South Korea now arresting gang members for illegal igaming and cybercrime more often than other crimes
The Korean National Police Agency has reported that, for the first time, Korean gang members are being arrested more for online scams, including illegal igaming, rather than for assault or extortion.
Representative Suh Bum-soo shared the released figures, showing that of the 2,363 organized crime members arrested in 2024, 56.3% were involved in digital crimes, marking the first time arrests for cybercrime had overtaken all other criminal activities.
Other categories, such as extortion, assault, or intimidation, accounted for 645 arrests (27.3%) and illegal money lending schemes accounted for 388 arrests (16.4%). Cybercrime arrests accounted for 43.7%, the highest arrest rate.
The reason for the increasing number of cybercrimes is led by gang members in their 20s and 30s, according to the South Korean police, who are turning to illegal igaming and other scams as opposed to extortion of local businesses and becoming loan sharks.
The networks of gangs, which are tracked under South Korea’s Performance of Duties by Police Officer Act, operate under the same hierarchy, whereby senior figures collect the profits of lower-tier members. The cybercrime operations enable the gangs to operate on a larger scale.
This comes after South Korean authorities last week announced they had arrested 5,196 people during a year-long operation that targeted illegal igaming.
Abi Bray brings strong researching skills to the forefront of all of her writing, whether it’s the newest slots, industry trends or the ever changing legislation across the U.S, Asia and Australia, she maintains a keen eye for detail and a passion for reporting.
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The Backstory
Why arrests are tilting toward cybercrime
South Korea’s shift in gang arrests from street crimes to online scams did not happen overnight. Over the past two years, police have exposed how criminal networks moved from turf and loan-sharking rackets into scalable, low-overhead operations run on encrypted apps and offshore servers. Investigators say these groups recruit younger, tech-savvy members, outsource marketing and payment processing, and exploit gaps between jurisdictions. The trend has been visible in successive busts and cross-border operations that show how the business model of organized crime has gone digital.
A case in point was a multiyear investigation that took down a ring running eight gambling sites out of the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia. South Chungcheong Police estimated the group took in at least KRW27.1 billion in five years and processed more than KRW530 billion in wagers. Authorities said the operators relied on Telegram, burner phones and targeted promotions using female dealers to funnel users into real-time betting. The takedown, detailed in police dismantle igaming network in South Korea, underscored how encrypted messaging and offshore hosting allow syndicates to scale faster than traditional vice.
The tilt toward online crime has also intersected with youth risk. Police opened that investigation after reports that teenagers were hired to blast out promotional messages for the sites, a tactic that blurs recruitment, marketing and complicity. It is one example of how cyber-enabled gambling has widened the funnel of participants and promoters, making enforcement harder while driving arrest totals higher.
Together, these developments help explain why arrests for online scams and illegal igaming now outpace extortion and assault. The economics of cybercrime — low cost, high reach, rapid onboarding — are reshaping the risk-reward calculation for gangs. The policing response is adapting in kind, with larger, coordinated actions and an emphasis on digital forensics and international cooperation.
Cross-border operations raise the stakes
As operations migrated offshore, Seoul leaned on diplomatic channels and Interpol to pull suspects back home. In its most sweeping action to date, the National Police Agency repatriated 49 people from the Philippines in a coordinated transfer involving about 130 personnel on the ground and more than 100 officers at Incheon International Airport. The suspects were tied to fraud, online gambling and other cybercrimes, with 45 on Interpol Red Notices and 154 domestic arrest warrants in play.
Officials said one criminal organization had been operating an online casino worth KRW5.3 trillion since 2018, generating profits that dwarfed traditional vice. The operation, described in South Korea succeeds in largest ever repatriation of criminals linked to online gambling in the Philippines, signaled how far authorities were willing to go to match cross-border networks with cross-border enforcement. The move also showcased how profits from illegal betting fuel a broader web of fraud and exploitation.
These efforts matter for deterrence. Bringing suspects back to face prosecution in Korean courts reduces the safe-haven value of offshore hubs and pressures facilitators who rely on distance and jurisdictional friction. It also feeds intelligence back into domestic cases, helping police trace payment rails, marketing pipelines and command structures that govern digital rackets.
