Pramesh S Jain & Dr B Thomas (Special Correspondent)
Directorate of Enforcement (ED) conducted raids on six loan app firms owned by chinese nationals across the city and seized cash worth Rs 17 crores.
The raids were conducted based on series of complaints received by the Central Crime Branch in the recent past.
Directorate of Enforcement,(ED)has been carrying out search operations under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 on Friday.
The case is based on 18 Nos of FIRs registered by Cyber Crime Police Station,Bengaluru City against numerous entities and persons in connection with their involvement in extortion and harassment of the public who had availed small amount of loans through the mobile apps .
Inquiries revealed that these entities controlled by Chinese nationals .
The modus operandi of these entities is by using forged documents of Indians and making them as dummy directors of those entities,they are generating proceeds of crime.
It has come to notice that the said entities were doing their illegal business through various Merchant IDs and accounts held with Payment
Gateways and banks.
The premises of Razorpay Pvt Ltd,Cashfree Payments,Paytm Payment Services Ltd and entities controlled and operated by Chinese Persons are covered in the search operation.
During the search operation, it is noticed that the said entities were generating proceeds of crime through various Merchant IDs and accounts held with Payment Gateways and banks and they are also not operating from the addresses given on the website and registered address and having fake addresses.
An amount of Rs 17 Crore have been seized in merchant IDs and bank accounts of these Chinese persons-controlled entities.
The search operation is in progress,the official release,said.
