Kazakhstan puts Uzbek blogger on international wanted list

Kazakhstan has put Uzbek blogger Mahmud Hikmatov, known online as Makha.dxb, on the international wanted list, the government's official website reported.

Born in Uzbekistan in 2000, Hikmatov is under suspicion of advertising illegal online casinos. The court has set a preventive measure of detention for him. A reward is being offered for information about him and the identity of the informant will remain confidential.

According to the Financial Monitoring Agency of Kazakhstan, an advertising scheme aimed at creating a gambling interface, processing payments via acquiring, mobile transfers and cryptocurrency, and attracting users was operating in the country.

Hikmatov was responsible for attracting Kazakh bloggers to promote casinos. He asked them for social network statistics - demographics, geography of subscribers and audience coverage - in order to determine the cost of advertising. According to the investigation, he involved more than 35 bloggers in illegal activities.

One of the participants in this scheme was blogger Kamza Q., who used his popularity to post referral links to casinos and receive rewards for users' referrals. He was extradited from Vietnam on August 6.