• A new scam is targeting people and residents of Mississippi
• Scammers send fake bonuses and signup offers for non-existent sportsbooks
• The supposed betting platforms use the branding of popular in-state brick-and-mortar businesses

Mississippi is in the midst of a silent pandemic – scammers impersonating sportsbooks are trying to cajole people into signing up for online betting platforms that are supposedly run by licensed and regulated entities in the state.

Mississippi targeted by a wave of sportsbook scams

Many of the impersonated properties are, in fact, licensed operators in the Magnolia State, but here is the rub – sports wagering in Mississippi is heavily restricted, and you may only place bets at brick-and-mortar properties.

So, no sports bets online? No, none – at least not such that are regulated and legitimate. A report by Fox 10 News indicates that scammers are posting ads online trying to convince people to sign up for sportsbooks that offer $1,500 upon sign-up, followed by other deposit bonuses.

Specific properties have been named as well, with the Golden Nugget among those. Golden Nugget General Manager and Vice President Chett Harrison was himself surprised to find out about the scams, and specifically how convincing they were.

Harrison acknowledged that the scams were difficult to distinguish even for people who worked in the industry. He himself had to double-check the email address before realizing an email he received was a scam.

Scammers have been targeting residents by mailing them offers with a phishing link that would take them to a fake online gambling website in the state.

"It’s difficult. I’ve looked at some of them that I couldn’t even tell the email address was different until I slowed down to check it," Harrison said.

He reminded consumers, though, that online sports betting is still illegal in the Magnolia State and so are any attempts to make people spend money on Internet gambling products, especially one that has co-opted the branding of a licensed sports betting platform.

These scams continue to thrive despite the better efforts of regulators and the gambling companies themselves to uproot them. For their part, though, scammers need their emails to be convincing enough to catch you by surprise and make you click on the link.

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