From Fame to Fraud: How Argentina’s Influencers Help Illegal Gambling.

A cyber crime group in Argentina used social media influencers to legitimize its illegal gambling websites seeking to launder money, an example of the growing variety of crimes committed with the help of common technology.

On October 8, the Specialized Prosecutorial Unit for Cyber Crime Investigations (la Unidad Fiscal Especializada en Investigaciones de Ciberdelito) in San Isidro raided a beach property housing a criminal structure that moved profits close to US$2.5 million from an illegal gambling website during a six month period.

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The cyber gang recruited customers and promoted the illegal gambling site via an Instagram profile. They pushed their illegal services through influencers who were likely unaware of the illegal nature of the activity. The influencers later received requests from the Argentine justice system to testify about the facts in the case.

The Buenos Aires’ attorney general Juan Bautista Mahiques indicated that “the success of the operation, where more than 1,800 gambling websites were blocked, allowed the Argentine authorities to advance in the fight against a growing phenomenon of illegal gambling in the country.”

InSight Crime Analysis

This new form of cyber crime shows how criminal organizations are seeking to circumvent the authorities by taking advantage of the growing gap between the popularity of social networks and online gambling, and the amount of resources that authorities devote to tackling crimes in those spheres.

An alarming growth in cyber crime in Latin America in recent years and its cross border nature, combined with a lack of speed on the part of the authorities to react, has made such offenses a threat that’s increasingly difficult to counter.

The evolution of consumption through social networks such as Instagram has had an impact on the transformation of cyber crime dynamics, such as illegal gambling, that would have been difficult to foresee just a few years ago. The power of influencers has made way for new spaces to control people’s behavior on the internet.

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New decentralized technologies, such as cryptocurrencies, have led to new ways to commit crimes such as money laundering and fraud. In Brazil, nine influencers were arrested on October 9 for embezzlement, gambling, consumer deception, and money laundering. Difficulties in tracing details such as identity and geographic location necessary to shut down the owners of illegal transactions has further complicated investigations by the authorities.

A lack of technical knowledge and trained people at judicial and security authorities in the region, as well as a paucity of regulation at the regional level, give an important advantage to cyber criminals. 

Featured Image: An apartment building is seized during a government raid in Buenos Aires. Credit: La Nación