Illustration showing a Casino roulette wheel with casino chips on green table. Gambling background (Image for representation)
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Chetan BC: For the first time, Bengaluru police have uncovered a network of agents working for casinos in Sri Lanka and other countries, suspected to be linked to cybercrime kingpins or running cybercrime rackets themselves.
These agents—active in Karnataka, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad—are allegedly involved in money laundering. They promote casinos on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Telegram, a highly placed police source said.
"When a prospective customer clicks on the link, their location is tracked, and they are directed to an agent operating nearby," the officer told DH.
The agents explain the available packages and collect payments. They also handle the logistics: travel to and from India, accommodation overseas, meals and, if requested, a companion of the customer’s preferred gender.
When the customer lands abroad, the casinos provides coins equivalent to the amount paid under the chosen package.
Initially, police were puzzled as to why anyone would travel abroad for gambling when they could simply go to Goa. A deeper investigation revealed the draw: foreign casinos have a win probability of 33%, compared to just 8% in Goa.
However, these agents are not registered in India, and there is no clarity on how money collected from customers is transferred to casinos abroad.
"We strongly believe that the money is converted into cryptocurrency and sent to handlers," the officer said. "This is nothing but money laundering."
Police now plan to write to the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to probe the money-laundering angle.
A senior police officer supervising the case said several agents had been identified.
The network caught the police's attention during the investigation of a cybercrime case in southern Bengaluru.
An elderly couple, held under digital arrest, was duped of Rs 4.75 crore. In one transaction, the fraudsters asked the couple to transfer Rs 10 lakh to the bank account of a friend of Eshwar Singh, a man from Hyderabad.
Questioned by the police, Singh revealed that the money was a refund from a casino in Sri Lanka, where he had gambled a few months earlier. This led investigators to uncover links between the casino and cybercriminals, ultimately exposing the wider network.
New network When a customer clicks on a link, agents explain available packages and collect payments; also handle the logistics When customer lands abroad, casinos provides coins equivalent to the amount paid Foreign casinos are tempting as they have a win probability of 33 per cent, compared to just 8 per cent in Goa The link came to police's attention during the investigation of a cybercrime case in southern Bengaluru