In New Delhi, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally affixed Rs 32.34 crore residing as balance in 580 bank accounts under the statutes of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in connection to an alleged job deceit, as articulated by the federal inquiry agency on Thursday.
The ED commenced scrutiny into the affair grounded on a First Information Report (FIR) lodged by the Cyber Crime Police Station in Hyderabad under assorted clauses of the Information Technology Act and IPC against unidentified individuals. Through the course of inquiry, it surfaced that beyond 50 correlated FIRs were registered at diverse police precincts dispersed throughout the nation in connection to purported part-time employment deception, as alleged by ED in its communication.
ED’s investigation brought to light that cyber deceivers would approach unsuspecting individuals on social media platforms and entice them with propositions of part-time vocations entailing straightforward duties such as furnishing 5-star appraisals to tourist websites, hotels, resorts, and tourist spots with daily earnings ranging between Rs 1000-1500.
The culprits would amass rudimentary particulars and prompt the victims to join specific social media congregations using links provided by them, where the confederates of the deceivers would extol the virtues of the employments and post expressions of gratitude showcasing substantial earnings to instill confidence in the victims, according to ED.
As per the federal probe agency, the victims would subsequently be urged to enroll on counterfeit websites or mobile applications employing their rudimentary details including bank account details. To further allure them, they would even extend e-money and tokens valued at Rs 10 thousand on the e-wallets on the fraudulent websites and applications. The victims were instructed to transfer funds to various disparate bank accounts to augment their online wallet balance and commence their tasks. The wallet balance would deplete with each assigned task.
Initially, the earnings were allowed to be withdrawn to bank accounts to foster trust. Subsequently, the agents on social media would coerce the victims to contribute additional funds to undertake more tasks and earn more, as indicated by ED.
Despite fulfilling all obligations, when the victims endeavored to withdraw funds reflected in their online wallets, the transactions would be repudiated citing sundry random justifications and soliciting additional funds as refundable withdrawal charges. Even after certain victims remitted such charges, the withdrawals could not be effectuated, and the agents would cease communication, ED stated.
The principal orchestrators of the scheme administered the bank accounts from UAE and had already amassed a substantial number of bank account kits containing internet banking credentials, debit cards, and cheque books with associated SIM cards procured from numerous intermediaries who facilitated the opening of bank accounts in the names of fictitious entities using counterfeit documents or procured such kits for remuneration, as asserted by the agency.
Throughout the investigation, it transpired that the accused amassed over Rs 524 crore in excess of 175 bank accounts, utilized for a transient period ranging from 1-15 days, and the funds would be routinely diverted to other accounts.
Money tracing disclosed that the purported scam funds were transferred to over 480 bank accounts and purportedly employed predominantly for acquiring cryptocurrencies, effecting hawala payments in India, as claimed by ED.
