During the COVID-19 restrictions, many schools started streaming their football, baseball and other games online. Unfortunately, scams followed. Scammers try to capture personal information, including credit card and Social Security numbers, as fans log in to watch their teams play.
The scam depends on fans. You want to watch the local high school’s football game or your niece’s travel softball team. You search on social media to find a link where the game might be streamed. 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 involved in order to make the post appear legitimate.
The scammers hope the would-be viewer inputs their information and pays to watch the event. The consumer doesn’t get to watch the game because the scammer has not set up a stream. Instead, whatever data they entered may be compromised.
How to avoid this scam
• Do your research. If you come across a website you haven’t dealt with before, research it…
