Online casinos: promising bitcoins to trap players (English translation)

(This is an English translation of a Radio-Canada article that exposes the identity of the rogue Casino Awards affiliate. Copyright 2018 CBC/Radio-Canada. All Rights Reserved.)

CBC/Radio-Canada has discovered an international network of fake news sites that attempts to make Canadians believe that they will earn hundreds of dollars by registering for an online casino. The misleading articles argue among other things that bet $10 is equivalent to making an investment in bitcoins, and that players are "virtually guaranteed to make at least $250".

By Jeff Yates

"Here. Finally. In Canada. You have a one-way ticket for billions of Bitcoins", announces a January 31st post on the "My Bitcoin Canada" Facebook page. In the video, we see a young woman supposedly win $1,000,000 by playing on an online casino.

The link in the post takes the user to a news article on an obscure site called "Tribune News Now". "If you are from Canada, you are about to become really rich: this Bitcoin casino is a real cash cow and Canadian residents make millions," it says.

The article states that a Quebecer named Jonathan Desormeaux has won more than 13 million dollars by betting his last $10 at this casino.

In addition, the supposed functioning of this "new online casino" is explained.  "The casino takes the $10 deposit made by the players and instantly changes it into Bitcoins before reselling it for dollars. It is rumored this is how the casino makes its money; they use the players as instant investors in Bitcoin. The average player receive about $250 to $300 from his initial bet but some players gain larger amounts"

However, the article sends us to the site of a typical online casino that has nothing to do with bitcoins. The page asks the user to register and make a deposit of $10. The casino does not promise the player automatic winnings of several hundred dollars, contrary to the article. This is actually a fraudulent cost-per-action marketing (CPA) scheme.

How does CPA marketing work?

When a partner signs up for a CPA program, he earns money each time a user who has been referred does something on their website. In this case, the site owner earns a certain amount when a user who has been referred to the casino page registers and makes a deposit of $10. The fake news described above is used to lie to the user and encourage him to deposit $10 under false premises.

An international network:

In addition to the fraudulent ads targeting Canadians, we found similar fake news stories on related sites that target other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Finland, India, Iceland, Norway, New Zealand, Russia, Sweden and Slovakia. These ads use identical tactics to try to dishonestly convince people in these countries to sign up for online gambling sites.

Other fake news articles exist to sell beauty products. One, for example, falsely claims that a young skin care business owner won a major contract on Dragon's Den . The article also contains fake quotes from celebrities, such as Jennifer Aniston and Celine Dion. Users are then invited to click on a link which supposedly allows you to buy a free sample of the aforementioned skin care product.

Radio-Canada managed to find the owners of these sites, two South Africans named Paul Domanski and Shaun Van Doorn. Their marketing company, Yazimedia, has registered no less than 126 sites in the last few years, according to a search done using DomainTools. On many of these sites, one can find the aforementioned fake news.

On one of these sites, Radio-Canada found a screenshot of what appears to be a dashboard that compares the performance of several CPA advertising campaigns. According to the screenshot, 19 different fake news campaigns appear to have generated 111,000 visits and made Yazimedia about $164,000. The fake articles targeting Canadians seem to have been visited about 20,000 times and generated an income of about $32,000. It was impossible to determine when Yazimedia got the money.

Unlike traditional ads, where the advertiser gets a fixed amount for each click or impression, CPA ads may generate varying amounts depending on the agreement with the advertiser. At the Casino Rewards group, which these advertisements promote, affiliates can choose three income options : either they earn $50 each time a customer they referred to the casino signs up, or they earn a percentage of all the money this customer loses at the casino.

A dubious practice:

When contacted, Loto-Québec insisted that the only legal games of chance in the province of Québec, whether on the Internet or in real life, are those licensed by them.

There are several scams on the Internet. When an offer seems too good to be true, one must be very careful. If you find advertisements of this type on a social media site, it is recommended to report them as soon as possible to the administrators of the website so that they can act accordingly.

Neither Yazimedia nor the Casino Rewards group, which benefits from these fraudulent advertisements, responded to Radio-Canada emails.

Casino Rewards owns some 30 online casinos and encourages Internet users to join its CPA program. On the page for affiliates, it is explained that they are not allowed to make a promotional campaign that "breaks a law, that is published on a site that violates copyright, or that could tarnish the reputation of Casino Rewards". It is not clear, however, whether or not it is permissible to lie to the audience or to use fake news in advertisements.