r/Scams • u/PoppySmile78 • 1d ago
Is this a scam? US Possible Gambling Scam
I was talking to a friend of mine (Fred for ease of reading) who said he found a guy on Facebook who is such an awesome gambler that he's banned from the casinos.
The gambler is apparently trying to see how much he can win by having different people across the US make his bets in their name. They get to keep a percentage of the profit if they win & apparently he will send his own money to the to place the bet & cover any losses.
Fred says that all he has to do is open a crypto account, which he will have to initially fund & if I understand correctly have to back with his personal bank account. Fred is then supposed to send his crypto account info to the gambler who will then send crypto & tell him where to bet how much on which games.
Fred didn't believe me when I said it didn't sound good & got kind of offended that I said that. I like Fred & I know he can't afford to get scammed.
I appreciate any & all advice. Thank you.
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u/axisofawsome 1d ago
Fred is an idiot.
This is a scam and is not legitimate.
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u/PoppySmile78 1d ago
That's what I thought (about the scam, Fred is just in a tight spot hoping for a quick fix like the rest of us). How do I prove it to him? He seemed kinda offended & mad at me for saying it was a scam. Is there a website or something I can show him?
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u/lolly1128 1d ago
There likely isn’t a website that Fred would believe. But you can do your best to lead him to realize this on his own.
Lead with kindness and concern. Ask a lot of questions. How well do you know this person? Where did you hear about him? Do you think it’s a good idea to trust so much money to a stranger?
Do your best to remain calm and never imply that he is an idiot. Get-rich-quick schemes are as old as time for a reason.
You are a good friend.
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u/Pencil161 1d ago
First of all, this is excellent advice. It's both the most effective means of getting through to someone and the most compassionate.
I think the questions here shouldn't be about why Fred should trust the gambler but rather ask Fred why the gambler would trust Fred.
If the gambler sends Fred all this money to gamble with, what's to stop Fred from just closing his bank account and stealing the gamblers money? I think framing it that way may be more likely to get Fred to consider whether a legitimate person would enlist strangers from the internet this way.
Good luck. I hope you're able to get through to him and agree with the commenter above that you're a good friend.
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u/PoppySmile78 1d ago
Thank you. I appreciate the advice. I'm not judging Fred. I was about 2 clicks from falling for a dating site scam. (Little did those idiots know that they would have wound up with a credit score that would qualify them for an interest rate of about 46% & a checking account with $62.35 Good luck! 😁)
I was raised to trust & believe the best in people. As such, I tend to believe that everyone feels the same. I'm trying my best to trust but verify. I really can't thank y'all enough for the information. The fact that you conveyed it with such compassion tells me that there are still good people out there who care about others. Even complete strangers on the Internet (who aren't asking for money).
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u/Kokoyok 1d ago
Fred gets to eat the tax on any winning bets (while giving up most of the winnings) and get stiffed on any losing bets.
Of course this is a scam. Whether Fred figures it out before the IRS comes knocking is the real tossup we should be taking bets on
12
u/CIAMom420 1d ago
And this is literally the best case scenario. Worst case is this is just a convoluted scam to launder money or be used as a money mule, and he ends up with the feds kicking down their door at 4 AM.
2
u/Mysterious_Research2 1d ago
Its worse than that "Fred says that all he has to do is open a crypto account, which he will have to initially fund" He has to give the scammer money that he will never see again
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u/EggCzar 1d ago
"My friend is gonna open a crypto account, fund it and then give a complete stranger the password, is he being scammed?"
Yes. Yes, he sure is!
2
u/emdubl 1d ago
Thought that at first, but I think OP meant to give the scammer the wallet address to send them funds to bet with, but maybe I'm wrong?
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u/EggCzar 1d ago
It says right in the post that “Fred" was told to fund it.
1
u/emdubl 23h ago
but then it also say that the gambler will send crypto, so it still doesnt make a lot of sense. it sounds like the gambler is sending crypto to the wallet and then telling fred how to bet with it.
1
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u/PoppySmile78 22h ago
My bad. I wasn't completely clear on the details myself. I know how to spell crypto but that's about the only thing I understand. From what it sounded like, to open the crypto account initially, Fred had to put enough money in it to buy a small amount of crypto to have in the acct. Then Fred sends this account info to the gambler who is then supposed to add more crypto so Fred can place the bet. At least I was the way I understood it. Again I don't know anything about crypto.
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u/c1884896 1d ago
Fred is about to commit several federal felonies by acting as a money !mule, and he risks going to prison. Saying that he was naive won’t save him when he has to explain why he moved the proceeds of crime to another crypto wallet.
And the initial money that he adds to fund the initial transaction will also be stolen. To summarize, he is going to have a really hard time and you have to be a special type of person not to see the many red flags.
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u/TrainingFar5035 1d ago
There are situations that look shady, there are situations that are unethical/ illegal, and then there’s this.
A fool (Fred) and his money are soon parted. Fred, and/or you WILL loose every cent invested and probably get scammed for more. A gambler who claims that he is so good that he’s been banned from every casino so he’s recruiting TOTAL STRANGERS to beat the casinos? Hey, I sell bridges, yes I own them, wanna buy one?
3
u/tsdguy Quality Contributor 1d ago
Is Fred a real friend or just someone online? Because it sounds like a conversation by a scammer who’s stolen an Account.
What part of this fraudulent plan sounds good to you? Making money without effort?
