New Delhi: The CBI conducted searches at 15 locations across multiple states in connection with a large-scale online financial scam involving offshore fintech platform Pyypl, officials said on Thursday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is now seeking the custody of the alleged ringleader, Ashok Kumar Sharma, a chartered accountant, who was recently arrested by the Enforcement Directorate.
The case was referred to the CBI by the Union Home Ministry’s anti-cybercrime wing I4C. The agency subsequently registered a case and conducted searches on Wednesday in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab, they added.
According to investigators, Sharma was allegedly running a large-scale organized scam involving fraudulent investment schemes, online fraud, illicit cryptocurrency transactions, part-time job fraud including offshore withdrawals and offshore fintech platforms from his office in Bijwasan on the Delhi-Gurugram border, which came to be known as the ‘Bijwasan Group’.
The gang allegedly defrauded the victims $900 crores last year alone. The agency said the proceeds were routed and laundered through a network of 15 shell companies identified so far.
“The CBI conducted coordinated searches at 15 locations across Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in connection with a case relating to large-scale organized online investment and part-time job fraud involving withdrawals from abroad and offshore fintech platforms, mostly Dubai-based Pyypl,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement.
“Thousands of unsuspecting Indian citizens were allegedly cheated out of millions of rupees through online deceptive schemes run by a transnational organized fraud syndicate,” it said.
The official said the investigation revealed that the network used social media platforms, mobile phone applications and encrypted messaging services to lure victims with promises of high returns from online investments and part-time job opportunities.
She added: “The victims were initially lured into depositing small amounts and were offered fake profits to gain their trust, and then they were persuaded to invest larger amounts.”
The fraudulent funds were then routed through multiple bank accounts to cover the trail and were later withdrawn through withdrawals from overseas ATMs using debit cards enabled for international transactions.
The funds were also transferred through wallet top-ups on third-party fintech platforms, mostly “Pyypl”, using the Visa and MasterCard payment networks. The agency said these transactions appeared as point-of-sale transactions in banking systems.
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