ED nabs Rs 5,000-cr cyber fraud suspect at IGI

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 9

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has uncovered a vast network of online gaming companies and websites, incorporated in small island nations like Curacao, Malta and Cyprus, which defrauded people across the country of Rs 4,978 crore.

‘Siphoned funds abroad’

• Punit Kumar, the ED alleged, is ‘one of the important kingpins’ within a syndicate responsible for orchestrating a series of cybercrimes and online gaming schemes across India between 2020-2024, amounting to huge illicit gains of Rs 4,978 crore — all of which has been siphoned abroad
• He devised a distinctive method of defrauding individuals, utilising servers located in the UAE to orchestrate scams, with a parallel system established in India to support the syndicate’s operations in the UAE, the ED alleged.

In connection with this, the agency recently arrested Punit Kumar, a resident of Moti Nagar here, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Also known as Puneet Maheshwari, he was produced before a special PMLA court, which sent him to nine-day ED custody until April 9.

The ED launched its investigation based on various FIRs registered throughout India, including Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Chandigarh.

Kumar’s involvement primarily revolves around defrauding the public through various “cyber fraud schemes, laundering the proceeds of crime, and transferring the funds out of India”. He devised a unique method of defrauding individuals, utilising servers located in the UAE to orchestrate scams, with a parallel system established in India to support the syndicate’s operations in the UAE.

Kumar is identified as one of the key figures within a syndicate responsible for orchestrating a series of cybercrimes and online gaming schemes across India between 2020 and 2024, resulting in illicit gains of Rs 4,978 crore, all of which has been transferred abroad.

Since the date of the search conducted on his premises, Kumar had been evading ED summons and had attempted to remain untraceable. Prior to this, another accused, Ashish Kakkar, was also arrested by the ED on March 2 from a hotel in Gurugram. Kakkar is currently in judicial custody.

The agency had also carried out search and seizure operations on May 22 and 23, 2023, across 25 premises located in Delhi (11), Gujarat (7), Maharashtra (4), Madhya Pradesh (2) and Andhra Pradesh (1) as part of an investigation into foreign-registered online gaming companies/websites operating in India.

Further, similar actions were conducted on 14 premises in February and March 2024.

These operations resulted in the seizure of various assets, including foreign-made gold bars weighing a total of 8 kg valued at Rs 5.04 crore (from the premises of Kumar), cash amounting to Rs 75 lakh, jewellery, high-end luxury watches, luxury cars such as Mercedes, Audi and Kia, as well as incriminating documents and electronic devices containing evidence.

Besides, numerous fake PAN cards/Aadhaar cards used in the establishment of shell entities (which were used for layering proceeds of crime and siphoning off the same abroad), mobile devices employed for managing bank accounts of these entities and office stamps were seized during these operations.

To evade detection, individuals involved in these activities resorted to using remote-based servers/laptops accessed through remote desktop applications like AnyDesk and TeamViewer. In this instance, two such remotely accessed laptops were recovered and seized from the premises of the entity providing server services, located distant from the actual operational sites.

The fraudulent activities consisted of investment fraud, part-time job fraud, online shopping fraud, loan fraud and others. One prevalent method involved enticing individuals with guaranteed profits against investments, gradually leading them into fraudulent schemes where they ended up investing their life savings. Subsequently, when individuals demanded returns, they were coerced into further payments under the pretext of taxes or processing fees until their invested funds were exhausted.

The ED probe revealed that the ill-gotten gains were layered and accumulated within bank accounts controlled by Kumar, Kakkar and their associates before being transferred out of India as foreign remittances. These individuals established over 200 firms, where Kakkar and Kumar served as the beneficial owners, using forged documents to exert complete control over banking transactions. Despite not holding official positions within these companies, Kumar and Kakkar monitored and controlled every transaction through loyal associates.

The ED probe also showed that Kumar, Kakkar and others facilitated outward remittances from the proceeds generated through cybercrimes. For the purpose of siphoning off the proceeds of crime, they imported a huge number of consignments declaring high-value items (eg rose oil, solar panel machinery) from Dubai, Hong Kong, China, etc, in various Special Economic Zones such as SEZ Mundra, SEZ Kandla, etc, and subsequently exported the same from the SEZs themselves. They have sent outward remittances against imports to the tune of Rs 4,978 crore, but no remittances have been realised against the export of goods from SEZ, official sources said. In other words, they were also involved in circular trading by way of import-export for the purpose of Hawala transactions.

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#cyber crime #Enforcement Directorate