TEN suspects were detained by Longgang police April 7 for allegedly swindling over 200 victims out of hundreds of thousands of yuan by using a virtual transaction platform for gambling, the Daily Sunshine reported.

Police officers from Shengping Police Station in Longgang District received reports saying that a fraud ring was organizing online gambling in a rented apartment in Longgang Subdistrict. The police detained nine suspects in the apartment at around 2 p.m. April 7 and detained another suspect in Longhua District at 6 p.m. the same day.

According to the police, by registering a WeChat official account the suspects lured the victims to gamble on the fluctuation of the international currency exchange rate via the online transaction platform that promised them high returns.

Gamblers could make a bet in 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes or 15 minutes. For example, if a gambler bet 100 yuan (US$15) that the exchange rate would rise within 1 minute and if it did, the gambler could get a 77-percent profit. But if it didn’t, the gambler would loss all the money.

The police said that the suspects can control the gambling results by manipulating the background operations of the platform. The suspects would usually allow new players to win so that they would continue gambling and betting higher amounts, according to the police. (Zhang Yang)