On 8/5, Nguyen Hoang Tuan, 39; Huynh Cong Danh, 33; Nguyen Hoang Phuc, 27; Ngo Trong Thanh, 32; Nguyen Thanh Nam, 33; Nguyen Na Sil, 32; and Ta Cong Thi, 29, were indicted and temporarily detained by Ha Tinh Provincial Police. They face charges of money laundering, organizing gambling, and property fraud.
The criminal ring has been active since 2025, operating a linked network of gambling websites such as 789Bet, Shbet, Hi88, and Jun88. These sites shared technical infrastructure and player data, with Tuan leading and managing the entire operation.
To evade detection, the servers were initially located in border areas of Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, before being continuously moved to Malaysia, the Philippines, and several European countries.
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Some suspects at the investigation agency. Photo: Police provided |
Authorities allege that the system utilized an intermediary payment platform to connect with 31 overseas gambling websites, automating the flow of illicit funds. From mid-2025, as biometric authentication regulations for bank transactions became stricter, Tuan's group increased their reliance on phone scratch cards to deposit money into the system.
Gambling proceeds were then dispersed through over 1,000 tier-one and tier-two agents nationwide. This extensive network created multiple layers of intermediaries, effectively concealing the origin of the money. Tuan meticulously assigned specific roles to each member for different operational stages, while also frequently changing accounts, contact groups, and domain names to avoid detection.
The investigation began several months ago when Ha Tinh Provincial Police received a complaint from a citizen who had been defrauded of over 330 million VND through gambling websites with overseas servers. Following this lead, police successfully uncovered Tuan's sophisticated criminal enterprise.
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Police working with Tuan, the alleged ringleader. Photo: Police provided |
In early May, multiple reconnaissance teams conducted simultaneous raids, leading to the arrest of eight individuals. During the operation, authorities seized 35 computers, 5 laptops, 23 phones, over 10,000 SIM cards, 6 SIM readers, and 1.3 billion VND in cash.
Authorities accuse the ring of having processed over 2,200 billion VND in scratch card money derived from gambling activities, with confirmed links to various overseas organizations.
The case is currently under expanded investigation.
Duc Hung
