- Five Chinese men attempted to use counterfeit casino chips at the Cotai Strip in Macau.
- Macau’s Judiciary Police seized 585 counterfeit chips worth roughly $740,000 dollars.
- The fraudulent chips are a common problem at Macau casinos since they don’t have the same chip-tracking technology as in the United States.
MACAU – The Macau Judiciary Police cracked down on five men attempting to defraud casinos on the Cotai Strip with fraudulent chips. Sometimes fraudulent chips end up in the hands of unknowing blackjack players through harmless exchanges or blackjack side bets, so it’s great that police are preventing the flooding of fake chips.
Police uncovered a criminal syndicate on the mainland, which used counterfeit chips at casinos in Macau. A total of 585 counterfeit chips were seized, each with a denomination of HK$10,000, equal to $1,280, for a grand total of $740,000 worth of fake chips.
Police responded to a report of a customer exchanging fake chips for real money, which led to an investigation and the apprehension of five men from the mainland. More than 130 of the 585 seized chips were found in toilets and scattered around the border gate, likely due to the fugitives fleeing the scene.
Investigation Still Ongoing For Fraudulent Chips
The five men arrested for fraudulent casino chips aren’t the only ones at Macau casinos. Police are still investigating the suspected crime syndicate and have three additional suspects in their sights, according to information supplied by the Asia Gaming Brief news story.
Fake chips are often sold on the internet in Asia and have been wrongfully used at Macau casinos multiple times in the last year. Macau chips are easier to forge because they don’t have the same RFID (radio frequency identification) technology embedded in them as found at casinos in the United States.
Counterfeit chips are difficult to differentiate from legit ones with the naked eye, police stated. The Cotai Strip is slowly implementing these higher-tech chips into their blackjack casinos to prevent future exchange of counterfeit chips.