The Real Reason Ducky Bhai Is Behind Bars: Inside the Online Betting Scandal.
It looks like popular Pakistani YouTuber Saad ur Rehman, better known as Ducky Bhai, is in some serious trouble. He was picked up by authorities right at Lahore’s airport early Sunday morning as he was reportedly trying to leave the country.
So, what’s this all about? The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has built a case against him, accusing him of using his massive YouTube platform to push online betting and gambling apps.
After his arrest, he was brought before a judge, who gave the NCCIA two days to hold him for questioning. They are expected to bring him back to court on Tuesday, August 19, with an update on their investigation.
The charges filed against him are pretty serious, covering everything from electronic fraud and spamming to straight-up cheating under the Pakistan Penal Code.
This whole situation didn’t just pop up overnight. It seems an investigation has been quietly going on since June, based on information that several social media influencers were being paid to promote shady gambling apps like Binomo, 1xBet, and Bet365 to their followers. The official report claims that people who trusted these YouTubers ended up losing their hard-earned cash when these apps, which aren’t even registered in Pakistan, failed to pay out any winnings.
The case specifically points to 27 different videos on Ducky Bhai’s channel that allegedly promoted these apps. Officials say they tried to get him to cooperate with the inquiry earlier, but he never showed up. This led them to put his name on a list to prevent him from traveling abroad.
That’s exactly how he got caught. When he tried to fly out on Saturday, the system at the airport flagged his name, and he was detained. Agents seized his phone, and according to the report, they found chats related to Binomo promotions and evidence of illegitimate payments from the app.
Perhaps the most surprising detail is the allegation that Ducky Bhai was acting as a kind of “country manager” for Binomo, all without getting any official permission from government bodies like the FBR or the State Bank of Pakistan.
