Chinese firms’ link found in token app scam: ED
Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the token app scam, has found that various Chinese companies were maintaining links with a company whose name figured in the case. The ED has carried out searches under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)-2002 at half a dozen business or residential premises in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, […]
Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the token app scam, has found that various Chinese companies were maintaining links with a company whose name figured in the case.
The ED has carried out searches under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)-2002 at half a dozen business or residential premises in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Lucknow, Gaya and 16 other premises of banks or payment gateways branches and offices in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bangalore in connection with an investigation related to app-based token named HPZ and related entities.
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The ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of FIR dated October 10, 2021 filed under various Sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) by Cyber Crime Police Station, Kohima, Nagaland. The HPZ token was an app-based token, which promised users of large gains against investment by investing in mining machines for bitcoin and other crypto currencies. The modus-operandi of the fraudsters was to first lure the victims to invest in the company on the pretext of doubling their investment through the app HPZ token.
Payments were received from users through UPIs and other various payment gateways, nodal accounts and individuals. Part-amount was paid back to investors and remaining amount was diverted to various individual and company accounts through various payment gateways and banks from where partly it was siphoned off in digital and virtual currencies. After that, the fraudsters stopped the payments and the website became inaccessible. Investigation revealed that the HPZ token was operated by Lillion Technocab Private Limited and Shigoo Technology Private Limited, according to a press release.
The press release further stated that Shigoo Technology Private Limited was also found linked to various Chinese controlled companies. It was also revealed that various other companies were indulging in receiving funds from the public on the pretext of operating various apps or websites for gaming, loan and other purposes. The ED suspected the involvement of Jilian Consultants India Private Limited, Gurugram, behind various companies involved in these frauds. One such entity, Mad-Elephant Network Technology Private Limited in agreement with X10 Financial Services Limited was operating various loan apps like YoYo cash, Tufan Rupees, Coco cash etc.
Similarly, Su Hui Technology Private Limited, in agreement with Nimisha Finance India Private Limited, had operated loan apps. During searches, various incriminating documents have been recovered and seized. Huge balances were found to be maintained in virtual accounts of the involved entities with payment aggregators. A sum of Rs. 33.36 crore was found with Ease buzz Private Limited, Pune, Rs. 8.21 crore with Razorpay Software Private Limited, Bangalore, Rs. 1.28 crore with Cashfree Payments India Private Limited, Bangalore and Rs. 1.11 crore with Paytm Payments Services Limited, New Delhi, the release added.
A total amount of around Rs. 46.67 crore was detected and freezed in various bank accounts and virtual accounts.
