Stay Safe

How to Protect Yourself

Know the warning signs, understand their tricks, and learn exactly what to do if you've already lost money to a scammer.

What 7 Years Taught Us
The football world has its shadows — we know that better than most. But there is a long distance between what happens behind closed doors and what gets offered to strangers on social media. That distance is exactly where scammers operate.

Warning Signs

6 Red Flags to Watch For

Scammers follow predictable patterns. Recognising these signs could save you hundreds — or thousands — of pounds, euros, or dollars.

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Free "accurate" predictions first

They send you 2–5 correct free tips to build trust. These are cherry-picked guesses — they contact many people and only follow up with those who received correct ones.

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Unsolicited direct messages

A stranger messages you out of nowhere claiming to have "fixed information". Legitimate sports analysts do not cold-message random people on social media.

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Payment before the match

They demand payment upfront — always before you can verify the result. After you pay, more excuses and demands for money typically follow.

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Extreme urgency and pressure

"The match is tonight, you must pay NOW." Scammers create artificial time pressure so you don't stop to think or do research before handing over money.

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Fake proof screenshots

They show you doctored screenshots of winning slips, bank transfers, or happy customers. These are trivially easy to fake and mean absolutely nothing.

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Untraceable payment only

They only accept cryptocurrency, Western Union, MoneyGram, or gift card codes — payment methods with no buyer protection and no way to recover funds after sending.

"The moment you feel something is wrong — trust that feeling."

Already Scammed?

What to Do If You Already Paid

Act quickly. The sooner you take these steps, the better your chances of limiting further damage — and in some cases, recovering funds.

1
Stop all contact with the scammer.
Do not send any more money, regardless of what they promise or threaten. Block them on all platforms.
2
Contact your bank or payment provider immediately.
If you paid by bank transfer or card, call your bank and report it as fraud. Ask about a chargeback or recall. Act within 24 hours if possible.
3
Report to your local police.
File a fraud report. Even if recovery seems unlikely, a police reference number helps with bank disputes and contributes to broader investigations.
4
Report to a national fraud authority.
See the links below. Agencies like Action Fraud (UK), the FBI IC3 (USA), and Europol aggregate these reports to track and prosecute scammers.
5
Report the scammer's account on the platform.
Use the platform's built-in reporting tools on Telegram, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Mass reports help get accounts removed faster.
6
Submit a report on this site.
Tell us what happened so we can warn others and add the scammer to our public database.

If you paid in cryptocurrency, recovery is extremely unlikely. Focus on reporting to prevent others from being harmed. Do not pay any "recovery agents" who claim they can get your crypto back — these are almost always secondary scams.

Where They Operate

Common Platforms Used by Scammers

Fraudsters move between platforms to avoid bans. Here's where they're most active and why.

Most common platform. Easy to create anonymous accounts and channels that look highly professional. Scammers build large groups overnight with no accountability.

Instagram

Fake follower counts purchased from bot farms make pages look legitimate. DMs are used for direct targeting and the visual format makes fake winning screenshots easy to fabricate.

Victims are added to groups without consent. The group appears full of successful members sharing winnings — all fake accounts controlled by the same scammer.

Facebook

Pages and groups filled with fake reviews and testimonials. Often used to target older users who may be less familiar with how these scams work.

X (Twitter)

Mass DMs, fake proof screenshots, and purchased followers are used to appear credible. Scammers reply to football content to find potential targets.

TikTok

A growing platform for scammers. Short videos showing fake winnings attract curious followers, who are then funnelled into Telegram or Instagram for payment.

Remember — Always

You will recognize the pattern once you know it. A friendly message, a free tip that wins, then an offer too good to refuse. None of it is real. The tips, the proof, the inside connections — all theatre. People who actually have access to that kind of information do not spend their days messaging strangers on Instagram.