"People invested small amounts and were promised returns that were double and more," Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand told reporters.
Published Oct 13, 2022 | 2:46 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 13, 2022 | 2:47 PM
Hyderabad CP CV Anand presenting the seized items from the 10 arrested accused. (Supplied)
In July this year, a resident of Tarnaka in Hyderabad invested ₹1.6 lakh in an app called LOXAM.
She expected good returns. Instead, she had to lodge a police complaint.
Turns out, that she wasn’t the only one. But it was her complaint that got the ball rolling on an investigation that unearthed a humongous online scam.
Several others, whom the police did not identify, were duped as part of this cross-border investment fraud.
“All of these people used to invest small amounts and were promised returns that were double and more,” Hyderabad City Police Commissioner CV Anand told reporters.
After the complaint was registered on 26 July, the police found that the victim’s money was deposited in an IndusInd Bank account by an accused named Virender Rathor.
Seized items – foreign exchanges in INR and USD, passports, stamps, debit and credit cards, and bank books. (Ajay Tomar/South Fist)
Rathor, who was arrested from Delhi, opened the account in the name of Xindai Technologies Private Limited.
“He opened the account on the instructions of a Chinese national named Jack, and gave an internet banking username and password to him,” Anand said.
On similar lines, two more accused from China — an India-based man named Lec alias Li Zhounjanu and a China-based woman named Pei — directed a Delhi resident named Sanjay Yadav to open an account in the name of Betench Networks Private Limited.
“The Xindai and Betench bank accounts share the same phone number. They opened another 15 bank accounts,” Anand said.
Hyderabad police CP CV Anand presented the passport of one of the accused. (Supplied)
According to the police, Yadav opened another 15 bank accounts and sent their details to Chu Chun-Yu, a native of Taiwan who was arrested on 11 October along with Lec from Mumbai.
“Chun-Yu used to send account details, user ID, password, and SIM cards outside India. Both Yadav and Rathor received ₹1.2 lakh commission per account from Lec,” said Anand.
Along with Chun-Yu and Lec, the police arrested eight Indians identified as Sahil Bajaj, Sunny, Virender Singh, Sanjay Yadav, and Navneeth Kaushik from Delhi, and Mohammad Parvez and Mirza Baig from Hyderabad.
“We are probing if more Indian and foreign money operators are involved,” IPS Sneha Mehra told South First.
The cops alleged that money was transferred from Xindai to 38 other bank accounts, including those of Hyderabad-based Syed Sultan and Mirza Nadeem Baig.
“Mirza Nadeem Baig and Syed Sultan opened bank current accounts for the sake of commission on the instruction of Parvez. He in turn gave details of, those bank accounts to Imran who resides in Dubai. Imran and others used these two bank accounts for fraud,” Anand said.
Seized laptops and mobile phones. (Ajay Tomar/South First)
The cops claimed that a large amount of money from the 38 accounts of Xindai was transferred to Ranjan Money Corporation (₹441 crore) and KDS Forex (₹462 crore) by Delhi-based Navneet Kaushik
“He converted rupees to US dollars in cash and gave them to Sahil and Sunny — registered money-changers from Mumbai — who helped the accused transfer money via hawala. However, they have repeatedly flouted the guidelines of the RBI regarding this,” said Anand, adding that so far ₹1.91 crore had been frozen in various bank accounts.
On the possibility of returning money to the victims, CV Anand told South First: “It is an unlikely process as all the accounts were virtual and the investors are hard to detect.”
