Hyderabad: Police bust Rs. 903 crore online Chinese investment fraud
What's the story
An online investment fraud worth a staggering Rs. 903 crore run by a Chinese firm was unraveled, said Hyderabad Police on Wednesday. The Hyderabad Police cyber crime cell arrested 10 people including a Chinese and Taiwanese national in the case. The matter came to light after a person's complaint claiming to have been duped of Rs. 1.6 lakh by investment app LOXAM.
Modus operandi
Converted money to US dollars using authorized forex firms
The accused hoodwinked investors into putting money in the dubious mobile investment app by giving them lucrative returns initially and then tempting them to invest larger sums only to disappear with the money. The masterminds of the fraud converted the money gathered from the app to US dollars using forex money exchangers authorized by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Information
38 bank accounts identified
As the police began probing the matter, it found the complainant had deposited the money to an account registered under the name of Xindai Technologies in IndusInd Bank. The police identified 38 bank accounts of Xindai Technologies, from which money was transferred to Ranjan Money Corp and KDS Forex to the tune of Rs. 441 crore and Rs. 462 crore respectively over seven months.
Details
Actual scale of fraud could be much bigger
So far, only Rs. 1.91 crore has been seized by freezing bank accounts. These figures are from seven months, which could mean that the actual scale of the fraud is much larger and spread pan-India. Accused Navneet Kaushik, the licensee of Ranjan Money Corp and KDS Forex, gave the converted money to accused Sahil and Pankaj to transfer it abroad through hawala operators.
Information
Identification of those accused
The arrested accused were identified as Virender Singh Rathour, Sanjay Yadav, Sahil Bajaj, Sunny alias Pankaj, Navneet Kaushik, and Hyderabad residents Mohammad Parvez, Syed Sultan, and Mirza Nadeem Baig along with Lec alias Li Zhongjun (Chinese national), Chu Chun-yu (Taiwanese national).
Bank accounts
Accused opened bank accounts instructed by Chinese nationals
Accused Virender Singh Rathour opened the account in IndusInd Bank on the instructions of Jack, a Chinese national. Rathour allegedly gave his internet banking details and password to Jack. The phone number mentioned in the bank account opened by Rathour was also linked to another account under the name of Betench Networks, opened by accused Sanjay Yadav of Delhi directed by Li Zhongjun.