Bengaluru: ED arrests 4 in cyber investment 'scam' linked money laundering case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested four persons in Bengaluru under the anti-money laundering law PMLA for allegedly duping people in the name of investing in stock markets using some fraudulent mobile phone apps.

Shashi Kumar M, 25, Sachin M, 26, and Kiran S K, 25, were arrested on August 15 while Charan Raj C, 26, was taken into custody on August 21, the agency said in a statement on Monday.

All four were involved in the incorporation of companies and opening of bank accounts through which proceeds of crime generated from the alleged cyber scam were laundered, it said.

The money laundering case filed under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) stems from multiple police FIRs including those filed in Faridabad in Haryana, Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Bathinda in Punjab.

“Similar modus operandi has been adopted by fraudsters in various other FIRs to cheat innocent persons by luring them to transfer their hard-earned money on the pretext of investment in high return yielding financial products through fraudulent apps,” it said.

The agency said the “scamsters” induced the victims to invest in various fake IPO stocks and stocks and made them transfer their money to the bank accounts of “shell” companies created for the specific purpose of collection of cybercrime proceeds.

“Incriminating” material including mobile phones and other digital devices were seized during the searches conducted in this case and the agency said it has, so far, traced “proceeds of crime” worth more than Rs 25 crore from this investment cyber “scam”.