Talatona – Angola’s Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) arrested 46 Chinese citizens and dismantled an international criminal network that operated in Luanda, in a virtual casino with more than 400 online games, with the aim of defrauding Brazilian and Nigerian gamblers.
The clandestine casino operated at the Sunshine Hotel, in the municipality of Talatona, and the dismantling operation was carried out by SIC, through the Central Directorate of Operations, the National Directorate for Combating Computer Crimes and the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime.
Speaking to the press on Wednesday, the Chief Superintendent of Criminal Investigation, Manuel Halaiwa, stressed that the main objective of these criminals was defrauding Brazilian and Nigerian gamblers on these platforms, whose payments were made in the players' local currency.
Manuel Halaiwa revealed that 113 Angolan employees were involved, and worked in a two-shift regime, namely from 10 am to 10 pm and from 10 pm to 10 am, and only 15 were registered to Social Protection Institute.
'They withhold social security contributions, but do not deposit them with the Institute, which constitutes abuse of trust, tax evasion, among other crimes with strong links in Angola and Brazil,' he explained.
He clarified that the 46 Chinese citizens, men and women, were involved in this scheme, while the national citizens were deployed to the 'call center' (customer support center), where they interacted with gamblers.
Manuel Halaiwa also mentioned that another area was intended for the engagement or marketing of the games, in which both Angolans and Chinese worked.
He also mentioned that after the start of activities in Brazilian territory, citizens of that South American country were mobilized to be part of the team and received commissions as the game multiplied online.
'Each platform had 48 users in the game of chance, which was designed to cause loss, and the price of the game ranged from 10 to 100 Brazilian reais,' he said, noting that in this operation 223 high-end computers and 113 phones used to create fake profiles were seized.
Manuel Halaiwa also explained that the game was also used for “phishing” crimes, with the extraction of user data, such as banking and personal information.
The Chief Superintendent stressed that the 46 foreign citizens will be presented to the Public Prosecutor's Office, to the guarantee judge, for the application of the bail measures.
The Chief Superintendent stressed that the 46 foreign citizens will be presented to the Public Prosecutor's Office, to the guarantee judge, for the application of the bail measures.
He also said that the SIC has warned citizens not to get carried away by online games and to prevent scams and data theft.
'Some of the citizens are in a legal situation, with employment contracts in other sectors, while others only have a tourist visa,' he concluded. GIZ/MDS/DOJ
