Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], August 16 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate has arrested four people under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with an app-based online betting/gaming fraud.
According to the ED, the accused have been identified as Arun Sahu, Alok Sahu, Chetan Prakash and Joseph Stalin.
The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by Cossipore Police Station, Kolkata, under various sections of IPC, 1860, against unknown responsible persons for cheating and conspiracy through the online gaming app “Fiewin”.
ED investigation revealed that Chinese nationals were operating the said app with the help and support of Indian nationals. The funds mobilized from the gullible online gamers through the app were deposited into the bank accounts of various persons (called recharge persons) who had allowed the use of their accounts by the app owners in lieu of certain commissions.
Accused Arun Sahu and Alok Sahu who are based out of Rourkela, Odisha had acted as “recharge persons” and the funds received in their bank accounts from the app were converted into cryptocurrency. They deposited and laundered the cryptocurrency so earned from the app to the wallets of Chinese nationals on a foreign crypto exchange namely Binance.
Accused Chetan Prakash, an engineer based out of Patna, Bihar played a key role in the money laundering activities by allegedly helping such “recharge persons” in the conversion of INR into cryptocurrency (USD ).
Another person Joseph Stalin, a software engineer based out of Chennai, allegedly helped a Chinese national named Pie Pengyun from Gansu province to become co-director of Studio 21 Pvt ltd, a company owned by him.
Pie Pengyun used the account of Studio 21 Pvt ltd for bulk payout services related to the app which helped them gain the confidence of gamers in the beginning and provoked larger bets from the app users.
The funds used for payout services were allegedly received by Joseph Stalin as cryptocurrency in his Binance account from the wallets controlled by the Chinese handlers. He in turn converted the USDT crypto currency into INR by selling the crypto through P2P mode on the foreign cyrpto exchange.
ED investigation further revealed that an amount of Rs 400 crore (Approx) was generated from the Fiewin App-based fraud and thereafter was credited into 8 Binance wallets in the name of Chinese nationals.
These wallets were operated from the Chinese mainland as revealed by the access IP logs. The Chinese nationals communicated with and instructed the above-named accused persons through digital communication, especially telegram groups.
“Since all four accused have played an active role in the Fiewin app-based scam and were found to be involved in the offence of money laundering, all of them were arrested and produced before the Special Court (PMLA). The court has granted the ED custody of all four accused persons for 14 days,” the ED said in a press release.
Further investigation is under progress. (ANI)
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