Middle School Students Also Involved as Distributors... Gang Operating 500 Billion Won Gambling Site Arrested

Participated in Crime While Attending School
Also Received Criminal Proceeds

Members of an organization that operated an illegal gambling site worth 500 billion won using middle school second-year students as general agents were arrested by the police.

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The Cyber Crime Investigation Unit 1 of the Northern Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency announced on the 12th that they arrested 35 people, including a Korean mastermind in his 40s, Mr. A, on charges of opening gambling establishments and organizing criminal groups, and detained 10 of them.

They are suspected of operating gambling sites such as sports toto and ladder games for over five years from December 2018 to March this year. They established bases in Dubai and Indonesia, where international cooperation is weak and money laundering is easy, and set up offices domestically and abroad. Overseas, they operated the gambling site organization, while domestically they created teams for advertising, member recruitment and management, money laundering, and operations.

They mainly promoted through YouTube channels or social networking services (SNS) that broadcast various sports games by loopholes or predict game results, claiming that high profits could be made with small amounts of money. In particular, they lured teenagers who came to internet broadcasts by promising that if they became general agents, they would receive a portion of the money deposited by members as profit.

Teenagers who ran out of money while gambling were tempted by the idea that becoming a general agent would allow them to earn gambling funds and living expenses. Teenagers who became general agents mainly operated advertising chat rooms on Telegram or recruited friends around them into gambling. Teen members then became subordinate general agents and recruited other friends or teenagers as members.

These teenagers were mainly second-year middle school students and reportedly participated in the crimes while attending school. In fact, three middle school students recruited about 500 members over three months from August last year and received criminal proceeds of 2 million won per person. The sites, which gained popularity through the teenagers' promotion, saw rapid sales growth. The gambling site had about 15,000 members, and the money deposited by members as gambling funds reached 500 billion won. It is estimated that Mr. A and others earned at least 50 billion won in profits.

After receiving intelligence about a gambling site with teenagers as general agents, the police launched an investigation and applied for seizure and preservation of 8.3 billion won in criminal proceeds before prosecution. This measure prevents the suspects from transferring or selling assets before being brought to trial.

The police have identified the identities of nine organization members who are currently fleeing overseas and are proceeding with forced repatriation procedures through Interpol red notices. Kim Seon-gyeom, head of Cyber Investigation Unit 1 at the Northern Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency, said, "It is unusual for middle school students to participate as general agents in gambling sites," and added, "We will continue to conduct follow-up investigations to eradicate illegal gambling that has deeply penetrated the daily lives of teenagers."

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