MAPUSA/PANAJI
A Mapusa Special PMLA Court has remanded Fahim Moin Hussain Sayed and Naim Mueen Sayyed to five days’ police custody in connection with an Enforcement Directorate (ED) money laundering probe into an alleged pan-India cyber fraud and “digital arrest” network.
The two were produced before the court following their arrest in the case, which involves suspected financial transactions amounting to around Rs 30,000 crore spread across 20 States and Union Territories.
The ED probe relates to an alleged organised cybercrime network in which victims were reportedly contacted by fraudsters posing as police officers, government officials or other law enforcement agencies.
Victims were allegedly threatened with arrest or legal action and coerced into transferring money on the pretext of verification or investigation – a modus operandi commonly referred to as “digital arrest”.
The court’s decision to grant five days’ custody will allow the investigating agency to question the accused and probe their alleged role in the financial transactions, identify other persons linked to the network and trace the flow of funds.
The ED said its investigation uncovered an organised network through which the alleged fraud proceeds were moved rapidly through dormant and newly opened bank accounts before being split among more than 400 beneficiary accounts. The funds were allegedly converted from banking credits into cash and then foreign currency, with companies holding Reserve Bank of India licences as Full Fledged Money Changers allegedly being used in the process.
“The wider network involved entities operating in commodity, trading, travel and forex businesses. Together, these entities recorded banking transactions exceeding Rs 27,850 crore and cash deposits of about Rs 2,904 crore. Of the cash deposits, approximately Rs 584.70 crore was deposited through 61,448 transactions using Bulk Note Acceptance Machines at various locations,” it said.
The ED further added that accounts belonging to entities in the network were linked to 330 victim complaints and 163 FIRs registered across 20 States and Union Territories. It reported losses of Rs 417.49 crore. In 101 complaints, the agency found that a single victim’s money was allegedly routed to two or more entities within the network during the same fraud.
The agency had earlier searched 20 premises in Mumbai and Goa on July 17 and further searches were conducted at additional premises on August 21. The searches resulted in the seizure of Rs 3.25 crore cash, along with digital devices, documents and statutory registers, which are being examined.
The investigation also found that several companies allegedly used to route the proceeds had been incorporated in the names of people of modest means, including employees, drivers and residents of single-room tenements.
“These individuals were formally shown as company directors, but the bank accounts and affairs of the companies were allegedly controlled by other persons,” it said.
