154 ringleaders and key figures detained; police now targeting firms that build and supply gambling platforms

[Getty Images Bank]
[Getty Images Bank]

By Kim A-rin, The Herald Business

More than 2,000 cyber-gambling suspects have been swept up in a major police crackdown. The Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters said a seven-month intensive operation launched last November resulted in 2,319 arrests across 1,746 cases, with 154 suspects detained. Police said they focused on capturing ringleaders who had fled abroad or shuttled between countries while running large-scale gambling sites handling anywhere from hundreds of billions of won to 1 trillion won ($647 million) in wagers.

Among the most notable cases, the South Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency arrested 63 people — including the ringleader — behind an illegal gambling site that operated out of Vietnam for five years and handled 1.31 trillion won in bets. The group repeatedly changed the site's web addresses and bank accounts to evade investigators. Police secured a pre-indictment asset preservation order on 38.7 billion won in criminal proceeds.

Jeju police also arrested 17 people, including the ringleader, who ran a gambling site worth 339.5 billion won over five years through offices in Vietnam and South Korea, detaining nine of them.

Over the seven-month operation, the Korean National Police Agency preserved 107.2 billion won in criminal proceeds through pre-indictment confiscation and asset-freezing orders — 2.3 times more than in the same period the previous year.

Police said they traced criminal proceeds, including luxury cars and bank deposits, to cut off the organizations' funding and dismantle them from within.

Of the 75 suspects who had fled overseas to avoid detection, police secured custody through cooperation with law enforcement agencies in the countries where they were staying.

Fifteen of those suspects, who had been running illegal gambling sites out of offices in the Philippines, Cambodia and other countries, were extradited to South Korea and detained.

Police also moved to disrupt the supply chain behind gambling sites, noting that similar platforms keep appearing even after operators are arrested. An analysis of seized administrator pages and suspect statements found that many sites shared the same underlying technology platform.

Police said they plan to track down the company specializing in building and supplying these gambling sites.

By age group, suspects in their 30s made up the largest share of those arrested at 24.7 percent, followed by those in their 20s (23.6 percent), 40s (22.1 percent), 50s (12.9 percent), teens (10.3 percent) and those 60 and older (6.4 percent).

Illegal sports betting accounted for the largest share among suspects in their 20s and 30s, each at around 30 percent, while horse racing, cycling races and motorboat racing combined made up 20 to 30 percent of cases among those in their 50s and 60s and older.

Teenagers represented a smaller share of cases, as police prioritized rehabilitation over prosecution — referring minors to a juvenile guidance review committee rather than filing charges when the amounts involved were small and the individuals had no prior criminal record.

Police said they will continue pursuing top-level gambling site operators in the second half of the year.

"Cyber gambling is a transnational crime that evolves across borders on the back of enormous criminal profits," said Park Woo-hyun, the Korean National Police Agency's cyber investigation review officer. "We will not stop at arresting lower-level members — we will actively go after ringleaders and platform suppliers."


arin@heraldcorp.com