The Agency for Financial Monitoring (AFM) of the Republic of Kazakhstan has put a citizen of Uzbekistan, known blogger Makhmud Khikmatov (pseudonym "Makh.dxb", born 19.02.2000), on the international wanted list. A court has ordered his pre-trial detention in absentia. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Khikmatov is suspected of large-scale promotion of internet casinos banned in Kazakhstan, including "SultanGames", "PINCO", "Nomadcasino", "Pin-Up", "Vavada" and other platforms.
Shadow scheme and recruitment of 35 Kazakh influencers
According to the investigation, his illegal organization ensured the operation of the interface of illegal gambling establishments, accepted and paid money through acquiring, mobile commerce and cryptocurrency, and also conducted an aggressive advertising campaign.
In this chain, Khikmatov was involved in attracting influencers working in Kazakhstan to place illegal content. He requested detailed statistics of their accounts (demographics, audience geography, reach) from Kazakh bloggers, after which he formed the cost of advertising integrations. In total, he managed to attract more than 35 bloggers, including previously detained Kamza K.
"Having a wide audience, Kamza K. deliberately involved citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan in prohibited gambling activities by placing referral links to online casinos and receiving remuneration for each user transition," the AFM reported.
The agency reminded that on August 6, Kaisar Kamza was successfully extradited to Kazakhstan from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The Agency for Financial Monitoring asks anyone with any information about the whereabouts of the wanted Khikmatov M.U. ("Makh.dxb") to report to the AFM duty unit by phone:
Anonymity and a monetary reward are guaranteed.
Kamza's case
The AFM put Kamza on the international wanted list in January 2026. He used his social media (more than 2 million subscribers on Instagram) to promote an online casino banned in Kazakhstan through a closed Telegram channel with 400 thousand people.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan, as a result of illegal advertising of gambling, the blogger could have received illegal income of more than 100 million tenge, which was transferred to a cryptocurrency wallet. Earlier, a Kazakh court seized his crypto assets worth $182,736.