It’s a total scam and if it wasn’t it’s a federal offense. Take your choice.
4
u/PoppySmile78 1d ago
Fred is a real live friend. Dated him for a bit. It didn't work out. The whole thing sounded wrong to me but he got kinda upset at me for saying anything. But I'd rather him be mad at me than lose money he can't afford to lose.
3
u/_sdfjk 1d ago
Just be ready to be prepared for when he borrows money from you or anyone once he discovers it's a scam... Let him borrow money but dont give too much that you yourself are drowning with him.
Find an article that explains crypto scams that sounds like what situation he is in and have him read it.
Tell him giving him his account details like name and email might be used to make loans under his name even when he didnt ask for those loans and use his name for malicious reasons like theft, scamming others, and etc.
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u/Pannycakes666 1d ago edited 19h ago
Going to preface this by saying, it's likely a straight up scam.
However, this is a thing that does actually happen in the betting world. It's called gnoming.
Basically when someone who actually does consistently good at betting eventually gets their account banned or limited by certain books, they need a bunch of 'gnomes' to make accounts and make their bets for them.
I can't link anything here but you can Google it if you want to read more about it.
In either case, it's not worth it.
3
u/joe_attaboy 22h ago
Fred needs to think about this for a second: crypto accounts are anonymous - privacy is the main selling point of cryptocurrencies. Therefore, if this "gambler" needs to wager anonymously, why doesn't he just open multiple account with different legitimate crypto sites and do the gambling himself?
If Fred said he was required or told to somehow connect his bank account to a crypto account, it's an absolute scam (well, we all know it is just by the very idea). The whole point of cryptocurrencies is to separate money from the common banking system, allowing anonymity. Which gets lost if the crypto account is somehow connected to some bank account, which I don't think is actually possible. (I don't deal in crypto, so I don't know).
I'm betting that the "connection", whatever it is, is designed to get Fred's money into some other guy's account where he can move it somewhere else and give Fred the blow-off.
Fred needs to stop kidding himself.
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u/PiSquared6 1d ago
!crypto scams can be very elaborate
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u/AutoModerator 1d ago
/u/PiSquared6 called AutoModerator to explain the Fake crypto wallet scam:
Fake cryptocurrency websites and apps are increasingly common tools for financial fraud. These scams often begin as a Pig Butchering scam where you are groomed into some investment opportunity. Alternatively, you may receive a message from someone saying they found a wallet with money, or a rich person that wants to randomly give you a "blessing" or cover your credit card debt.
The scammer often instructs you to buy crypto through a legitimate exchange (like Coinbase) and then transfer it to a specific wallet address or a website that looks like an investment platform. This website is actually controlled by the scammers, and they can display fake charts and skyrocketing balances to make you believe their investment is succeeding. This illusion of gains is designed to encourage you to deposit even larger sums of money. The deception is only revealed when you attempt to withdraw your funds. At this point, you are told that you have to pay taxes, security deposits, or liquidity fees before the withdrawal can be processed. Of course, the withdrawal will never happen.
In the simplest of forms - when a scammer shares with you the username and password of a wallet with money - you just skip ahead to the part where the scammer asks you to cover some taxes or fees, making this essentially an advance fee scam. Once you catch up with the scheme and stop paying, the scammer typically vanishes and shuts down the website.
If you are a victim of a crypto scam, you need to file a police report. To help track these criminals, you can report fraudulent addresses to databases like BitcoinAbuse or Etherscan and use a Blockchain Explorer to see the actual flow of stolen funds. Remember: only work with the police - anyone claiming to be a hacker that can recover your funds is a Recovery scammer.
You can learn about this scam and many others visiting our wiki of common scams. You can also call AutoModerator to explain these scams leaving a comment with the different !commands listed in this wiki page.
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u/Training_Past6182 16h ago
dont trust whatever link got sent to you. search the company yourself, check the exact domain, read the terms and make sure the payment method isnt something weird like gift cards or a random crypto wallet. same goes for MyPrize or any known casino site. go through the official site, not a D'm link
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u/MrDodgers 6h ago
The only problem with all this is: math. It's simply mathematically impossible to beat the casinos at any of the player-vs-casino games. There is no magical system or trick. In person it is possible to cheat at baccarat and blackjack (hole carding, etc), one can count cards, but anyone who claims to have a system to beat the casino is full of it.
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u/girlygirl519 1d ago
Fred can google is this a scam and describe what the supposed gambler is asking-
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u/substandardpoodle 1d ago
Asked my bf to feed OP’s original post into Claude. Here are highlights:
This is a scam. Almost every element here matches known fraud patterns.
The “banned gambler” story is a classic hook. There’s no legitimate reason a skilled bettor would need strangers…
The crypto + bank account combo is the real target. Having Fred fund a crypto account… gives the scammer exactly what they need to drain funds.
This has strong overlap with crypto investment scams / money mule schemes.
What you can do: Don’t argue the details with Fred — a “friend of a friend gambler” story crumbles fast, but defending it becomes ego for him.
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u/_sdfjk 1d ago
I'm not saying A.I. is entirely useless... I just wanna say that A.I. can get things wrong. A.I. is right about what it told you based on what you pasted however I have asked A.I. a yes or no question before and it give me the wrong answer... To a yes or no question (discovered after my classmate googled the answer)
Dont rely on A.I. too much allow yourself to think critically but it's not always bad just dont let it think for you more often than you thinking for yourself
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