Crime Ring Caught With Counterfeit Chips in Korea
Casinos have long been careful to examine cash handled, knowing that gambling is an easy way to launder counterfeit money. Bills are inspected for watermarks, paper quality, imprints, and checked with special pens that leave different colors on authentic and fake money. Now, a new threat has emerged in Korea, where one casino has uncovered a plot to counterfeit chips.
Kangwon Land, a casino in Gangwon Province of South Korea, caught 3 suspects attempting to cash phony chips worth 600 million won. In U.S. currency, that would equal roughly $631,000. A chip worth 1 million won is equivalent to a little more than $1000.
Police fear that the sophisticated and detailed copies are the work of organized crime gangs throughout China and Southeast Asia. The casino has found 43 of the million won chips that had made their way into casino supplies, and believe other chips may be held by unsuspecting gamblers.
A warehouse was also discovered by police to have over 4000 of the chips hidden away. The value of these if they had been accepted at the casino would be over $4 million U.S.
Chips are generally much less complicated in their manufacturing than currency. Given that various casinos are constantly changing the images used, leading to a variety of shades and imprints on perfectly valid chips, the idea of mass counterfieting of chips is a nightmare the casino world may do well to anticipate.
