Vietnamese police have charged 21 people in a major AI-assisted gambling and money laundering scheme tied to the foreign website KUBET
Authorities in Thai Binh have pressed official charges against 21 individuals allegedly involved in a complex international criminal network with ties to gambling and money laundering.
The operation, while not the frst of its kind, is notable for being the first in Vietnam to employ artificial intelligence (AI) technology to facilitate financial crime.
Over 1M User Accounts Uncovered
The suspects were allegedly tied to the gambling platform KUBET, a foreign-hosted website offering games such as online lottery, football betting, and “tai xiu”, a popular dice game.
Vietnamese users accessed the platform using smartphones, set up accounts linked directly to their bank details, and placed bets with real money.
As the investigation kept unfolding, authorities learned that the network had gathered over 1 million user accounts, with total bets going over the 1 trillion VND ($39.2 million) mark.
However, the gambling activities were just the surface.
Digging deeper, police uncovered a complex laundering scheme involving shell bank accounts and advanced digital tactics.
A Taiwanese national, believed to be the leader of the ring, coordinated the operation in collaboration with at least one local counterpart in Vietnam.
Together, they recruited individuals to open multiple bank accounts at domestic banks. These accounts were then used to funnel and disguise large sums of money generated through illegal gambling.
To further obscure their trail, the group used internet banking apps installed on remote computers. Whenever a transaction exceeded 10 million VND ($392), triggering mandatory biometric verification, they employed AI-generated deepfake videos of account holders to circumvent bank security systems.
This innovation allowed them to complete high-value transactions without the account owners having to be physically present.
500 Bank Account, Frozen
Investigators have since frozen more than 500 bank accounts linked to the operation. They estimate that the laundering process moved over 200 billion VND ($7.84 million) every month.
Between September 2024 and April 2025 alone, the total laundered funds are believed to have surpassed 1 trillion VND.
Police say their investigation is ongoing and may implicate further suspects.
“This is a large-scale trans-national organised crime ring operating with sophisticated methods, notably introducing a new method that has appeared for the first time in Vietnam using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to commit the crimes,” authorities stated.
As digital crime continues to evolve, Vietnamese law enforcement faces mounting pressure to stay ahead of new technologies that are being exploited by criminal networks.
At the start of the year, Dong Nai authorities cracked down on an illegal sports betting operation that allegedly generated VND 1.2 trillion ($47.8 million).
At the end of last month, Vietnam announced a potential $2.2B casino resort amid gaming growth in Southeast Asia
