Tabcorp "Sting " !

It's a chilling thought, but what happens if your credit card has been maxed out transferring money to some bandit's Tabcorp account taken out in your name - and you have to prove that it was not you that had this gambling compulsion ?

The police have just busted a gang of four men in western Sydney who setup a lucrative sting that delivered them a vast amount of stolen money.  They equipped numerous ATM's with "skimming "devices that netted them card details and used these to open phone betting facilities with the TAB.  Once this was in place they went on a betting splurge that engaged the second part of the sting - having winnings deposited in spurious bank accounts opened in the name of the unfortunate card holder - and these were quickly cashed out and abandoned, leaving few clues behind.

The aftermath can leave a rather nasty stain on the good name of the victim. Compulsive gambling is a disease that strikes many people and it is understandable that in many cases the suspicion will linger.  Then there is the matter of who is responsible for that maxed out credit card debt ?

This certainly delivers a wakeup call to both the banks and the TAB.  The banks have a number of trip wires in place to detect unusual account activity and you would think that a sudden surge in betting activity by a customer without such a previous history would ring alarm bells.

Gambling was once rigorously controlled to the extent that the only way you could place a legal bet required a visit to a race track where that bet could be made in person with a bookmaker.  Those were the days when just about every pub had an illegal SP bookmaker offering his services in the public bar every Saturday, despite periodic crackdowns by the police and pressure from the anti gambling movement.

Eventually, the government was left drooling about all this untaxed money changing hands and set out to get their share.   They deferred to the will of the people and put the SP bookies out of business by setting up a legal TAB where ordinary punters could bet off course at the TAB agencies  dotted about the suburbs.

From there, gambling took on a life of it's own. Online betting is now a fact of life and virtual casinos use Spam tactics to offer free money to induce new gamblers to try their luck.  It is inevitable that the crime world would use these opportunities to launch scams to line their own pockets.

The TAB has tightened security and adopted undisclosed measures to close down this blatant extortion, but perhaps new measures are needed to ensure account security.  Perhaps non gamblers would be wise to advise their bank that all forms of gambling activity face account blockage and this can only be cancelled by their presentation at the bank to rescind that order.

The crims are getting smarter.   It seems that counter measures need a similar upgrade !