According to a report by Chinese state media, executives at Wynn Macau Ltd have expressed concern after hearing that their name was used as part of a scam which netted the culprits almost $8 million.
The Chinese media outlet says that the scammers promoted a new online casino scheme looking to find possible “investors” to be a part of the project. The culprits stated that Wynn Macau was part of the project to help gather investments. This helped to lure 200 victims into the scam, as they received over $7.9 million.
As reported by calvinayre.com, a spokesman for Wynn Macau, said, “We are highly concerned by this recently reported incident and we have been liaising with the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau accordingly.”
He continued, “Wynn Macau does not engage in any online investment or gaming sites. We encourage the public to be extremely wary of any sites claiming to have a connection with Wynn.”
The statement stresses the fact that online gambling is very limited within Macau, and within the region on the whole. The casinos don’t offer operations online, however, there is horse racing and sports betting which can be found on some sites within the region.
There is not much detail available on the scam as of now. Supposedly, the 200 victims are from 10 of the mainland provinces, which include Guangdong, right close to Macau. The investors were enticed into the scheme through an app which promised “fast” and “high” returns for individuals who were eager to invest.
There have been other such incidents in recent times. It is becoming a common event for scammers from both in and out of China to offer people the chance to invest in an online casino style operation. Most do not realize that these operations would be unlawful in China, giving the scammers the chance to make a “first of its kind” offer to investors.
To appear more reliable, it has become customary to use the name of a reputable casino operation to support the validity of the scam. Till now, this has been highly successful.
No arrests have been made yet. Even more, authorities have not confirmed that the crooks were operating inside the borders of mainland China. However, the app has supposedly been closed down.
