Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out search operations at five places in Bengaluru city in connection with 18 FIRs against alleged extortion and harassment by agents in the Chinese loan apps case, sources said. The ED has also seized Rs 78 Cr in bank accounts and other sources belonging to accused who are working for the loan app operators.
The raids were conducted recently on online payment gateways after the investigation revealed that the Chinese nationals misused documents of Indians and carried on illegal loan app businesses by creating false merchant IDs with these payment gateways. With the latest seizure made on Friday, the total amount seized in the loan app case comes to over Rs. 95 Cr.
The ED officials carried out these searches at premises of Razorpay Pvt Ltd and the bank compliance offices related to accused entities. During the search operation, it was noticed that the said entities have submitted fake addresses in KYC documents of their merchant IDs.
The 18 FIRs registered by the Bengaluru City Cyber Crime Police Station cited involvement of numerous such entities and persons. During the investigation, it has come to notice of ED that these controlled entities were doing their illegal business through various merchant IDs held with payment gateways and banks.
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Online payment gateways in Bengaluru have also come into spotlight in the case relating to alleged irregularities in instant app-based loans, allegedly controlled by some Chinese persons and entities. During the searches, the ED seized banks accounts under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), an official release said.
The modus operandi of these Chinese entities includes using of forged documents of vulnerable Indians to make them dummy directors to generate proceeds of crime, sources stated.
On the other hand, the payment gateways maintained that a few suspicious entities conducted illegal business through multiple payment gateways and banks over a year ago and such suspicious entities and funds were already blocked. The information has also been shared with the central agency. The payment gateways reiterated their commitment to cooperate by providing necessary merchant information to assist in investigation of extortion and fraud cases.
