Part IV: Financial Fraud · Internal Collusion & Employee Fraud

Scam #34: Baccarat Cut-Card Camera Scam with Dealer Collusion

How it works

In this sophisticated baccarat scam, a colluding dealer turns the eight decks 90 degrees toward a player who has volunteered to cut the cards. The player, equipped with a concealed camera (often in a sleeve or smartphone), slides the cut card across the top of the fanned-out cards, scraping a fingernail across the corner to reveal the indexes of a sequence of cards to the camera. The player then leaves the table, reviews the captured video in a private location, memorizes or records the card sequence, and relays the information to other players at the table who place bets accordingly. This method was ranked among the top five casino scams of the century by security experts, with estimated global losses exceeding $100 million. The Swiss Casinos Zurich detection of the “Chinese Eleven” group in 2024, which won approximately $175,000, was recognized at the World Game Protection Conference for excellence in surveillance.

Where it appears

High-limit baccarat

On the record

The “Chinese Eleven” case at Swiss Casinos Zurich (2024) - 11 members of an organized cheating gang were apprehended using the cut-card camera method. Willy Allison, founder of the World Game Protection Conference, estimated global losses from this scam exceed $100 million. The method originated in Macau and proliferated worldwide.

Published as a detection reference for surveillance, compliance and gaming-operations professionals. Thresholds and tuning are set by the property. Nothing here is instruction — the method is described so it can be recognised.