{"id":777046276,"date":"2026-08-17T10:38:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T13:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777046276"},"modified":"2026-08-17T12:26:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T15:26:40","slug":"south-korea-arrests-58-over-fake-kangwon-land-gambling-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/south-korea-arrests-58-over-fake-kangwon-land-gambling-site","title":{"rendered":"58 arrested in South Korea over fake Kangwon Land gambling site"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Investigators say the group promoted the site through social media and used deepfake videos featuring the faces and voices of well-known athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

South Korea.- Police in South Korea have arrested 58 suspects over an online gambling operation that allegedly used Kangwon Land<\/strong>\u2019s identity to attract domestic players. According to the Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency<\/strong>\u2019s cyber investigation unit, the platform attracted around 40,000 Korean users<\/strong>. It reportedly used Kangwon Land\u2019s name and logo without permission and posted deepfake videos featuring the faces and voices of well-known athletes on social media in a bid to make the platform appear credible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the suspects were Russian nationals living in South Korea<\/strong>, while some were from Kazakhstan<\/strong>. Police said the group had account managers, recruiters and people responsible for obtaining bank accounts registered in other individuals\u2019 names. The network reportedly rotated more than 70 borrowed-name accounts, changing them regularly to make it harder for investigators to trace the flow of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police estimate that about KRW78bn (US$56m) in gambling funds moved through the operation between October 2022 and August 2025. Authorities have sought pre-indictment preservation of about KRW1.5bn (US$1m) in assets linked to suspected criminal proceeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kangwon Land is the only casino in South Korea where local citizens are legally permitted to gamble. Police stressed that the operator does not run an online gambling platform. The investigation remains ongoing as authorities examine the wider network and the users involved in the illegal operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Vietnam tries 58 over alleged VN\u01104trn online gambling network<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Investigators say the group promoted the site through social media and used deepfake videos featuring the faces and voices of well-known athletes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":777034126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"South Korean police have arrested 58 individuals, primarily Russian nationals, for operating an illegal online gambling platform that illicitly leveraged Kangwon Land's identity and deepfake athlete videos to attract approximately 40,000 domestic players. The operation processed an estimated KRW78bn (US$56m) in gambling funds, highlighting significant regulatory and financial crime risks within the grey market. Authorities are pursuing asset preservation and the investigation into the wider network remains ongoing.","focusai_entities":"Kangwon Land, Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency","focusai_location":"South Korea, Kazakhstan, Russia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Deepfake Regulatory Impact?","query":"What specific regulatory amendments or new governance frameworks are being considered by South Korean authorities to address the use of deepfake technology in illicit iGaming promotion and brand impersonation?"},{"label":"AML Evasion Tactics?","query":"How do the 'borrowed-name' account rotation tactics employed by this illegal operation challenge existing AML protocols and what enhanced due diligence measures are being developed to counter such financial obfuscation?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,439],"tags":[29,4138,152],"class_list":["post-777046276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legal-news","tag-casino","tag-online-gambling","tag-south-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777046276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777046276"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777046276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777046280,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777046276\/revisions\/777046280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777034126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777046276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777046276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777046276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}