It might be tempting to avoid paying money for streaming services and instead watch your favourite games on a free streaming site. Let’s say that you have learned everything about college basketball betting and placed a bet, but your cable provider does not broadcast the game. What should you do?
One of the most logical moves would be to quickly google the game online and visit a random streaming site to watch it and see how your bet goes. However, it is a well-known fact that many streaming sites are unreliable and straight up dangerous.
Let’s see several foolproof signs that will show you that your streaming site is unreliable and that you should avoid it.
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Http vs Https
This is the first thing that you should look for when you are choosing which streaming site to use. If a website has HTTP written in front of the URL, it means that it is using an insecure connection to communicate with the server. The S in HTTPS means Secure. That tells you that the site uses an encrypted connection which keeps your personal data safe on the Internet. Therefore, if a streaming site is using an HTTP protocol, it means that it is definitely not safe.
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Ads Attack
You are probably familiar with those websites that bombard you with advertisements the moment you load the page. It’s annoying, right? Well, it’s not just annoying, it’s dangerous as well. If your screen gets filled with clickbait ads in a matter of seconds, it means that you should leave the website and never come back. A good trick is to use a reliable adblock extension on your browser, but even that will not protect you from the numerous threats that exist.
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Transparency
Legitimate and safe streaming websites will disclose what their resources are. They will show an affiliation with an organisation that provides them with the streaming signal. Moreover, they will probably disclose a streaming licence somewhere on their website, which is a good sign that this site is a reliable one.
In case there is no information about any affiliations with sports leagues or major sports broadcasters, our advice is to stay away from streaming services like these. If you click the play button, you would just be looking for trouble.
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No Contact Information
Apart from not disclosing their sources, unreliable streaming services also do not disclose any contact information. They usually have bad business practices, which means that a lot of people would want to write complaints to them. That’s something they definitely don’t want to happen. Moreover, if they provide contact information, it would be more likely for law enforcement officers to track them down.
Therefore, if there is no email, contact form, or a live chat service available on the site, you should stay away from it. It’s better to pay a little bit of money and use a legitimate streaming service than risk your safety for free.