ED raids various premises across the country in HPZ app-based token fraud
<img src="” title=”ED raids various premises across the country in HPZ app-based token fraud” />
Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has carried out search operations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at six business/residential premises in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Lucknow, Gaya and 16 other premises of Banks/Payment Gateways branches and offices in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bangalore. This is in respect of an investigation related to the app-based token named HPZ and related entities. ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR filed under various sections of IPC by Cyber Crime Police Station, Kohima, Nagaland.
HPZ Token
The HPZ Token was an App-Based Token that promised users of large gains against investment by investing in mining machines for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The modus-operandi of the fraudsters was to first lure the victims to invest in the company on the pretext of doubling their investment through the app HPZ Token. Payments were received from users through UPIs and other various payment
gateways/nodal accounts/individuals. Part-amount was paid back to the investors and remaining amount was diverted to various individual and company accounts through various Payment gateways/Banks from where partly it was siphoned off in digital/virtual currencies. After that, the fraudsters stopped the payments and the website became inaccessible.
According to the ED’s investigation revealed that the HPZ token was operated by Lillion Technocab Private Ltd and Shigoo Technology Private Limited. Shigoo Technology Private Limited was also found linked to various Chinese-controlled companies. It was also revealed that various other companies were indulged in receiving funds from public on pretext of operating various Apps/Websites for gaming, loan, others. ED suspected involvement of Jilian Consultants India, Gurugram behind various companies involved in these frauds.
One such entity, Mad-Elephant Network Technology Private Limited in agreement with X10 Financial Services Limited was operating various loan Apps (YoYo cash, Tufan Rupees, Coco cash etc.). Similarly, Su Hui Technology Private Limited, in agreement with Nimisha Finance India Private Limited had operated Loan Apps. During the search, various incriminating documents have been recovered and
seized. Huge balances were found to be maintained in the virtual accounts of the involved entities with payment aggregators. Rs 33.36 Crore was found with Easebuzz Private Limited, Pune, Rs 8.21 Crore with Razorpay Software Private Limited, Bangalore, Rs 1.28 Crore with Cashfree Payments India Private Limited, Bangalore and Rs 1.11 Crore with Paytm Payments Services Limited, New Delhi. Total amount
of around Rs 46.67 Crore was detected and freezed in various bank accounts and virtual accounts. ED has claimed that the further investigation is under progress.
Cashfree Payments spokesperson offered a response to BGR.in in the ED investigation. The spokesperson said “We continue to extend our diligent co-operation to the ED operations. We were able to provide the required and necessary information within a few hours on the day of
enquiry. The operations and on-boarding processes of Cashfree Payments are fully compliant with existing regulations.”
Another organisation mentioned in the investigation, Easebuzz stated, “We, at Easebuzz, would like to clarify that none of the parties mentioned in the ED’s statement belonged to our merchant base. The mentioned entities by authorities were only the counterparties of the merchant, who was using our payment gateway and this merchant had been proactively identified and blocked by us much before the investigation had started, as per our internal risk and compliance process. We intend to fully co-operate with the investigation authorities, as we are committed to ensure that our business operations comply with the existing regulations.”
The post ED raids various premises across the country in HPZ app-based token fraud appeared first on BGR India.
<img src="" title="ED raids various premises across the country in HPZ app-based token fraud" />
Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has carried out search operations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at six business/residential premises in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Lucknow, Gaya and 16 other premises of Banks/Payment Gateways branches and offices in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bangalore. This is in respect of an investigation related to the app-based token named HPZ and related entities. ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR filed under various sections of IPC by Cyber Crime Police Station, Kohima, Nagaland.
HPZ Token
The HPZ Token was an App-Based Token that promised users of large gains against investment by investing in mining machines for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The modus-operandi of the fraudsters was to first lure the victims to invest in the company on the pretext of doubling their investment through the app HPZ Token. Payments were received from users through UPIs and other various payment
gateways/nodal accounts/individuals. Part-amount was paid back to the investors and remaining amount was diverted to various individual and company accounts through various Payment gateways/Banks from where partly it was siphoned off in digital/virtual currencies. After that, the fraudsters stopped the payments and the website became inaccessible.
According to the ED’s investigation revealed that the HPZ token was operated by Lillion Technocab Private Ltd and Shigoo Technology Private Limited. Shigoo Technology Private Limited was also found linked to various Chinese-controlled companies. It was also revealed that various other companies were indulged in receiving funds from public on pretext of operating various Apps/Websites for gaming, loan, others. ED suspected involvement of Jilian Consultants India, Gurugram behind various companies involved in these frauds.
