Vietnamese authorities, working in conjunction with China’s Ministry of Public Security and Zhuhai Police, have arrested 395 suspects for operating an illegal internet gambling operation worth more than RMB3 billion (US$437 million).
According to China state news agency Xinhua, the suspects were arrested in Vietnam’s Hai Phong City, near Hanoi, where a collection of 21 criminal gangs working together rented more than 10 apartment buildings from which they established 187 gambling websites.
The domain names included “Grand Lisboa Macau” – utilizing the name of one of Macau’s most iconic integrated resorts. Xinhua said that the Grand Lisboa Macau domain, which was divided into eight independently operating website, was responsible for the largest amount of funds.
The operation is said to have been started by a group of five individuals in Shenzhen and Huizhou in 2017 before moving to Vietnam in 2018. A large number of citizens from Haiphong City had been employed to work for the syndicate.
Xinhua said that authorities last week seized froze 1279 Alipay and bank accounts with RMB2.54 million (US$370,000) in funds were seized.
