Star Casino Gambler Fled to China After Fake Chips Discovered
According to Australia's Daily Telegraph, a gambler who attempted to swindle Sydney's Star Casino last month by using "exceptionally high-grade counterfeit chips" fled the property within hours and boarded a flight to China.
After checking into his hotel room on March 29, the unidentified Chinese national left for the casino an hour later, according to New South Wales Police.
He went to the casino cage at about 11:30 p.m. to ask to have his color changed. The man left $10,000 worth of chips on the counter and ran away as the cashiers started to question the chips he was presenting.
Mission Aborted
A man wearing all-black clothing and white sneakers can be seen fleeing the casino and eluding a security guard's attempts to apprehend him on camera.
Ten minutes afterward, the man left The Oaks Sydney Goldsbrough Suites and made his way to the airport, where he boarded a flight scheduled to depart at approximately eight in the morning.
Investigators discovered that the casino was circulating $24,000 worth of counterfeit chips. They think this might have been an experiment to trick the casino out of a much bigger amount.
Although the police are unsure of the chips' manufacturing location, they believe the suspect brought some authentic ones back to China on a prior trip there in January. That time, he spent less than twenty-four hours in Sydney before flying back to China. How the casino employees were able to identify the fakes was not disclosed by the investigators.
An Increase in Fakes
Thanks to methods like ultraviolet stamping and inbuilt radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, chips have become harder to counterfeit in recent years. On the other hand, because it's now simpler to get lifelike imitations online, frequently on the dark web, their use in casinos has increased.
"They were exceptionally high-grade counterfeits,” Detective Superintendent Peter Faux, head of the NSW Organized Crime Squad, told the Telegraph. “Star reported the discovery within minutes of being aware of them and [has] been of great assistance to our investigation.
“The man was here on a temporary visa and used his real name and traveled on a genuine passport,” Faux added. “He had prebooked the hotel room for three days from March 29, but left on March 30.”
NSW Police said they are communicating with Interpol and Chinese authorities as part of their investigation.