Multi-million dollar online gambling ring busted in Vietnam

Tuoi Tre News in Vietnam reports that the police have dismantled an illegal online gambling ring and arrested ten individuals involved in the enterprise, including the ringleader, 33-year-old To Cong Hung, a gay magazine owner based in Ho Chi Minh City.

The business’s servers were located in the Philippines, a police spokesman revealed, claiming that total wagers placed through the ring were $47 million

Investigations to date show that Hung managed the illegal business for several months, arranging for his sister and other associates to create bank accounts in order to receive money from gamblers across the country and internationally.

The money was later converted into virtual currency and points on a website called 12bet.com for online gambling under various forms, mostly sports betting, the spoksman claimed.

Millions of U.S. dollars of illegal gambling money were transferred to gamblers abroad each month, police said.

Police investigations continue.

In related news, the Thanhnien News reports that on Friday six South Korean nationals were deported from Vietnam for operating illegal online gambling sites that had attracted 4,000 players.

The Koreans, mostly in their 30s, were arrested Wednesday at a villa in the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung, and confessed that their leader was Korean national Choi Hojun, who had sent them to Vietnam to operate gambling sites targeting Korean players.

Hojun managed to escape before the raid, and is still being sought, police said.

Three Korean police investigators were sent to Vietnam to help with the raid, and they escorted the deportees back to their homeland.

Last year Ho Chi Minh City deported 14 South Koreans after fining them $470-940 each for operating an online sports betting site.