Crackdown on Group Manipulating Table Tennis Matches
Ukrainian cyber police have successfully dismantled a group that bribed or deceived professional table tennis players into losing their matches. Knowing the results in advance, the perpetrators profited from betting. One suspect has been charged and placed under house arrest.
Cyber police officers, along with investigators from the Obolon police department in Kyiv, under the supervision of the Obolon District Prosecutor's Office, uncovered an illegal scheme for profiting from match-fixing in table tennis.
To recruit athletes and discuss the details of their schemes, some members of the group, located abroad, used popular messaging apps and social media. They influenced official sports competition results through bribery, deception, or manipulation of trust.
Depending on their rankings, professional players were promised between $500 and $2000 for losing matches.
With knowledge of upcoming match results, the offenders placed bets on betting platforms registered in Asian countries, either personally or through proxies.
Police, with support from the special forces unit of the Patrol Police Department, conducted a search at the residence of one of the group's most active members in Odesa, seizing the suspect's gadgets.
The suspect has been charged under Part 3 of Article 369-3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Illegal influence on the results of official sports competitions). He is currently under house arrest, facing a penalty of up to 5 years in prison.
Investigative actions are ongoing to identify all members of the criminal group, including those abroad, with potential additional legal qualifications.
