Over 50 arrested for running fake Kangwon Land gambling websites
Police say the ring used deepfake athlete ads and Kangwon Land branding to lure some 40,000 Koreans into illegal online gambling.
A screen capture of illegal gambling website that recruited members by posing as an online gambling site officially operated by Kangwon Land
GYEONGBUK PROVINCIAL POLICE AGENCY
Over 50 people accused of running illegal gambling sites that posed as the state-run Kangwon Land casino have been arrested, according to police on Monday.
The Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency's cyber investigation unit said it arrested 58 people, including a Russian national who led the ring's Korea-based operations, on charges of operating illegal gambling sites. Five were placed in custody.
The group reportedly used social media to lure roughly 40,000 Korean members by presenting the sites as Kangwon Land's official, legally operated online platform, using Kangwon Land's logo without authorization to deceive users. The group also produced deepfake videos using the faces and voices of well-known athletes to promote the illegal sites.
Kangwon Land, located in Jeongseon County, Gangwon, is the only casino in Korea that permits Korean nationals to gamble; every other casino in the country is restricted to foreign passport holders. Gambling is illegal for Korean citizens under the country's Criminal Act, with Kangwon Land carved out as a legal exception under a special 2000 law meant to revitalize the local economy after the closure of nearby coal mines.
The suspects, mostly Russian nationals residing in Korea, included a ringleader, account managers and recruiters who gathered bank accounts registered under other people's names to handle deposits and withdrawals of Korean gamblers' funds.
To evade police tracking, the group changed the accounts used for betting on a monthly basis, cycling through roughly 70 borrowed-name accounts to manage gambling funds.
Police estimate that Korean gamblers deposited about 78 billion won ($56 million) into the sites between October 2022 and August of last year. They have applied for preindictment asset preservation on about 1.5 billion won in criminal proceeds tied to the ringleader and others.
The sites police cracked down on were found to be licensed in countries where online gambling is legal, offering casino games and services in 35 languages, including Korean.
"Kangwon Land, the only casino legally operating in Korea, does not run any online gambling site," police said. "We will track down and strictly punish gambling rings that deceive the public by exploiting the name of a state-run company."
BY KIM JUNG-SEOK [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