Yet the offshore pivot continues to test capacity. Each repatriation requires evidence standards that will stand up in multiple jurisdictions, and seamless transfers of digital evidence. The scale of the Philippines operation suggests authorities see the payoff: every successful extradition dismantles not just a website but a logistics chain of recruiters, IT support and financial mules.
Inside the new playbook of illegal igaming
Recent busts provide a window into how operators industrialize illegal gambling. The South Chungcheong case showed a corporate-style model that deployed marketing funnels, live sports streams and real-time betting to maximize engagement. The ring packaged promotions and user journeys like any internet business, with the difference that encryption, burner devices and offshore servers masked the flow of funds and commands.
In Jeju, police uncovered a complementary model rooted in the local economy. An organized group converted two PC bangs and a villa into command centers for online gambling sites and predatory lending. Between October 2024 and July 2025, the network generated about KRW22 billion in wagers, according to the Jeju Provincial Police Agency. The case, described in South Korean police bust $15 million illegal gambling rings run from converted internet cafés, targeted teenagers and seafarers and charged interest rates up to 650% on loans to students.
These cases share common infrastructure: encrypted communications, fragmented hosting, and front-end lures like live streams and promotional imagery. They also share vulnerabilities that police exploit — payment choke points, recruitment networks and community footprints that surface when operators try to scale. The evidence suggests gangs have traded blunt coercion for refined digital funnels, but they still need local conduits to reach users and move cash.
The playbook’s evolution helps explain why arrest tallies are shifting. When networks multiply through digital channels, investigators can sweep up dozens of suspects tied by data trails rather than street surveillance. Each network takedown boosts the share of cybercrime arrests in the organized crime ledger.
Rising youth exposure amplifies the risk
The migration online has widened access for minors, turning a public order issue into a public health problem. Treatment cases for teen gambling addiction tripled in two years, from 64 in 2022 to 210 in 2024, with another 156 cases recorded between January and July this year. Police also reported a surge in minors caught for gambling crimes, up from 76 in 2022 to 631 in 2024, with cases among children under 14 rising nearly thirtyfold.
The data, outlined in Teen gambling addiction causes concern in South Korea, pinpoints online casinos and illegal sports betting as drivers. Early exposure often starts on sports gambling sites, where marketing overlaps with social media and gaming culture. That pipeline mirrors the recruitment pathways seen in enforcement cases, where teenagers are tapped to spread promotions or drawn into borrowing to cover losses.
Jeju’s crackdown illustrated the feedback loop. Investigators found five teenagers among dozens apprehended, including one who borrowed KRW11 million to gamble. The combination of easy-access platforms, local facilitators and high-interest loans creates a cycle that can pull families into debt and expose minors to further exploitation. Police have warned that enforcement alone will not keep pace without school and community interventions.
The youth trend raises the stakes for policymakers weighing tougher platform controls, stronger age verification and targeted treatment. It also pressures regulators to track how illegal markets respond to legal changes in sports and casino advertising, lest tighter rules push more activity into shadow channels that are harder to monitor.
Influencers, enforcement and the regional spillover
The ecosystem extends beyond Korea’s borders and into social platforms. Philippine authorities said they identified 30 influencers who promoted unlicensed gambling sites to audiences of up to 9.2 million followers. Officials plan takedowns and possible charges under cybercrime and fraud statutes. The effort, detailed in Philippine cybercrime investigators identify 30 influencers promoting illegal online gambling, points to a broader recognition that distribution is as critical as operations.
For Korean police, that matters because promotion does not respect borders. Marketing seeded in one country can drive traffic to sites targeting users in another, complicating jurisdiction and evidence gathering. It also broadens the pool of potential partners, from platform operators to advocacy groups supplying monitoring technology.
Domestic enforcement has kept pace with rolling raids and publicized busts meant to deter would-be operators and users. Jeju police pledged to pursue not just operators and distributors but to claw back illicit profits. South Chungcheong investigators signaled they will “sternly punish” both operators and participants and coordinate with schools for prevention. While the tools are different from the street crackdowns of a decade ago, the aim is similar: raise the cost of doing business for gangs and limit the social damage.
The emerging picture is one of a market in flux. As networks pivot to cybercrime for scale and profit, police are responding with digital forensics, cross-border repatriations and youth-focused prevention. Those dynamics underpin the surge in cybercrime arrests and frame the stakes: a fight not just over criminal typologies but over the online spaces where commerce, entertainment and crime increasingly converge.
