(BBB) — It used to be that you had to go to the stadium to root on your local high school athletic team. However, the COVID-19 pandemic changed that. With schools forced to restrict entry to events, they turned to online streaming of games so that people could watch from the comfort of their living rooms.
While many attendance restrictions have been lifted, schools are still streaming games. Unfortunately, the scammers have followed. The scammers’ goal is to capture personal information, including credit card and Social Security numbers, as fans log in to watch their team play.
Listen to Better Business Bureau Regional Director Whitney Quick or read about it below:
How the scam works
You want to watch the local high school’s football game, or your niece’s travel softball team is playing in a tournament out of state. You search on social media to find a link where the game might be streamed, and sure enough, a fan has put in a link where you can go to watch for free! It’s almost time for the game to start, so you eagerly click the link. The next screen asks you to sign up for the streaming service, so you enter your name and email… and then you get asked for a credit card number and potentially more sensitive information. Are you seeing red flags yet?
These scammers infiltrate social media with links to fake streams. The posts often will tag the schools which are…
