The Agency for Financial Monitoring of the Republic of Kazakhstan has reported the disruption in Almaty of the activities of an organised group that provided financial support to several illegal online gambling platforms. This concerns a group working with the illegal gambling platforms Olymp Casino, Rukh Poker, and 7Kcasino.

According to the investigation, those detained did not create the casinos themselves but performed a narrower yet critically important function by organising the receipt and laundering of money flows from players – in other words, they were effectively the "financial rear" of the shadow gambling business. The criminal case against this group of individuals was brought to the completion of the investigation, and the materials were sent to court.

HOW THE SCHEME WAS STRUCTURED

The key element of the scheme was the payment platform Rocket.do, through which, according to the investigation, the receipt and processing of players' money was carried out. To conceal the real recipients and the origin of the funds, the organisers used bank accounts of so-called droppers.

Once again, droppers are implicated in the offences – people who, for a fee, provided access to their personal accounts while formally having no connection to the gambling business.

The scale of their actions is indicated by the investigation's data – through the services of 16 droppers, more than 110 million tenge was received. Therefore, their activity was not a one-off occurrence but was distinguished by a well-established system, and the network itself processed money turnover for a fairly extended period.

The role of a foreign citizen deserves separate attention; according to the AFM, he was engaged in recruiting account holders. He found droppers willing, for payment of their services (up to 200 dollars), which amounted to more than 91 thousand tenge, to give access to their accounts. There are suggestions that, in order to increase the number of straw persons drawn into the scheme, individual identification numbers (IINs) were issued and accounts were opened directly in Kazakhstani banks. This indicates a well-thought-out "laundering" infrastructure that the accomplices built in advance and systematically, rather than spontaneously. There you have the result of uncontrolled migration.

LEGAL QUALIFICATION

The investigation was conducted by the territorial department of the AFM, which examined the facts of complicity in internet fraud, illegal entrepreneurship, the recruitment of droppers, and the legalisation of criminal proceeds. All these articles qualify the case not simply as "illegal gambling business" but as a multi-element financial crime, including the fact of organising a casino without a licence, the use of third-party accounts to conceal transactions, and the legalisation of proceeds obtained by criminal means.

This extraordinary case is instructive for a whole series of reasons, demonstrating the architecture typical of shadow online casinos: the gambling brands themselves in question (Olymp Casino, Rukh Poker, 7Kcasino) legally distanced themselves from the financial infrastructure serviced by a separate group through third-party payment services and straw accounts.

This circumstance somewhat complicates holding the owners of the platforms themselves accountable. In this connection, law enforcement agencies have to approach the schemes "through the money," exposing precisely the payment corridor rather than the gaming platform itself.

This case has once again brought to the fore the problem of dropperism, which exists as a mass phenomenon, involving ordinary citizens who often do not realise all the negative consequences. In essence, lured by a comparatively small reward, they give access to their bank accounts, thereby becoming a connecting technical link in the money-laundering chain, risking their own criminal liability.

As the involvement of a foreigner shows, such schemes are already acquiring a cross-border character. To recruit account holders, and according to certain reports, in finding potential droppers, this foreign citizen not only brought them to Kazakhstan but also accompanied them to the Public Service Centre (TsON) to register an IIN, and then led them to bank branches to open accounts. How do you like such boldness in a foreign country?

The investigation showed that during this multi-step operation, the suspect gained access to the bank accounts of 15 foreign citizens. The fact of purposefully bringing people into the country in order to open bank accounts indicates that countering them requires coordination of measures not only within the country but also with foreign partners.

As is well known, the gambling business in our country is regulated quite strictly. Legal casino activity is permitted only in specially designated zones (the Shchuchinsk-Borovoye resort zone and Kapshagai), and online casinos on the territory of the country are prohibited by law altogether. This is precisely why brands such as the platforms mentioned in the case operate outside the legal field, targeting Kazakhstani users through foreign domains and payment intermediaries. The disruption of such schemes is becoming part of a broader state campaign to combat shadow gambling and the money laundering associated with it. The key instrument in this, as we see, is financial monitoring in the person of the AFM, tracking not casino advertising but the movement of illegal funds.

