NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday carried out searches at multiple locations in the National Capital Region and Uttarakhand as part of a money laundering probe linked to a global cyber fraud ring, in which Indian and foreign nationals were duped of funds worth crores of rupees, official sources said.
The raids, conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), covered at least 11 premises across Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, and Dehradun, the sources added.
Fraudsters based in these cities were allegedly cheating Indian and foreign nationals by impersonating police or investigative agency officers, and extorting money by threatening victims with arrest, the officials stated.
The accused also posed as technical support agents from companies such as Microsoft and Amazon to deceive victims.
According to the ED, the victims’ monetary assets were converted into cryptocurrencies and transferred to the accused. The fraudsters reportedly generated about Rs 260 crore in Bitcoins held in multiple crypto-wallets, which were later liquidated into cash via USDT (Tether) through a network of hawala operators and individuals based in the UAE.
The money laundering case stems from FIRs registered by the CBI and the Delhi Police.