BENGALURU: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached movable assets of Rs 6.47 crore, including Rs 71.3 lakh in the form of cryptocurrency, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with the China-linked part-time job fraud case.
In an official release on Thursday, the agency named the six companies whose assets were attached under the Money Laundering Act. These are Toningworld International Pvt Ltd, Ansol Technology Pvt Ltd, Redraccoon Services India Pvt Ltd, Energico Digital Pvt Ltd, Bridge Tera Technologies Pvt Ltd and Ashenfallous Technologies Pvt Ltd as well as nine individuals. “The money collected through the scam was routed from the bank accounts of these companies/individuals and converted into cryptocurrency and later transferred to China-based crypto exchanges,” the central agency stated.
The ED initiated the investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the South Cyber, Economic & Narcotics (CEN) police station, Bengaluru.
The investigation revealed that some “gullible youth were cheated by certain Chinese persons through a mobile app - Keepsharer - through which they collected money under the pretext of offering them part-time jobs. These Chinese persons formed companies in India and recruited many Indians as directors, translators, human resource managers and tele-callers,” the agency stated.
“Keepsharer was linked with an investment app. The accused collected money from the public in the name of investment through this app. The youth were given the task of liking the videos of celebrities and uploading them on social media. On completion of the task, Rs 20 per video was credited to the Keepsharer wallet. Later on, they removed the app from the Play Store,” the ED added.
Earlier, the ED had conducted search operations on the 12 entities involved in this case and had seized Rs 5.85 crore under Section 17 of the PMLA.