MANILA, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Philippine law enforcement authorities have jointly arrested and repatriated a key member of a cross-border gambling syndicate involving over 2.92 billion yuan (about 433 million U.S. dollars), the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines said on Wednesday.

File photo: CFP

The syndicate operated an online gambling platform in the Philippines, luring people through website promotions, social media ads, agent recruitment and referrals. It manipulated back-end data, imposed stringent withdrawal conditions and prolonged betting sessions to defraud gamblers, according to the embassy.

The embassy urged people to stay away from all forms of gambling.