Published on: January 3, 2025, 02:21h.
Last updated on: January 3, 2025, 02:21h.
Consumer groups in the UK are advising individuals facing financial difficulties to be cautious of websites offering quick money in exchange for personal identification documents.
These documents, such as passports, driving licenses, and proofs of address, are then used by gamblers to open multiple online betting accounts.
Sam Richardson, deputy editor of consumer publication Which? Money, recommends exercising “extreme caution” when engaging with such platforms.
We would not recommend people handing over personal information […] to unfamiliar firms that can spend money on your behalf,” he told The Guardian newspaper.
“Anybody who does want to sign up to this agreement should discuss it with their bank first to ensure it is not in conflict with any of the bank’s terms and conditions.”
Bonus Abuse?
The Guardian reached out to a site called Moneyful.co.uk, which offered to compensate users with £100 (US$124) for their ID usage and an additional £100 for referrals to the scheme. The site claimed to utilize advanced software to generate profits from betting companies.
The Guardian suspects that Moneyful engages in matched betting, where individuals open multiple accounts with betting sites to exploit their sign-up bonuses, a practice termed as “bonus abuse” in the online gambling sector.
The newspaper stated in its article that this practice is not illegal – although that’s probably not the case.
In April 2023, a gambler named Jon Howard was sentenced to five years in prison by a UK court for fraud after he was discovered to have opened over 1,000 Bet365 accounts to claim bonuses. He utilized the ID documents of willing participants to earn around £236,000 (US$295,000), as per court records.
There is no evidence linking Moneyful and similar platforms to bonus abuse. Professional sports bettors who win often have their accounts closed by online sportsbooks and need access to new “clean” accounts to place their high-volume bets.
‘Excellent’ on TrustPilot
Lawyers representing Moneyful informed The Guardian that while there are risks in sharing personal data with any organization, their operations are legal. They highlighted the company’s transparency, tax compliance, and positive Trustpilot reviews.
No efforts whatsoever have been made to hide anything from the public,” the lawyers said. “Our client pays corporation tax and is registered for VAT [UK sales tax]. It has a Trustpilot score of 4.3 on the basis of 67 reviews (and is consequently categorized as ‘excellent’).”
Despite the praise from Moneyful’s legal team, the website was taken down on Friday and listed for sale by the domain name registrar.