NEW DELHI: Its promoters are based in Russia, technical support in Georgia, its India operations are handled from Dubai and the servers are in Barcelona.Illegal online trading platform OctaFX, which is being investigated by ED for laundering thousands of crores of rupees from India to tax havens over the past few years, has become part of a unique study by the agency into transcontinental operations that convert proceeds of crime into cryptocurrencies and use services of international payment gateways.A multi-agency probe has revealed that OctaFX, which deals in forex, commodities and cryptocurrencies and is incorporated in Cyprus, made Rs 800 crore of alleged proceeds of crime from its India operations in just nine months.
Rs 23k crore lost in 2024
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Some transactions layered via ‘fake import of services’Some of the transactions were layered through “fake import of services” from Singapore to launder duped funds generated in India.In a particular case, ED has attached Rs 172 crore worth of assets in India and abroad, including a yacht, a villa in Spain, Rs 36 crore in banks, 39,000 cryptocurrency (USDT), land and Demat holdings of Rs 80 crore.OctaFX, being investigated by the ED’s Mumbai zonal unit, is not the only illegal online platform indulging in investment frauds. The others under probe include Power Bank, being investigated by the Bengaluru zonal unit; Angel One, TM Traders and Vivan Li, being investigated by the Kolkata zonal unit; and Zara FX, being investigated by the Kochi unit. The ED’s cases are based on several FIRs registered by police in different cities.“Cyber frauds in the name of cryptocurrency included Birfa IT and related firms acting as brokers, converting huge amounts of money to and from crypto to help clients send money to China for under-invoiced imports, laundering the PoC (proceeds of crime) through cryptocurrency,” the ED study revealed. The probe further found that in the Birfa case “remittances of Rs 4,818 crore were sent to Hong Kong and Canadian entities controlled by scammers, under the pretext of paying for leasing servers, escrow services, etc” on fake invoices.The ED document estimated that Indians have lost more than Rs 22,800 crore in around 36.4 lakh financial frauds reported in 2024 — a more than 206% jump in estimated losses from Rs 7,465 crore in 2023 and an over 50% jump in number of cases from 24.4 lakh in that year.Investigation against a similar cyber investment fraud found that the masterminds, operating from Laos, Hong Kong and Thailand, hired agents in India to set up shell entities using forged documents and issued fake IPO allotments, stock market investments and indulged in fake digital arrests.PoC was collected in shell companies, converted into cryptocurrencies and remitted overseas as payment for fake “import of services”.While international payment gateways act as intermediaries for many of these illegal transactions, a part of the booty is laundered using hawala channels. In some cases, Enforcement Directorate has found PoC are brought back to India “disguised as legitimate investments” into stock markets.
