India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, and South Korea tighten pressure on iGaming agents as police seize phones, SIM cards, and bank accounts

Across five jurisdictions in a stretch of one week, police actions again centered on the same operational weak points: agent networks, mule accounts, mobile financial services, and bank rails used to move deposits and withdrawals for iGaming products. For PSPs, acquirers, and banks, this is the part of the stack that gets traced first.

1. India: Gorakhpur police detained five gambling agents linked to “Ready Anna” on 20 August 2026. Investigators say the group bought rights to the platform panel, handled deposits and withdrawals, and routed payments through multiple bank accounts opened in the names of front men. Police seized 23 phones, laptops, tablets, bank cards, and other equipment during the raid.
2. Bangladesh saw two separate arrests on 22 August 2026. In Rangpur, police detained 38-year-old Rajib Kumar Adhikari, whom they describe as the head of an agent network tied to “Casino Emperor.” Police say he was caught while processing in- and outflows for online betting sites through mobile financial services and an agent SIM card on bKash. Two smartphones were seized and a criminal case was filed.
3. In Joypurhat, police detained 27-year-old Morsalin Mondol, described by investigators as a master gambling agent. He was found at a home in Khetlal. Police seized 19 smartphones, about 1,000 active SIM cards, and seven bank cards. Investigators are checking his role in managing the network’s financial transactions and any additional accomplices.
4. Myanmar and Thailand cases on 23-24 August 2026 show the same infrastructure pattern. In Muse, Shan State, security forces detained 20 people — one Chinese national and 19 Myanmar nationals — on suspicion of running an illegal iGaming business. Police seized 77 phones, three all-in-one desktop units, a laptop, and other equipment. In Kanchanaburi, Thailand, police detained a 32-year-old woman wanted under a Criminal Court warrant dated 19 May; investigators say she was a managing partner in a structure linked to “UFA356” and the owner of a bank account used for iGaming transactions. That account handled 151 transactions totaling about 19.52 million baht.
5. Thailand’s Lamang case and South Korea’s Red Notice move round out the week. On 24 August 2026, police searched three addresses in Lampang as part of a probe into the “UFO98” network, which investigators say had turnover above 25 million baht. Two suspected participants — a 40-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman — were arrested and charged with aiding online gambling, using mule accounts, and money laundering. Also on 24 August, Ulsan police said arrest warrants had been issued for five participants in a large iGaming network, allegedly based in Thailand, and entered into Interpol’s database as Red Notices. The total betting volume tied to the network is estimated at about $43 million.

For high-risk payments teams, the repeated theme is not the front-end brand but the settlement path: bank accounts opened for stand-ins, agent SIMs, mobile wallets, and rapid turnover through accounts that can be frozen, traced, and compared across jurisdictions. That is where the enforcement pressure is landing.