Online scammers still targeting Island Games

The public are being urged not to enter their bank details into sites that claim to offer live streaming.

The games organisers have spoken out to remind islanders to be vigilant, following earlier warnings that cyber criminals were known to prey on large sporting events.

They stressed that live streams and live tracking are all available for free through the official games website and official YouTube page.

‘We’re reminding people to be careful online because cyber criminals are trying to target our Games,’ said games director Julia Bowditch.

‘Fraudsters can be very sophisticated at copying legitimate Facebook pages so that they look entirely plausible, so please be very wary and don’t fall foul of fake sellers. It’s easy to let your guard down when you think you are among friends.’

She said that organisers had tried to stop the problem by continually reporting the fake groups and pages to Facebook’s owner Meta.

‘Unfortunately, Meta has always responded that the fake groups and pages do not contravene their so-called community standards. We have also been in close contact with Guernsey Police.’

In particular there is concern about a Facebook group called Island Games Guernsey 2023, which has more than 4,200 members, many of whom are Guernsey residents.

The number of group members has increased by more than 10% between Sunday and Monday, showing that people are still unwittingly joining the fake page.

The admins of the group pretend to be games organisers. They use games logos and clone genuine posts. The group has been reported numerous times to Meta, the owner of Facebook, and also to Guernsey Police.

Games organisers have urged anyone who is a member of ‘Island Games Guernsey 2023’ to leave the fake group so that it looks less credible.

Guernsey Police echoed this sentiment, asking islanders to be aware of scammers attempting to harvest personal data and credit card information off the back of the Island Games’ live streams.

‘These fake, scam sites require credit card details to be entered,’ a police spokesman said.

‘People should not enter their details on these sites.

‘Public organisations in Guernsey, particularly those involved in the games, are also asked to monitor their social media comments to delete the scammers’ posts.’

Since the Games tightened controls on their page around who could post comments, scammers have targeted sites associated with the games, including media sites and the Health Improvement Commission.

The Guernsey Press Facebook page was also targeted by scammers attaching links to comments, claiming to be from live streams. Over the weekend about 30 people posting false links were banned from the page and hundreds of false comments were removed.

Ms Bowditch said that it was disappointing that anyone could try to exploit the event for unscrupulous purposes.

‘The values of the Games are attributes like friendship, cooperation, inspiration, fun and enjoyment. Unfortunately, Facebook is home to many scams.

'The official Facebook page, Facebook group, and YouTube channel of the games organisers, are all called Guernsey2023.’