Finnish Youth Movement not so Fine, nor is Malta Operator’s Payment System

A new case in Finland shows that not only do online casinos need to protect minors, but sometimes they need to be protected from minors--as well as parents!

Quarter Refork  

Reports out of Finland reveal that a teen who found a software loophole in a Malta online casino managed to bilk €250,000 worth from clients' accounts.

Vulnerability Found

The Forssa resident who was charged with aggravated fraud found his way into the casino system by registering a fake date of birth to exploit the casino’s cancel return of funds option.

Discovering a bug in a system to provide clients with the option to reroute winnings directly to online client wallets or client bank accounts, the youth rerouted a grand total of over €252,000 among his 417 total transfers across April and May of 2017.

The Route

The money trail stretched all the way to his mother and father’s accounts.

Investigators reportedly discovered €14,000 of stolen funds in the father’s bank account and €2,300 in the mother’s account along with a €5,000 motorcycle purchase—resulting in money laundering charges for both and aggravated money laundering for the father.

Penalties

The case prosecutor seeks 20 months in prison for the youth, a five month suspended sentence for the father and more lenient suspended sentence for the mother, in the case which was originally detected by an employee of the unnamed casino in 2017.

A Central District Court decision is expected on the case September 3^rd.

The Spin

This is certainly a hiccup if not a black eye for the island region, where the Malta Gaming Act took effect on August 1 to launch a new era establishing Malta as a hub for gaming and technology.

Misguided Competition

While some bugs are to be expected, this seems a rather unnecessary technical breakdown, and a harbinger of added risk variables which come from casinos competing by “enhancing” casino payment systems to link physical fund movement between external systems.

The Contradiction

If this is an online casino, why worry about enhanced payment or transfer options, or anything beyond core provision of gaming engagement?

The Rub

If online casinos continue to attempt to compete by offering players payment services for anything above and beyond real-time return of funds to the customer’s ledger at game’s end, bilking player winnings may prove out to be as easy as, well, stealing candy from a baby.