China and Vietnam mount online gambling takedown

Over the past few weeks, the Chinese government has amped up its intended take down of the Asian online gambling industry with a war of words having now began between itself and the Philippines. However, news overnight now suggests that it has taken its mission to the next level.  

It has been confirmed that China and Vietnam are to now launch their join operation into the intended takedown of the online gambling world. 

The news comes following last week’s announcement from the Provincial Public Security Bureau in China, that they had busted a major illegal online gambling and telecom operation in Vietnam.  

As part of the operation, the Chinese Hunan cops worked in cooperation with their Vietnam counterparts. A move that they claimed marked a “new height in the Belt & Road cross-border police cooperation.” 

It was alleged that the investigation actually started in 2019 after a tip was given to China’s embassy in Vietnam. The allegation was then given to the Ministry of Public Security and it a massive investigation was authorised. This allocated over 330 cops to the case.

After liaising with their counterparts in Vietnam, the investigators staged a series of raids on the 6^th of June in Halong City and Nha Trang City. In total, 77 Chinese nationals were arrested and deported to China three days later. Chinese authorities arrested a further 31 suspects in China, along with the usual assortment of computers, phones and bank cards.

According to  local media, the gang had been operating since 2017 and had committed both fraud and gambling related crimes. It is claimed that they had been taking billions of yuan each year. In order to promote its online activities, the gang had been using the WeChat social network and had been accepting payments via AliPay.  

Although Vietnam has pounced on Chinese-led online gambling operations in the past, this was the first time that authorities had worked so closely together, extending a pattern in which China has begun working more closely with its regional neighbours to interdict illegal gambling and fraud operations.

In addition to this, the Chinese have recently worked with Cambodia to assist them with busting a ring within their ranks. As part of this, they seemingly managed to ‘convince’ Cambodia to halt their online licenses and have urged the Philippines to also ban online gambling. A move that they are now said to be considering.

These suggestions come as China’s President, Xi Junping held discussions with his Philippine counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte, in Beijing.