Rs 903 cr Chinese investment scam: Dubai resident arrested in Mumbai

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad cyber crime police arrested Imran, an accomplice in the Rs. 903 crore hawala scam, in Mumbai. Imran is living in Dubai.

According to the police, Syed Sultan and Mirza Nadeem Baig of Hyderabad, acting on the instructions of another accused, Mohammed Parvez, opened the bank accounts. Parvez in turn gave details of the bank accounts to Imran who, along with others, used them for investment fraud.

Earlier arrests

Earlier, on 13 October, the Hyderabad cyber crime police arrested 10 persons, including a Chinese and Taiwan national, in a Chinese investment fraud case worth Rs. 903 crores. The 10 accused who were arrested were identified as Sahil Bajaj, Sunny alias Pankaj, Virender Singh, Sanjay Yadav, Navneeth Kaushik, Mohammad Parvez, Syed Sultan, Mirza Nadeem Baig, Chinese national Lec alias Li Zhongjun, and Taiwan national Chu Chun-yu.

How did the case begin?

The investigation began when a resident from Tarnaka registered a case with the cyber crime police stating that he was cheated after investing Rs. 1.6 lakh in an investment app called LOXAM. During the investigation, it was found that the complainant's money was deposited in an IndusInd Bank account that was in the name of Xindai Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Trail of transfers

The Xindai bank account was opened by one of the accused, Virender Singh, who was arrested in Pune. Virender revealed that he opened a bank account in the name of Xindai Technologies Pvt. Ltd. on the orders of a Chinese national named Jack. He gave the internet banking username and password of the bank account to Jack.

Upon further investigation, the Hyderabad police found another account of Betench Networks Pvt. Ltd. that shares the same phone number used by another accused, Sanjay Kumar. Sanjay opened the account upon the instructions of another accused Lec alias Li Zhounjau. Lec further forwarded the account credentials to Pei and Huan Zhuan in China.

Sanjay also opened 15 virtual bank accounts and sent the credentials to the accused Chun Chun-yu, a Taiwan national temporarily residing in Mumbai. Chu Chun-yu sent the account details, user ID, password, and SIM cards to other countries. The police found that Sanjay Yadav and Virender Singh received Rs. 1.2 lakhs commission per account which was arranged by Lec.

The money was being taken from multiple apps in the name of investment, foreign money exchange, etc. Once the money was deposited, it was moved to 38 other bank accounts created by multiple people across various countries.

What happens after the transfers?

After multiple transfers, the money was directed to Ranjan Money Corp and KDS Forex Pvt. Ltd. One of the accused, Navneet Kaushik, who owns these accounts sent these accounts for Forex exchanges run in the name of International Tours and Travels. Navneet sends the dollars to Sahil and Sunny. The cyber crime police further found that Sahil and Sunny had joined hands with other fraudsters and transferred the above money abroad through hawala.

So far, Rs. 1.91 crores have been frozen in various bank accounts in this case.

RBI rules for forex

It is important to note that the Rs. 903 crores were converted into Dollars without any proof of foreign travel which is mandatory as per RBI rules. The money changers and Forex exchanges are licensed by RBI. However, they have repeatedly flouted the guidelines laid down by the RBI regarding money-changing activities.