Perpetrators of fraud are not desirable anywhere and so it is at online casinos. The types of fraud that have been known to be committed at online casinos include credit card charge back, using stolen credit cards, stealing sensitive player information and bonus abuse. One of the issues that are being raised of late is of money laundering. At online poker rooms there is the issue of collusion between players. Apart from direct losses incurred as a result of fraud, online casinos face loss of reputation, which drives traffic away. This perhaps could be more damaging to the online casino in the long run. Therefore online casinos engage in fraud prevention at several levels.

At the first level online casinos take steps to verify the authenticity of the applicant. They ask for documents as proof of the player’s identity and address. This is to make sure that the player is not impersonating someone else and actually resides at the address that he has provided. This is a rudimentary precaution. Having a bona fide identity and address is no guarantee that the player will not commit a fraud. Also fraudsters are not averse to using stolen documents.

Players who are caught committing fraudulent acts are expelled from online casinos. They will also be prevented from wagering at other online casinos of the same group. It is also possible that the data of fraudulent players is shared with other online casinos, but even this will have limited effect. There are so many online casinos on the Internet that fraudulent players will always be able to find avenues, unless wider ranging methods are taken.

These wider ranging steps can be taken by organizations whose business is to identify persons committing fraud online. Such organizations maintain data bases across a host of online industries such as financial services, retail purchases, social networks and gambling. These organizations offer their services to online casinos on a commercial basis. Applicants to online casinos are vetted against the data base of these organizations. Even if they have committed a fraud in an unrelated industry their names will appear in the data base and their application will be rejected.

Iovation is one such fraud prevention organization that has raised the bar in this field. It is the preferred organization for many online casinos with its byline of keeping online casinos open for business while closed to fraudsters. Apart from maintaining a data base of persons who have committed fraud online, Iovation maintains a data base of devices, including computers, laptops and mobile sets, which have been used to commit online fraud. When a new application is made to an online casino, Iovation also identifies the machine and matches it with its data base. If a fraud has been perpetrated using a machine in the default list then the application is rejected. This screens players who use stolen or bogus identities. Iovation has records of over 390 million devices, which grows with every search.

Iovation is also alert to the fact that the fraudster or his machine may not have a recorded history. Therefore it uses investigative tools to identify characteristics consistent with fraud. Iovation employs over 2,000 fraud professionals and serves 300 online brands. One of these is the leading online casino software provider WagerWorks, which has expressed complete satisfaction.