CHENNAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has busted an online fraud — in which at least 600 victims from across the country were cheated of more than Rs 400 crore in the guise of offering investment schemes and jobs — by arresting two men from Tamil Nadu.ED said that the arrested, Roshan Fiaz of Chenani and Ammar of Pudukottai, were part of a larger network whose modus operandi was to call or contact victims through social media platforms and make them pay huge sums to accused’s mule accounts on the pretext of investment schemes, jobs, share market investments and other online fraud methods.“The deposits were further broken down in small amounts into the network of mule accounts and subsequent portions were withdrawn in cash and transferred in the crypto currency wallet network,” said ED.The ED investigation was initiated on the basis of two FIRs — one registered by the State Cyber Crime Command Centre, Tamil Nadu police, and another registered by cyber crime police station, Cyberabad, Telangana — under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, the IPC and the Information Technology Act.During ED investigations, 10 more FIRs registered in Telangana, Karnataka and West Bengal were found to be linked to the same network. ED said more than 600 complaints had been received against them across the country and proceeds of the crime (PoC) was estimated to be around Rs 400 crore.ED said that Roshan Fiaz and Ammar in connivance with their associates orchestrated and devised the modus operandi of diversion and layering of PoC through a web of mule accounts network and siphoning off PoC into crypto currency.“Roshan Fiaz was the key person in the network and operated an extensive chain of mule bank accounts in his own name, in the name of his wife and in the names of several entities controlled by him. Debit and credit transactions exceeding Rs 300 crore were found in 31 such accounts. Ammar supplied mule bank accounts of various individuals and entities, along with account kits, net-banking credentials, SIM cards, mobile phones and e-mail IDs, to Roshan Fiaz, for receiving INR from crypto buyers,” said ED.ED had earlier conducted searches at locations linked to Roshan Fiaz, Ammar and their associated entities, which led to seizure of Rs 14.50 lakh cash and cryptocurrency worth Rs 3.26 crore and freezing of Rs 88.28 lakh lying in multiple bank accounts.
