Gang Arrested for Laundering 28.7 Billion Won in Investment Fraud Funds at Casinos

Two men carrying large bags walk side by side into a restroom.

CCTV captured the moment a money exchanger, having finished laundering funds at a casino, entered the restroom to hand over bundles of cash to a courier.

They swindled 28.7 billion won from 555 victims by luring them with promises of high investment returns.

Instead of commercial banks where large cash withdrawals are difficult, they cashed out the stolen money at casino counters.

Funds deposited into the accounts of gang members were withdrawn as checks at the bank inside the casino and entirely exchanged for chips.

The gang used a so-called "two-way betting" method, where members participated in the same game and placed bets on opposite sides, offsetting losses on one side with profits from the other.

[Lee Seung-joo / Head of the Metropolitan Crime Investigation Unit at Busan National Police Agency: (Two people go into one game) One person bets low and one bets high, so they practically never lose money. After pretending to play the game on purpose, they converted those chips back into cash.]

Once the chips were "laundered" through games, they were exchanged back into cash at the casino counter.

The cash laundered in this manner was handed over to couriers in places like casino restrooms and ultimately transferred to an overseas organization.

They continued their crimes from October to December of last year across four domestic casinos, including Kangwon Land, Incheon Yeongjongdo, and Yongsan in Seoul.

They recruited foreign permanent residents who could access casino VIP areas where large sums can be bet and foreigner-only casinos with no betting limits.

The Metropolitan Crime Investigation Unit of the Busan National Police Agency arrested 54 members of the domestic money laundering ring on charges of violating the Telecommunications-based Financial Fraud Damage Refund Act and the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment, and detained 14 of them.

In addition, police seized physical assets such as 100 million won worth of cash, luxury goods, and mobile phones, and applied for pre-indictment preservation of property worth 300 million won, including real estate owned by the suspects.

Police believe that most of the fraud proceeds, excluding the seized cash and items, were funneled to the overseas organization that masterminded the investment scam, and are tracking down the syndicate.

(Photo courtesy of Busan National Police Agency) (Reported by Kim su-yun | Video by Jung Kyung-moon | Graphics by Park Na-young | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.