Hanoi police open criminal proceedings against SEO agency tied to black-market gambling promotion

Police in Hanoi have launched criminal proceedings against staff at Super Thi Seo Media Services Co Ltd, saying the agency used SEO and traffic-boosting services to support unlicensed gambling websites. For PSPs and acquirers, the detail that matters is simple: the operation mixed marketing, crypto, cash salaries, and layered wallets, which is exactly the sort of structure that makes source-of-funds and merchant-risk checks harder.

1. Investigators detained the company’s young CEO, Pham Ngoc Manh, along with 17 managers and employees. Police said the case concerns “illegally providing information through computer and telecommunications networks,” with the firm allegedly using services such as search engine optimisation, website ranking, and related traffic generation to support black-market operators.
2. According to a police statement reported by Vietnamnet, Super Thi Seo was organised into separate teams for marketing, search optimisation, information technology, customer service, and back-linking. On paper that looks like a normal media agency; in practice, police say the main function was to push illegal gambling sites up search rankings and drive traffic to them rather than serve ordinary commercial clients.
3. Authorities said Pham Ngoc Manh managed 41 electronic wallets for receiving payments in USDT cryptocurrency. The company also paid employee salaries mainly in cash, which police said was designed to obscure financial trails and make enforcement more difficult.
4. During the raids, law enforcement confiscated more than VND7 billion ($268,000) in cash and assets converted from cryptocurrency, froze a savings account containing VND3 billion, and seized 29 computers and 41 mobile phones. Police also said the company had generated approximately VND3.7 billion from the beginning of 2026 by promoting and improving search visibility for 22 Vietnamese-language gambling websites.
5. The gambling platforms were not officially licensed, putting them outside regulatory compliance. Authorities have also extended travel restrictions to an additional 15 individuals connected to the case as the investigation continues, and they have not said whether further charges will follow.

One practical point for payment teams: the structure described here is the kind of setup that often sits around high-risk traffic generation rather than the gambling operator itself. If your controls only look for the obvious merchant, you can miss the service layer that moves money through USDT wallets, cash-heavy payroll, and multiple small operational accounts.