Beijing police shutter illegal online gambling ring

The Chinese news agency Xinhua reports that the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau has concluded successful investigations into organised crime online gambling activity involving the national welfare lottery “PK Shi”, which was reportedly manipulated by suspects using WeChat, China’s most popular social network, and gambling software to fix the odds in order to make sure most gamblers lost.

A police spokesman said: “The suspects usually raised the odds to attract more people to play the game, and would kick out anyone who won big prizes.”

The ring operated beyond the capital, it appears; police in 21 provincial Chinese regions and municipalities were involved in the investigation, which was launched by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on May 17 and has resulted in the discovery and break up of 61 gangs, with 200 suspects arrested.

The police spokesman again warned the public that any gambling activity on online platforms such as WeChat is illegal, and those involved can receive criminal sanctions.

The MPS has been cracking down on cross-border online gambling crimes in recent years, Xinhua reports. Since the start of last year, Chinese police have solved over 7,000 criminal cases on cross-border online gambling, busted 3,100 criminal gangs, detained and frozen 11 billion yuan, and hunted down more than 270 underground gangs dealing with illicit monetary affairs.

Related and similar