Sophisticated tricks of high-tech gambling criminals
(Baonghean) - The situation of crimes using high technology to gamble tends to increase, becoming more and more sophisticated under many different tricks. It is easy for people to participate, but it is very difficult to detect and handle.
Well organized
Despite their young age, Nguyen Trong Hoang (born in 1991) and Mai Thi Thuy Linh (born in 1992), a couple living in Duc Tho hamlet, Hung Loc commune (Vinh city), are known to be wealthy. A few years ago, the couple opened an Internet store called Kinh Game in Hung Loc commune.
Neighbors did not know what was so attractive about the store that dozens of people came in and out every day, and the activities here took place all day and night. It was not until the end of January 2020, when the police raided and arrested the couple, that they learned that this was an online gambling den that had been disguised as an internet store for a long time.
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| The GamVip online gambling ring with Pham Van Ninh as a level 2 agent was dismantled by Nghe An police. Photo courtesy |
Police identified Nguyen Trong Hoang and Mai Thi Thuy Linh as the "underlings" of the second-level agent of the GamVip online gambling ring owned by Pham Van Ninh (born in 1981), residing on My Lo Street, Thien Ton Town, Hoa Lu District (Ninh Binh).
According to the Criminal Police Department, Nghe An Police, GamVip is a game on mobile devices or web browsers with Internet connection. Players participating in GamVip are allowed to deposit money through phone scratch cards, game scratch cards or indirectly through agents.
When participating in this game, gamblers gamble with the “house” or with other gamblers, winning or losing is calculated by Gam points. If players win, they can exchange virtual money for phone cards or cash. Through the work of grasping the situation, the Criminal Police Department discovered the GamVip line appearing in Vinh City, so they established Project 224D to fight and destroy it.
During their time as Ninh’s “underlings,” Hoang and Linh took turns dealing with gamblers via phone and social media. The Gam buying and selling transactions were compiled by Hoang and Linh and sent to Ninh to earn commissions.
Due to the large number of players, to facilitate the transaction process, Hoang and Linh hired more people to directly transact with the gamblers. On average, each day, the subjects conduct transactions to buy and sell Gam with an amount of tens to hundreds of millions of VND. With such a scale, the amount of money that the subjects have organized gambling since its inception can be up to billions of VND.
Previously, in December 2019, the Criminal Police Department, Nghe An Provincial Police successfully discovered an online gambling case in the form of football betting. The subjects in this case established a football betting agency in Nghe An, then expanded into many subordinate agents to provide accounts for players in need. After each bet, the agents will calculate the rate and share the percentage according to the betting amount.
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| 6 subjects in a gambling ring in the form of football betting were arrested by the Criminal Police Department. Photo: Document |
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| Subject Le Tuan Dung plays the role of mastermind and leader of the football betting gambling ring. Documentary photo |
The police identified Le Tuan Dung (born in 1982), residing in block 22, Hung Binh ward (Vinh city), the owner of Zuly Bar, No. 63, Nguyen Duc Canh street, Hung Binh ward (Vinh city), as the mastermind and leader of this gambling ring. The Investigation Police Agency of Nghe An province has issued a decision to prosecute the case of organizing gambling and gambling, prosecuted 21 defendants and ordered the temporary detention of 7 defendants for the crime of "Organizing gambling".
Since 2012, Dung has been the general agent for football betting accounts on the “bong88” website. Then, the agents below will provide accounts for players. Gamblers will be given member accounts to bet directly on the website. Depending on each member account, they will negotiate different points limits and points prices. With this method, in just under 1 month, this gambling line has gambled with more than 75 billion VND.
Since the beginning of 2019, Nghe An Provincial Police have investigated, arrested, and handled 1,247 cases, 5,180 subjects who organized gambling or gambled, and bet in various forms, seizing over 11 billion VND and many related evidences. Investigation agencies at all levels have prosecuted and handled 315 criminal cases, 1,805 defendants; handled administrative violations against 932 cases, 3,330 subjects.
More and more blooming
According to the police agency's assessment, high-tech gambling activities, including the disguised form of online games, are increasing. The leader of the High-Tech Crime Prevention Police Team (Criminal Police Department) said that the scale of these lines' operations is very large, the subjects organize and connect to form intermediary channels to buy and sell virtual money in the game. They connect with each other through closed groups, using communication methods through encrypted data internet applications such as Zalo, Viber, etc.
These agents operate under the guise of public internet service stores that sell game cards, online game card agents, pawn shops, loans, etc. Due to the large profits, many subjects in localities across the country have accepted to act as intermediary agents, paying for the purchase and sale of virtual currency between players and game publishers.
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| Some subjects in gambling rings have been eliminated by authorities. Photo: Archive |
On February 10, 2020, the Director of Nghe An Provincial Police issued Plan No. 169/KH-CAT-PV01 directing the Police of units and localities to step up staff work, organize and implement solutions to combat and prevent crimes and gambling evils in the whole province; direct the review and deployment of attacks, sweeps, organize strong and accurate strikes on gambling dens, groups and subjects.
This plan was issued based on the reality that crimes using high technology to gamble over the Internet have existed for many years and are taking place in a complicated manner in the province.
Although the police have arrested the gang members in the gambling rings, in reality, it is not easy to completely cut off these rings. Currently, the server system containing the game database is located abroad, using services that hide registration information, so verification and investigation work is facing many difficulties.
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| The subjects were arrested by Thai Hoa Town Police in a gambling ring using slot games. Photo: Document |
As for the gambling case using the "exploding jar" game arrested by Thai Hoa Town Police, Lieutenant Colonel Tran Ngoc Tuan - Chief of Thai Hoa Town Police also said that the Investigation Police Agency determined that in addition to Le Hong Thoa, in many provinces and cities across the country, there are about 23 other level 1 agents of this line operating openly. However, it is difficult to identify higher levels because the subjects only transact through banks and the virtual world, not meeting in person, so the Task Force has not had the conditions to expand, in order to eradicate the root cause of this "huge" online gambling line.
