43 Arrested Including Mastermind Operating Sports Gambling Site Worth Over 110 Billion Won

A group that operated an illegal sports gambling site with a scale of about 100 billion won was arrested en masse by the police.

The Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency announced on the 10th that they arrested and detained three men in their 30s, including the mastermind and distributors who created and operated the illegal private gambling site, and a total of 43 people were apprehended.

According to the Cyber Crime Investigation Unit of the police agency, they are suspected of opening an illegal sports gambling site in Southeast Asia from September 2022 to April this year, receiving money from site members, and paying out money based on the results of various domestic and international sports games.

The site had about 6,400 members, and the amount of money the group received from members so far reached 110 billion won.

Illegal sports gambling site screen. [Image provided by Gyeongnam Police Agency]

They were revealed to have operated divided roles as the mastermind overseeing gold charging and currency exchange, betting game registration, member and site management, and settlement of commissions for subordinate distributors, and as distributors who recruited gambling site members and induced them to gamble.

When distributors recruited members through unspecified text messages or social networking services (SNS), they took a certain portion of the amount deposited by members into the site as a commission.

They verified identities through account numbers and mobile phone numbers before allowing site registration.

Bundles of seized cash. [Photo by Gyeongnam Police Agency]

The police arrested and detained one mastermind overseeing site operations and two distributors recruiting members, and apprehended the remaining distributors, gamblers, and account lenders.

Two operator-level suspects confirmed to have fled overseas are being tracked with Interpol red notices issued.

During the arrest of the mastermind, 1.1 billion won in cash hidden in vehicles was seized on site, and a total of 1.35 billion won in criminal proceeds was preserved before prosecution.

The police plan to continue tracking operators who fled abroad and take the lead in eradicating similar types of cyber gambling crimes through intensive crackdowns on the four major malicious cybercrimes running until October.

A police agency official said, “Cyber gambling is highly addictive and can cause not only personal financial damage but also social problems. Be cautious not to be lured into illegal gambling by gambling sites advertising benefits such as high payouts and recharge bonuses through the internet, SNS, or text messages.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.