One such entity, Mad-Elephant Network Technology Private Limited in agreement with X10 Financial Services Limited was operating various loan Apps (YoYo cash, Tufan Rupees, Coco cash etc.). Similarly, Su Hui Technology Private Limited, in agreement with Nimisha Finance India Private Limited had operated Loan Apps. During the search, various incriminating documents have been recovered and
seized. Huge balances were found to be maintained in the virtual accounts of the involved entities with payment aggregators. Rs 33.36 Crore was found with Easebuzz Private Limited, Pune, Rs 8.21 Crore with Razorpay Software Private Limited, Bangalore, Rs 1.28 Crore with Cashfree Payments India Private Limited, Bangalore and Rs 1.11 Crore with Paytm Payments Services Limited, New Delhi. Total amount
of around Rs 46.67 Crore was detected and freezed in various bank accounts and virtual accounts. ED has claimed that the further investigation is under progress.
Cashfree Payments spokesperson offered a response to BGR.in in the ED investigation. The spokesperson said “We continue to extend our diligent co-operation to the ED operations. We were able to provide the required and necessary information within a few hours on the day of
enquiry. The operations and on-boarding processes of Cashfree Payments are fully compliant with existing regulations.”
Another organisation mentioned in the investigation, Easebuzz stated, “We, at Easebuzz, would like to clarify that none of the parties mentioned in the ED’s statement belonged to our merchant base. The mentioned entities by authorities were only the counterparties of the merchant, who was using our payment gateway and this merchant had been proactively identified and blocked by us much before the investigation had started, as per our internal risk and compliance process. We intend to fully co-operate with the investigation authorities, as we are committed to ensure that our business operations comply with the existing regulations.”
The post ED raids various premises across the country in HPZ app-based token fraud appeared first on BGR India.
<img src="” title=”ED raids various premises across the country in HPZ app-based token fraud” />
Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has carried out search operations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at six business/residential premises in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Lucknow, Gaya and 16 other premises of Banks/Payment Gateways branches and offices in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bangalore. This is in respect of an investigation related to the app-based token named HPZ and related entities. ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR filed under various sections of IPC by Cyber Crime Police Station, Kohima, Nagaland.
HPZ Token
The HPZ Token was an App-Based Token that promised users of large gains against investment by investing in mining machines for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The modus-operandi of the fraudsters was to first lure the victims to invest in the company on the pretext of doubling their investment through the app HPZ Token. Payments were received from users through UPIs and other various payment
gateways/nodal accounts/individuals. Part-amount was paid back to the investors and remaining amount was diverted to various individual and company accounts through various Payment gateways/Banks from where partly it was siphoned off in digital/virtual currencies. After that, the fraudsters stopped the payments and the website became inaccessible.
According to the ED’s investigation revealed that the HPZ token was operated by Lillion Technocab Private Ltd and Shigoo Technology Private Limited. Shigoo Technology Private Limited was also found linked to various Chinese-controlled companies. It was also revealed that various other companies were indulged in receiving funds from public on pretext of operating various Apps/Websites for gaming, loan, others. ED suspected involvement of Jilian Consultants India, Gurugram behind various companies involved in these frauds.
One such entity, Mad-Elephant Network Technology Private Limited in agreement with X10 Financial Services Limited was operating various loan Apps (YoYo cash, Tufan Rupees, Coco cash etc.). Similarly, Su Hui Technology Private Limited, in agreement with Nimisha Finance India Private Limited had operated Loan Apps. During the search, various incriminating documents have been recovered and
seized. Huge balances were found to be maintained in the virtual accounts of the involved entities with payment aggregators. Rs 33.36 Crore was found with Easebuzz Private Limited, Pune, Rs 8.21 Crore with Razorpay Software Private Limited, Bangalore, Rs 1.28 Crore with Cashfree Payments India Private Limited, Bangalore and Rs 1.11 Crore with Paytm Payments Services Limited, New Delhi. Total amount
of around Rs 46.67 Crore was detected and freezed in various bank accounts and virtual accounts. ED has claimed that the further investigation is under progress.
Cashfree Payments spokesperson offered a response to BGR.in in the ED investigation. The spokesperson said “We continue to extend our diligent co-operation to the ED operations. We were able to provide the required and necessary information within a few hours on the day of
enquiry. The operations and on-boarding processes of Cashfree Payments are fully compliant with existing regulations.”
Another organisation mentioned in the investigation, Easebuzz stated, “We, at Easebuzz, would like to clarify that none of the parties mentioned in the ED’s statement belonged to our merchant base. The mentioned entities by authorities were only the counterparties of the merchant, who was using our payment gateway and this merchant had been proactively identified and blocked by us much before the investigation had started, as per our internal risk and compliance process. We intend to fully co-operate with the investigation authorities, as we are committed to ensure that our business operations comply with the existing regulations.”
The post ED raids various premises across the country in HPZ app-based token fraud appeared first on BGR India.
