Trillion-dong gambling rings uncovered

Gamblers use cryptocurrencies

The largest gambling ring discovered by HCM City Police has been transferred to the Criminal Police Department (PC02) for further investigation.

The total amount of money put into transactions in the ring was $3.8 billion, or VND87 trillion. This amount was only from participating gamblers, and does not include the reciprocal money from bookmakers.

Many people who gambled mistakenly believed they were making financial investments or investing in cryptocurrencies.

But this was actually disguised gambling activity in which scammers lure gamblers and then later collapse the system to appropriate the clients’ money.

The ringleaders and their agents introduce themselves as successful businessmen or major online financial investors. Their common feature is that they lead a comfortable life, live in villas, and own super cars.

The gamblers are required to set up an account and deposit money into a virtual wallet on Remitano trading floors overseas to buy cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, USDT and Tron. Ringleaders create many gambling websites and domain names, and change the way of operation regularly so as to avoid government agencies.

Gamblers have to create an account on websites that link with the virtual wallet to use cryptocurrencies to bet. The payment is in cryptocurrency. To lure gamblers, the ring creates insurance packages for gambling activities.

They connect with Evolution, an international gambling platform to get commissions from players.

According to an investigator, ringleaders can attract many gamblers by promising a simple way to play that offers super profits with no risks.

The scammers try to lure as many players as possible and when the amount of money is large enough, they collapse the system to appropriate gamblers’ money.

Multi-level scheme

The police in recent years have discovered many online gambling rings with transaction value equal to trillions of dong.

Most recently, Nam Tu Liem District Police discovered a gambling ring using a card game, led by Pham Minh Thanh, born in 1989.

The police found that two card games created by Thanh and his accomplices had 6 million accounts, and the transaction value was VND1.5 trillion.

In early November, 2021, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) discovered a gambling ring via Evolo.club led by Ha Mien, or Do Ngoc Ha, born in 1984. From its first day of operation in April 2021 to early November, or just six months, the ring had 200 general agents, 3,000 agents, and transaction value of 1.1 billion euros, or VND30 trillion.

An officer at the A05 unit under MPS said that previously gambling organizers used foreign made tools, but now they set up systems and create apps themselves.

The use of cryptocurrencies via e-wallets has not been legalized, so it’s difficult to discover the transactions, police said.

Online gambling has been increasing over the last year because of Covid-19. The rings develop as multi-level networks, with agents and players throughout the country.

Major General Tran Ngoc Ha, head of C02 Agency, said that online gambling can bring super profits but it is difficult to investigate because police have to find electronic proof. If ringleaders hear that the police have detected them, they will collapse the systems, clear all data, and leave no clues.

As online gambling activities have blossomed and have many variations, MPS and local authorities have had to train their officers and develop a staff in charge of cyber security and fighting crimes that use high technologies.

HCM City earlier this year set up PA05 in charge of cyber security and fighting crimes using high technologies. The VND87 trillion gambling ring found in the city was the biggest ring ever discovered. 

Phuoc An