The Parliament was informed on Tuesday (December 20) that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached Rs 212.91 crore in proceeds of crime (PoC) in cases where online betting and gambling websites and applications were utilized for money laundering and hawala transactions.
The Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, in a written response, stated that the Directorate of Enforcement is looking into a number of cases concerning cyber crimes and fraud related to cryptocurrency assets. Online betting and gambling websites and applications have occasionally been seen utilized for hawala and money laundering.
“In these cases, as on December 16, 2022, PoC amounting to Rs 212.91 crores have been identified which stands attached / freezed / seized under the provisions of PMLA. Also, 03 Prosecution Complaints have been filed in these cases,” Chaudhary said in his statement.
One of the cases that the ED is investigating is the Mahadev gaming app under the PMLA. The gaming app is suspected of involving transactions worth Rs 5,000 crore. More than 250 individuals have been arrested from across the state of Chhattisgarh for their alleged involvement.
Several of these individuals were kingpins of their area and the app itself had more than 30 centers across India. According to the police reports, each of these centers were handling transactions worth at least Rs 200 crore.
The ED is also investigating the E-nuggets fraud gaming app case involving ‘Amir Khan’, the prime accused behind the online gaming fraud involving Bitcoins. He was arrested by ED in September and more than Rs 30 crore worth of cryptocurrency and cash were confiscated.
Currently, ED is also looking into a case involving China-based entities using dummy Indian directors to commit fraud using online gaming applications. The transactions from these apps are estimated to be around Rs 4000 crore.
More than 1,815 suspect accounts are being followed for money trails in the case involving Chinese entities. Linkyun Technology Private Limited and Dokypay Technology Private Limited are currently under ED radar for defrauding people out of Rs 1,146 crore.