Up until recently casino chip forgery has been the illegal enterprise of artisans who fashioned thermoplastic compound into discs to try to cheat casinos out of a few thousand bucks. No more. Enter the highly sophisticated computer designed clone that can only be identified through very close inspection or immediate casino auditing work.

Last week two Korean suspects were caught at the Kangwon Land Casino in Gangwon Province, South Korea attempting to exchange fake chips into 600 million won (US$600,000) in cash at the casino, the only casino in the nation that is legally open to Koreans. According to the police, the suspects had cashed 10 fake chips at 1 million won denomination each and attempted to cash hundreds of millions more. The chips were supposedly smuggled in from Guangzhou in China and Macao.

The casino’s own investigation has uncovered 43 fake chips worth around US$40,000. The Police, however, said other gamblers might unwittingly be holding many more fake chips. More fake chips have been found in a customs warehouse at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport and, if these are included, the criminal operation to hit the Kangwon Land Casino is reported to be more than US$4 million.

During ICE 2008 in London last week Ricki Chavez-Munoz, Senior VP for Korean games manufacturer ACE A&G commented: “According to police officers in Seoul, the casino chips were manufactured using high tech equipment, with the involvement of an international crime organization. To our knowledge the best solution to this type of crime is for casinos to move into RFID technology for the protection of their inventory.” (E-01.29.08)

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