The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has so far recovered around Rs 46,000 crore with the help of tipoffs received from 4 accused including a Chinese official, who were arrested earlier by the Hyderabad police in connection with a Chinese online gaming fraud. ED officials searched 15 locations spread across Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai and Pune and seized properties of these China-based companies which were operating illegal online gambling.
The officials also searched the registered offices of these companies and grilled directors and chartered accountants involved in this racket. These companies ran online betting mobile apps via websites hosted from outside India. The central agency also seized 17 hard disks, 5 laptops, phones, crucial incriminating documents and has also frozen Rs 46.96 crore held in 4 HSBC bank accounts. The Chinese national himself said that the transactions happened at the Gurugram branch of HSBC bank. On the other hand, ED also detected at least 94 banned apps which are still active in the country. The frozen bank accounts have so far transacted Rs 1,268 crore.
Earlier, the Hyderabad police had busted an online gaming fraud and three persons were arrested including a Chinese national Yan Hao (24), working as a manager of Beijing Tomorrow Power Company. Two Indian nationals Dhiraj Sarkar and Ankit Kapoor were also taken into custody.
Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar said, “Internet platforms have become modern tools for various frauds for many people. This includes online gaming. Telangana State has passed a legislation banning online gaming in Telangana. We are specialised personnel in curbing the online crimes. Two cases of cheating were registered recently in Hyderabad. They used social media also to cheat the public. In a very controlled and secret manner they have been cheating.”
Hyderabad police commissioner has also warned the public about online gambling and said that mostly Chinese were behind these gambling frauds but they showed their Indian agents at the forefront and looted money and sent it to China. The servers are also located in Chinese cities only.