Kazakhstan has placed Uzbek blogger Mahmud Hikmatov, known online as Maxa.dxb, on its international wanted list, the Kazakh government reported on its official website.
Hikmatov, born in Uzbekistan in 2000, is suspected of advertising illegal online casinos. A court has ordered his pretrial detention as a preventive measure, and authorities are offering a reward — along with a guarantee of anonymity — for information leading to his whereabouts.
According to Kazakhstan's Financial Monitoring Agency, the scheme involved building online gambling interfaces and processing payments through card acquiring services, mobile transfers and cryptocurrency, alongside advertising campaigns designed to recruit new users.
Investigators say Hikmatov was responsible for recruiting Kazakh bloggers to promote the casinos, requesting social media statistics — including audience demographics, follower locations and reach — to help set advertising rates. He is accused of drawing more than 35 bloggers into the scheme.
One of those allegedly involved, blogger Kamza K., used his online following to post referral links to the casinos and was paid for each user who signed up through them. He was extradited from Vietnam on August 6.
