Kazakhstan’s AFM shuts down drop group processing payments for Olymp Casino, Rukh Poker and 7Kcasino

Kazakhstan’s Agency for Financial Monitoring (AFM) said it has dismantled a foreign drop cell that handled transactions for three illegal brands via the online platform Rocket(.)do. For high-risk PSPs, the useful bit is simple: the payment flow depended on nominee bank accounts, not any kind of normal merchant setup.

1. The organiser of the cell was a foreign national who convinced his compatriots to come to Kazakhstan and open bank cards in exchange for cash, with payments of up to $200. In total, he collected 15 third-party accounts and added his own.
2. Those 16 drop accounts received more than 110 million tenge ($233,4 thousand) from players of the illegal platforms. The brands named in the AFM report were Olymp Casino, Rukh Poker and 7Kcasino.
3. The transactions were routed through Rocket(.)do, according to the agency. That detail matters because it shows the kind of setup investigators are looking at: platform-based payment collection layered over a network of proxy account holders.
4. One suspect has already been taken into custody, while three others have been placed under travel restrictions.