Heiu Alex Lam: Star Casino worker sentenced over $500k scam

It can be revealed for the first time how a Star Casino croupier and his associates almost pulled off the big one thanks to his incredible memory, secret signals and the phone app Wickr.

How an overzealous casino employee managed to brazenly take The Star for more than $500,000 can be revealed for the first time since the syndicate was busted scamming the gambling giant dozens of times.

Canley Heights dealer Hieu Duc Lam, 35, was able to swindle the dosh with the help of two mates and an incredible memory, court documents reveal.

Lam, also known as Alex, has been sentenced in the Local Court after pleading guilty to multiple counts of dishonestly gaining a financial advantage by deception and participating in a criminal group last year.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Lam and another Star employee were in on the scam in which they would memorise the order of cards in a deck.

Lam, as dealer, would then signal that to their player who would sink thousands into the wager knowing they were onto a winner.

Lam, pictured right with his lawyer, was in on the fix through a punter who used Wickr to communicate with the employees. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

The facts state Lam, a father of two, was lured into the scam by punter Ziyi Liu who had also enlisted fellow employee Wan ‘Andy’ Chin Lam after he told her he wanted to earn some extra cash.

The bust came after their suspicious winnings were reported to police by The Star, who cracked the case through surveillance and obtaining their encrypted messages on the Wickr app.

The men would use their impressive memories believing their acts would go unnoticed, despite doing so in front of extensive casino CCTV cameras, leaving a paper trail of the money coming to them and being caught feeding “large amounts of cash” into pokies.

Hieu Duc Lam had no idea his colleague was also in on the scam with Liu until they spoke during a break about the app Wickr.

He was seen in surveillance sinking money into the pokies after the big wins, according to court documents. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

His colleague had downloaded Wickr and practised corrupting cards at the behest of customer Liu having no idea Lam had done the exact same thing until months later.

In just a month their ploy was netting eye watering numbers, the returns almost unbelievable to suspicious casino staff who raised the alarm.

Their first attempt saw a win of $46,000 and saw similar jackpots until just a few weeks later Lam was arrested at his home with $278,100 in cash bundles and a large number of playing cards.

Liu, who had brought the workers into the plot, was also arrested in Ryde with almost $300,000 in cash and casino chips worth $169,000.

Lam will serve a two-year jail sentence in the community as an intensive corrections order.

As part of his sentence he also has to complete 250 hours of community service.