Laois GAA PRO Paul Dargan has issued a warning for people not to be fooled by online scammers who are posing as streaming sites ahead of this week’s games.
Anyone who follows the Premier League in England will be familiar with bogus links being posted online purporting to show matches that they are trying to watch.
But when clicked on, these links typically either infect your laptop with a virus or try to charge you and if you do part with money, it is highly unlikely you will get to see the game.
Since spectators have been prohibited from attending GAA matches and games have been streamed instead, these accounts have started popping up in the GAA world too.
The scammers are very sophisticated and they set up fake Facebook and Twitter accounts where they then often go to Laois GAA official pages and post their links there.
Mr Dargan says that he blocks these profiles and reports them to Facebook as soon as he sees them but revealed it could take 24 hours for social media companies to remove a page – by which time, it could be too late.
He said: “I have had four accounts removed this week that were trying to push games.
“I’m on top of it and have managed to keep them at bay for months now but they keep popping back up and I would hate for any person to get caught out.
“This is not just happening in Laois, this is happening all over the country wherever there are streaming services in place.
“And if you happen to click on one of these links, they will look very convincing. They will have Laois GAA branding and images of players.
“When people sign up to this, they are signing up to nothing only a scam.
“This is rampant in Waterford, Kerry, Cork and Dublin in both club and county games.”
This weekend, Laois TV, through Leinster GAA, are back in action as they will have coverage of the minor football clash between Carlow and Laois on Saturday.
Paul said: “I’m pleading with everyone to make sure they are going through the official channels if you want to watch that match.
“And if you aren’t sure or you spot one, tag us in a comment or email us. That way I can see it and I can remove it.”
SEE ALSO – Laois primary school announce closure until after Christmas due to Covid-19 cases
The post Laois GAA PRO issues warning over ‘bogus streaming sites’ as matches return appeared first on Laois Today.
source https://www.laoistoday.ie/2020/12/11/laois-gaa-pro-issues-warning-over-bogus-streaming-sites-as-matches-return/
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