Multistate Baccarat Scam Nets $1.5 Million, Cops Hunt Cheating Ring
Posted on: June 13, 2025, 08:53h.
Last updated on: June 13, 2025, 09:55h.
- Group scammed at least 10 casinos across six states
- Surveillance captured cheating methods using cut cards, phones
- Warrants issued for six suspects in massive gambling fraud
Authorities in several states are hunting a baccarat cheating ring that hit at least 10 casinos across the country for more than $1.5 million.
That’s according to documents filed earlier this month to a criminal court in Lake County, Ind., where the gang allegedly bilked the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana out of more than $700K.
Split-Second Recording
The group’s method involved using a cut card to fan out the deck for a split second, long enough for a recording device to capture the order of the cards.
The image was then relayed to an accomplice who would study the deck and advise other members via concealed earpieces about when to bet optimally.
The group hit casinos in five other states between July 2023 and March 2024, including the Mohegan Pennsylvania Casino Resort in Wilkes Barre, the Golden Nugget and the Imperial Palace casinos in Biloxi, Miss., and Bally’s Casino in Chicago, according to the filings, seen by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Jianchu Liu, Fuxiang Liu, Qingyong Zhang, Honghui Wu, Daiqi Wang, and Yuhan Hu are each wanted by authorities in Indiana on counts of felony theft and cheating at gambling. Warrants have been issued for their arrest.
Casino.org reported in April that Liu, a Chinese national, is also wanted in Pennsylvania on a warrant that charges him with two misdemeanor counts of winning by fraud or trickery.
Caught on Camera
Security video from Mohegan Pennsylvania showed Lui launching an app on his cellphone while seated at the baccarat table. He made sure to darken the screen to prevent security from seeing what he was doing, according to a police affidavit.
After Liu placed the phone under a stack of baccarat scorecards, the dealer shuffled and allowed Liu to cut the deck. The player was seen to move the dealer’s hands around to “dictate how [the dealer] should be holding the deck,” according to police.
Authorities in Indiana reported a similar modus operandi but added that the group would move from table to table until they found a dealer who was more likely to let the cheaters briefly handle the deck.
One dealer at the Hard Rock was initially suspected of being an inside man, according to the affidavit. However, when investigators interviewed him, they realized the dealer was being manipulated by the group due to his relative inexperience.
Last Comments ( 2 )
Good for them, I wish they hadn't been caught though. The casinos cheat millions of people everyday and cry when someone gets an advantage over their crooked ways.
What you don’t say here is this OCG originated in Italy and we Europeans are well aware of who they are and can identify the ring leaders. They have picked up some soldiers in the USA but the same heads are always the same.