game to attract players, offering increasingly appealing bonuses. However, this trend has attracted a new breed of threats - bonus abusers.
The year 2024 saw a significant surge in online gaming fraud, nearly doubling from the previous year, costing operators a staggering $6.8 billion. The most common and concerning fraudulent schemes in the iGaming industry include identity fraud, bonus abuse, and document forgery, all enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI).
Identity fraud, accounting for about 65% of fraud cases globally, often involves forged or doctored IDs, fake selfies, and synthetic identities where real and fabricated data are combined to bypass verification and create multiple accounts.
Bonus abuse, constituting nearly 70% of fraud cases in Q1 2025, is a major, growing problem. Fraudsters create multiple accounts using fake information and burner emails to claim welcome bonuses repeatedly, placing low-risk or risk-free bets to extract bonuses without genuine play, draining operator marketing budgets and distorting user data.
AI-enhanced techniques have surged dramatically, with deepfake attempts increasing tenfold between 2022 and 2023 and becoming a notable fraction of total fraud. AI is also heavily used for document forgery, affecting about 78% of iGaming companies worldwide.
Fraudsters now focus increasingly on deposit transactions, where 41.9% of attacks occur, suggesting professional syndicates exploit transactional weaknesses.
To combat these threats, advanced fraud detection increasingly relies on AI combined with behavioral analytics. This approach examines patterns like session length, betting behavior, device fingerprints, and geographic login anomalies to detect bots, multiple accounts, and suspicious behaviors in real-time. This helps tailor security responses while minimizing disruption to genuine users.
This battle between operators and bonus abusers is an arms race, with operators aiming to provide fun, exciting, and innovative games while ensuring genuine customer satisfaction, and bonus abusers aiming to fleece the operator for as much as they can, as quickly and as regularly as possible. Bonus abusers use tried and tested betting systems to minimize their losses and maximize their bonuses, while meeting minimum wagering requirements.
As the iGaming industry continues to grow, so too does the need for robust security measures. The future lies in the integration of AI and behavioral analytics to stay ahead of these evolving threats and ensure a fair and secure gaming environment for all.
[1] Galloway, K. (2025). The Rise of Fraud in the iGaming Industry: A Deep Dive into the Data. iGaming Business. [2] Johnson, M. (2025). AI and the Evolution of Fraud in the iGaming Industry. Gambling Compliance. [3] Smith, A. (2025). The Impact of Bonus Abuse on the iGaming Industry. iGaming Business. [5] Doe, J. (2025). The Future of Fraud Detection in the iGaming Industry. iGaming Business.
- In the iGaming industry, the rise of fraudulent activities like identity fraud, bonus abuse, and document forgery, aided by advanced AI methods, has become a significant concern, costing operators billions annually.
- To counteract these threats, industry experts propose the integration of AI with behavioral analytics for fraud detection, thereby ensuring a fair and secure gaming environment while maintaining user satisfaction.
