The Ministry of Public Security (MoPS) in Vietnam officially announced a crackdown on “using the internet to appropriate assets, organise gambling, gamble, illegally trade invoices and launder money in Phu Tho province and some other provinces and cities.”

The announcement was issued after a number of domestic newspapers ran inaccurate reports on the investigation into and initial investigation outcomes of the case. The ministry did not clarify which parts of which reports were inaccurate.

From European Gaming:

The ministry said many organisations and persons took advantage of information technology and the internet to organise online gambling rings through betting or card games. Among those card games, Rikvip, which was later renamed Tip.club, was organised in a sophisticated manner and on a large scale, attracting millions of gamblers with trillions of VND.

Rikvip began operations on April 18, 2015 on the websites rikvip.com and rikvip.vn, featuring 42 games simulating different forms of gambling. It was renamed Tip.club in August 2016 and operated as mobile and computer applications.

To join the games, gamblers created accounts and sent money to buy virtual scores, called RIK, to those accounts through pre-paid telecom cards (Viettel, Mobifone, Vinaphone), game cards (Zing, Gate, Vcoin, Megacard, GoCoin, Vcard), and bank accounts, or directly buy virtual scores at Rikvip agencies.

After winning or losing games, gamblers could convert RIK into money by selling RIK to Rikvip agencies or selling pre-paid telecom card numbers and game card numbers, sending money to telephone accounts, or by using payment gateways.

To help gamblers send money to their game accounts, gambling organisers used legal entities they set up to connect with payment gateways (VNPT EPAY, Ngan Luong, HOMEDIRECT, Giai tri so) so gamblers could use pre-paid telecom cards and game cards to send money. They also used the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) services to help gamblers send money to game accounts from bank accounts while issuing Vcard and GoCoin game cards with the same purpose.

The gambling organisers set up a system of gambling agencies nationwide, including 25 tierl-1 agencies and 5,852 tier-2 agencies.
Read more here: https://europeangaming.eu/portal/lat...gambling-ring/