‘Scambling’: the scam on the rise catching out punters

Australians love to gamble, but if you’re going to try your luck, Please do not fall into the trap of illegal online gambling sites.

That’s the message from one of Australia’s largest telecommunications companies, which is stepping up its fight against “scams”.

Fraud or fraudulent gambling is one of the rapidly growing threats facing people who go online, and they currently lose around $2.2 billion a year to hundreds, if not thousands, of different financial scams.

These gambling games, which mirror casinos, poker machines and even scratch games, have been illegal in Australia since 2021, but that hasn’t stopped scammers from achieving their goals.

Telstra has blocked nearly 1,800 high-risk gambling-themed domains since the beginning of 2026, stopping more than two million visit attempts by people lured by promises of big wins or prizes.

“It’s definitely on the rise,” Telstra cybersecurity expert Darren Pauli said. He talks about fraudulent activity.

But what really worries Australia’s largest telecommunications company is the recent shift in how these scammers are taking action.

Mr. Pauli said the timing was intentional.

Telstra found that 63 percent of scam messages were sent between 6pm and midnight, with a peak between 7pm and 9pm, followed by a second spike between 2am and 4am.

“If people are going to bet, that’s probably when the sport starts, when everyone gets relaxed and your guard is down,” Mr. Pauli said of the peak risk period.

The second surge appears to be targeted at shift workers and even insomniacs looking for a distraction.

“Of course, your mind isn’t as sharp as it could be… (the scammers) have worked for years when people weren’t at their best mentally, so they kind of know what works,” Mr. Pauli said.

Here’s how the scam generally works.

An online gambling promotion in SMS, social media, messaging apps, chat groups or from people you are connected to will often offer rewards and wide odds that will get you to click through to a colorful but dodgy website.

You will then be asked to transfer funds using an alternative payment system such as PayID to play.

You will soon have a great performance and you may be asked to deposit even more money.

But once you try to make money, you can’t take it back and there’s no way to get it back because the platforms operate overseas, beyond Australian law.

At the same time, your personal information, including your bank accounts or driver’s license number, has been compromised and exposed you.

“This is more than just money, it’s a matter of identity (theft), which is extremely painful going forward,” Mr. Pauli said.

“It could take weeks or months for that to filter through and for someone to use it, open a line of credit on your account or something.”

Although there is not enough information about the exact amount of losses due to fraud, it is certain that fraudsters are making an effort.

“Another way to think about it is that we wouldn’t have seen as much growth if it hadn’t been paying dividends,” Mr. Pauli said.

So be careful and if you get caught, notify your bank immediately.

National Gambling Helpline 1800 858 858

Australia’s Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national news channel and has been providing accurate, reliable and fast-paced news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We inform Australia.