Hi-tech spy equipment gave poker gang a winning hand
POKER cheats who used James Bond-style spy equipment to pocket an estimated £250,000 from casinos were caught only after staff could not explain their extraordinary run of luck.
Yau Yiu Lam and his two partners in crime repeatedly preyed on London casinos using miniature "up-the-sleeve" cameras and virtually invisible earpieces to chalk up a string of spectacular wins.
In the scam, Lam filmed cards being dealt by the croupier. The footage was beamed to an accomplice in a van equipped with video recorders and monitors. The secretly shot images were played in slow motion so the cards could be identified as they were laid face down on the table. The vital information was then relayed to a hidden microphone worn by the third gang member, Bit Chai Wong, a seasoned player, sitting at the poker table.
Police believe the gang targeted six of London's 25 casinos, making £38,000 in one week alone. "These casinos have suggested they may have experienced losses of as much as £250,000 from this scam," Detective Inspector Darren Warner, of the Metropolitan Police, said.
Outside court, Mr Warner said he believed this was the first hi-tech sting of its kind in the country; it had allowed the gang to cheat at least one casino out of a significant amount of cash.
Normally, offences of this type were extremely difficult to prove, he said, adding: "It is the only time, as far as I am aware, that people carrying out such a cheat have been arrested red-handed. It is a first."
Yau Yiu Lam and his two partners in crime repeatedly preyed on London casinos using miniature "up-the-sleeve" cameras and virtually invisible earpieces to chalk up a string of spectacular wins.
In the scam, Lam filmed cards being dealt by the croupier. The footage was beamed to an accomplice in a van equipped with video recorders and monitors. The secretly shot images were played in slow motion so the cards could be identified as they were laid face down on the table. The vital information was then relayed to a hidden microphone worn by the third gang member, Bit Chai Wong, a seasoned player, sitting at the poker table.
Police believe the gang targeted six of London's 25 casinos, making £38,000 in one week alone. "These casinos have suggested they may have experienced losses of as much as £250,000 from this scam," Detective Inspector Darren Warner, of the Metropolitan Police, said.
Outside court, Mr Warner said he believed this was the first hi-tech sting of its kind in the country; it had allowed the gang to cheat at least one casino out of a significant amount of cash.
Normally, offences of this type were extremely difficult to prove, he said, adding: "It is the only time, as far as I am aware, that people carrying out such a cheat have been arrested red-handed. It is a first."
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9:48 AM
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