5,100 arrests in crackdown on illegal football gambling

Illegal gambling fuels human trafficking, money laundering and fraud

LYON, France – Authorities arrested over 5,100 people and looted more than $59 million in illegal proceeds as part of a massive international operation targeting illegal soccer gambling and related criminal activity.
The operation, codenamed SOGA It was designed to combat illegal online football gambling during the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, which was expected to lead to an increase in betting turnover and lucrative profits for criminal organizations.
According to research by the Asian Racing Federation, the illegal gambling market is worth a staggering $1.7 trillion worldwide and is closely linked to other criminal enterprises. SOGA’s investigations included shutting down tens of thousands of illegal websites

Hundreds of human trafficking victims rescued in the Philippines

In a major case in the Philippines, local authorities, with the assistance of INTERPOL, dismantled a fraud center operating alongside a licensed gambling site.
The operation resulted in the rescue of more than 650 human trafficking victims, including nearly 400 Filipinos and more than 250 foreign nationals from six different countries.
Many of the victims were lured to the location with false promises of work and were kept there through threats, intimidation and even the confiscation of their passports. They were then forced to work for the legal gambling site while running illegal cyber scams, including romance scams and cryptocurrency-related scams.
An INTERPOL operational support team provided critical assistance to Philippine authorities on the ground by providing expertise in extracting and analyzing forensic evidence from seized devices, tracking illicit financial flows, and identifying potential victims and suspects in other jurisdictions.

Profitable financial fraud in VietnamNam and Thailand

The SOGA-X operation also targeted large-scale illegal betting sites and complex financial crime schemes.
A notable example from Vietnam, where online gambling is banned for citizens, saw authorities dismantle a sophisticated gambling ring that was generating a staggering $800,000 in daily transactions.
The syndicate, operating from servers in multiple countries, used a sophisticated network of bank accounts and e-wallets to accept illegal gambling bets and distribute payouts.
In Thailand, police raided two sites hosting major illegal betting websites, arrested the ringleaders and their network on gambling and money laundering offenses, and seized assets worth over $9 million.
In Greece, authorities have broken up a major illegal betting ring that exploited fake and manipulated user accounts to place bets on sporting events. The organized crime group, which used virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass internet blocks in Greece, operated at least seven illegal gambling sites and had access to accounts on 60 other illegal websites.
The group managed 3,000 fake and “mule” user accounts on legal gambling websites in Greece, Cyprus and Spain. The accounts were created using both stolen IDs and forged documents, and often used e-wallets to facilitate their illegal activities. During the investigation, it was discovered that 9,000 images of fake IDs were found on confiscated laptops.
The goal of this type of system is to divide large sums of money into smaller, less recognizable amounts. By spreading their winnings across multiple accounts, criminals want to avoid detection by law enforcement, financial institutions, and legitimate gambling sites. It is a method that is also used to facilitate money laundering.

What online gambling is like linked to other crimes

SOGA INTERPOL facilitated the exchange of information between participating countries and provided case support and training for local authorities.

INTERPOL Executive Director of Police Services Stephen Kavanagh said:
“Organized crime networks make huge profits from illegal gambling, which is often linked to corruption, human trafficking and money laundering. The successes of Operation SOGA X would not have been possible without global information sharing and the significant efforts of law enforcement on the ground.”
Illegal gambling can also be closely linked to match-fixing, as criminals attempt to manipulate the outcome of sporting events to make profits. When illegal gambling becomes widespread, it becomes easier for corrupt individuals to influence games. Therefore, the SOGA-X operation also aimed to intercept and prevent any manipulation signals. The related investigations are still ongoing.
Participating countries and jurisdictions: Australia, Belgium, Brunei, Czech Republic, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Hong Kong (China), Hungary, India, Italy, Lebanon, Macau (China), Maldives, Malta, Namibia, Philippines, Portugal, Republic of Korea , San Marino, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Vietnam.