The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth ₹40.64 crore in a case of fraud committed by several dubious merchants by routing the transactions through fraudulent applications using the services of payment solutions providers.
The case is based on a First Information Report registered by the Karnataka Police in June this year, alleging that the entities induced the public into making investments through mobile applications like Power Bank and SunFactory. They promised to remit the interest accrued on daily or weekly basis.
However, the accused entities closed their purported businesses after collecting funds exceeding ₹300 crore from a large number of investors. The entities neither paid any interest nor returned the principal amounts to them and withheld the investments made through Power Bank and other such fraudulent applications, which resulted in commission of cheating, alleged the agency.
The ED probe revealed that entities accepted the investments by setting up a merchant account on behalf of a seemingly legitimate business and availed themselves of services from payment gateways and payment solutions companies. It is alleged that they deviated from their declared line of business/activity and collected money by floating untenable investment schemes through the application listed on “play store”.
Based on the findings, the ED has attached the assets in the form of bank balances and amounts withheld with the payment solutions providers.
