The BG sports scam
The BG Sports scam is a huge and particularly cruel sports betting scam. The scam affected people all around the world, but it’s important to point out that unfortunately Refundee can only help people who have sent money from or to a UK bank account at some point in the process. It doesn’t matter if this went to a crypto platform like Binance before.
What was BG Sports?
BG sports was a legitimate looking sports betting platform. They claimed to be helping people bet on the incorrect score for football matches. As with many investment scams, it claims that there is no risk to your investment despite offering attractive returns.
The same fraudsters have now appeared to set up again as MC Football (https://mc58.com/) and it appears they will keep trying the same thing again and again. It’s important to note that there is no affiliation with Manchester City.
How did they build up legitimacy?
This scam was particularly convincing because:
They had a very professional looking website
They had active and convincing social media profiles
They used fake newspaper articles that appeared to be from legitimate news outlets
They had fake celebrity endorsements and even claimed to be backed by Ronaldo
It appeared to pay regular returns (which it appears to have done early on)
How did it work?
They claimed to enable you to invest “risk free” on guessing the incorrect score for football matches. For this, you’d receive returns through cryptocurrency platforms. You’d get better rates if you sent money through crypto platforms rather than bank transfers. This is simply because it’s much easier for fraudsters to get away with financial crime through cryptocurrency platforms rather than through the banking platforms.
Once you were in, you’d receive regular returns which gave legitimacy to the platform. It seems extremely likely that these returns were paid using the funds of new investors. This enabled BG Sports to convince people to recruit their friends and family into the scheme, in fact, they even offered promotions if you introduced your family and friends. This is what made the scam particularly cruel.
What’s happening now?
On 15th April 2022 the website (www.bg-88.com) was shut down. It’s unclear whether this was taken down by the fraudsters as the scam had run its course, or, if it had been taken down by someone else. However, the fraudsters already appear to have set up a new platform called MC Football claiming to be affiliated with Man City (https://mc58.com/).
What to do if you’ve lost money to the BG Sports investment scam?
If you have lost money to BG Sports and you sent money from or to a UK bank account at some point in the process, Refundee can help you get your money back from your bank and you can fill in our fraud claim form for a free consultation. Our fee is 15% plus VAT on anything that we get back, and we don't charge anything if we are not successful. For larger cases, the fee is subject to a maximum of £10k plus VAT per case.
Remember you don’t need to use a company like Refundee, you could work your case yourself for free! If you’d like to get a refund yourself, you can do this by following our bank transfer refund guide. If you are not in the UK, you should report the fraud to your bank and see if they can help you. If not, you should see if your country has the equivalent of the UK’s Financial Ombudsman Service and take your case to them. Be wary of follow up scams which try to charge you an up front fee to get your money back.
