In fresh action against an online betting/gaming and cyber fraud syndicate, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted search operations at 20 premises located in Mumbai, Pune, Mehsana, Surat and Hyderabad, ED officials said on Saturday.
During the search operations on October 13, the ED's Mumbai Zone-2 seized various incriminating documents, digital devices and other material evidence relating to the layering and diversion of proceeds of crime, the official said in a statement.
In addition, multiple bank accounts of the concerned entities and persons have been ordered frozen under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the statement said. In the case, the ED had earlier conducted searches at multiple places in Pune, Mumbai and Bengaluru and also arrested Ram U. Ramdhani, founder of Edsom Fintech Private Limited, who remains in judicial custody, it added.
The investigation stems from two predicate offences pertaining to the online gaming and betting platform "All Panel Exchange" (allpanelexch.com) and MGM91 wherein the complainants were induced to deposit funds and were subsequently cheated, the ED said. The central agency's investigation under PMLA established that funds collected from victims of both betting platforms were routed and ultimately received in the bank accounts of a Pune-based entity established by Ram U. Ramdhani.
"Edsom had developed and operated an in-house payment intermediary platform called "iPaisa", through which it onboarded more than 200 shell/front entities -- referred to internally as "merchants" -- on behalf of online gaming, betting, and cyber fraud operators and their agents, referred to as "Channel Partners/Carry and Forward Agents"," the ED said.
"Investigation revealed that funds collected from victims of online gaming/betting/cyber fraud platforms were routed through a vast network of mule bank accounts and the controllers of these betting platforms, along with the shell entities used for routing the proceeds of crime, have been identified," the ED added.
It also emerged that a significant number of persons involved in operating these online betting/gaming platforms were being directed from Dubai based persons, the probe agency said. The syndicate was further aided by certain cooperative banks, whose infrastructure was used to collect and further layer the illicit proceeds, it added.
"Investigation has also established that the proceeds of crime generated through online betting/gaming and cyber fraud activities were siphoned out through three principal routes: One, by way of remittances disguised as trade transactions through over invoicing; and other, by cash withdrawals from mule accounts opened under the guise of APMC units; and another, by conversion of funds into cryptocurrency for siphoning off the proceeds of crime outside India," the ED said.
Online betting: ED conducts searches at 20 premises in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad
