Vietnam Police Bust $3.8 Billion Crypto Gambling Ring

Vietnamese police have busted a massive illegal online gambling ring in the country that was using cryptocurrencies for making transactions, leading to the detaining of 59 people.

As reported by state-owned broadcaster VTV, it was the biggest gambling ring busted in the country involving around $3.8 billion that include the money put in by the gamblers, but without the reciprocal money from the dealer.

The Vietnamese government allows controlled betting in casinos and some sports betting, but online gambling and private card rooms are strictly banned in the country. The report detailed that the crypto gambling organizers have established large-scale networks across various provinces and cities in the country.

Circumventing Rules with Crypto

To participate in the gambling, players need to purchase cryptocurrencies like Ethereum or stablecoin Tether from a foreign platform called Remitano, and then use the digital currencies to gamble on websites Swiftonline.live and Nagaclubs.com.

The report further elaborated that the suspects have already admitted to the police about their role in organizing gambling on these platforms, which were local intermediaries of international betting platform Evolution.com.

Though the Vietnamese organizers received commissions from the primary gambling platforms, they even crashed the local websites to steal money from crypto wallets when a large number of gamblers participated at the same time.

Organizers used social media to lure gamblers by showcasing luxurious lifestyles like fancy cars, expensive houses and extravagant parties. They even offered insurance packages to the players, promising them a refund after losing six games.

Apart from the detained persons from the bust, the Ho Chi Minh City police even confiscated 55 laptops and desktops, 39 mobile phones and seven luxury cars, along with ATM cards and cash worth more than 2.9 billion dong (around $130,000).

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