South Korea Detains 59 Members of a Money-Laundering Network Serving Unlicensed Gambling Platforms

Police in South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province have detained 59 people in a large-scale raid targeting a group suspected of laundering money for operators of unlicensed gambling sites.

Seven individuals, including the alleged 30-year-old ringleader, have been taken into custody. According to investigators, he oversaw a scheme in which money mules opened new bank accounts and handed them over for processing transactions on gambling platforms. Authorities also noted that one of the detainees is a call center employee responsible for assisting victims of telephone fraud at a major Korean bank.

During the raids, officers seized high-end vehicles, including a Rolls-Royce worth 640 million won (around $438,000), along with precious metals. The court also granted a request to freeze bank accounts holding more than 1.75 billion won ($1.2 million).

The suspects have been charged with participation in an organized criminal group and violations of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act and the Telecommunications and Financial Fraud Victim Prevention Act.

Investigators say the group operated open chat rooms on Telegram and other messaging apps, where they recruited money mules. Recruits were instructed to open bank accounts in their own names and hand them over to the organizers. In return, they were promised about $684 per month.

According to police, the network began operating in June 2023 and continued until investigators shut it down last month. The group’s clients included not only gambling and adult-site operators but also voice-phishing call centers.

For each bank account provided, the ringleader allegedly charged unlicensed platforms around $2,000 plus a daily “usage fee” of $89.

Police noted that the group had a clearly structured hierarchy, including management, consulting and recruitment units. Members also used threats and violence to prevent account holders from withdrawing funds. As a form of pressure, the gang collected personal data on the mules and their family members and used it as “collateral.”

In one incident, investigators said that in November 2024 a mule withdrew more than $15,000 from an account and attempted to flee. The ringleader dispatched a team to track him down. Two months later, they found the runaway.

Police say he was taken to a remote mountain area, beaten with a steel pipe and forced to shave his own head. The attackers filmed the incident and posted the video to a Telegram channel as a “warning” to others.

The ringleader also threatened to report the mules’ personal details to the police if they attempted to cooperate with investigators.

This arrest is part of a nationwide crackdown by South Korean authorities on criminal networks linked to unlicensed gambling operations.