Therefore, the case of the payment network of Olymp Casino, Rukh Poker, and 7Kcasino is a characteristic example of the fight against illegal online gambling. The emphasis is now placed not on blocking websites but on finding and destroying the financial infrastructure, for it is thanks to this that such a business becomes possible. And the scale of 110 million tenge laundered through the accounts of 16 droppers, as well as the participation of a foreign recruiter, clearly indicate that behind seemingly simple "black casinos" there sometimes stands a built-up transnational logistics of money flows, providing the payment infrastructure, the system for receiving and processing the funds of illegal online casinos.

We see that this shadow business tries in every way to disguise itself under various schemes for evading responsibility. The investigation, having established all the details of the criminal activity, will identify the role of each of the participants and the full volume of the financial operations carried out. For now, it is known that during the procedural actions one of the suspects was placed in custody. A preventive measure in the form of a written undertaking not to leave and to behave properly was applied to three other alleged participants.

DROPPERISM WITH SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES

As practice shows, in recent years one of the key links in criminal fraud schemes has turned out to be the so-called droppers, who provide their bank accounts to fraudsters, helping to transfer and cash out stolen money. The consequences of such activity can prove far more serious than the participants themselves suppose.

After the introduction, from 16 September 2025, of criminal liability for dropperism, 216 people have been held accountable, 202 of whom have already been convicted. These figures are growing, and participation in such schemes is now regarded as a criminally punishable act.

Judicial practice shows that droppers help criminals hide the traces of money operations by handing over access to their bank accounts. A person who has provided their account effectively becomes part of the chain along which stolen funds move from the victim to the fraudsters. At the same time, the money is often stolen from ordinary citizens, including elderly people and pensioners.

A case in the West Kazakhstan Region is instructive. Official reports indicate that seven 19-year-old college students opened bank accounts and handed over access to them to fraudsters. In this way, more than four million tenge stolen from citizens was cashed out. The court sentenced the young people to three years of restricted freedom. If the established restrictions are violated, the punishment may be replaced by imprisonment.

In August 2026, a resident of the Beimbet Mailin district of the Kostanay Region also became a defendant in a criminal case — for ten thousand tenge she handed over access to her bank account to fraudsters. The court found her guilty under Part 4 of Article 232-1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, imposing a sentence of one year of restricted freedom with the establishment of probation control.

For the illegal transfer of bank accounts or the carrying out of transfers in the interests of other persons, the legislation provides for punishment of up to seven years of imprisonment. In addition, droppers may face the blocking of accounts and other financial restrictions. Therefore, participation in such schemes carries not only criminal but also long-term financial consequences for the dropper themselves.

Law enforcement agencies pay separate attention to operations with digital assets through unlicensed AIFC exchanges. The use of such platforms in dubious schemes can also create risks for bank account holders and participants in financial operations.

It is important to understand that liability for dropperism may arise even when a person claims that they simply "lent" their card or account and have no connection to the crime. Although the transfer of bank details and access to accounts to third parties can, as we see, have serious consequences.

At the same time, the legislation provides for the possibility of exemption from liability for those who voluntarily report what they have done and assist in solving the crime. Kazakhstanis who have already transferred their accounts or cards to third parties are advised to block the cards and contact the relevant authorities.

The story with droppers shows how dangerous the desire to earn money quickly on a seemingly simple "service" can prove to be. Financial gain threatens to turn into a criminal case. In the conditions of growing internet fraud, a cautious attitude towards one's own bank accounts becomes not merely a matter of financial security but also a way of avoiding becoming an unwitting participant in someone else's crime, for which one must answer under the law.

Akmaral ABDULOVA