2 From Odisha Among 4 Arrested In Rs 400 Cr Gaming App Fraud

New Delhi/Rourkela: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested four persons, including two from Odisha, in connection with a Rs 400 crore online betting and gaming app fraud.

The alleged scam was executed through online gaming application “Fiewin” purportedly run by some Chinese nationals in conspiracy with their Indian accomplices.

The accused, Arun Sahu and Alok Sahu of Odisha’s Rourkela, Chetan Prakash, an engineer from Patna in Bihar, and Joseph Stalin, a software engineer based out of Chennai, have been taken into custody under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the case registered by the Cossipore police in Kolkata, the federal probe agency said in a statement on Friday.

It further said that the four persons played an “active role” in the Fiewin app-based scam and were involved in the offence of money laundering.

The agency has been granted 14-day remand of the four for questioning.

This comes almost three weeks of the ED raid on six houses in Badgogua, Jangla and Ruguda villages within Bonai police limits in Sundargarh district over allegations of money laundering, linked to the app.

The Fraud

According to the ED, its investigation revealed that Chinese nationals were operating the app with the help and support from Indian nationals. “The funds mobilised from the gullible online gamers through the Fiewin app were deposited into the bank accounts of various persons [called recharge persons] who had allowed the use of their accounts by the app owners in lieu of certain commissions,” said the agency.

An amount of Rs 400 crore raised through the alleged fraud and thereafter credited into eight Binance (global crypto exchange) wallets in the name of Chinese nationals. These wallets were operated from the Chinese mainland as revealed by the access IP logs.

The Chinese nationals communicated with and instructed the four accused persons through digital communication especially groups on Telegram (social communication app), the ED said.

Odisha Link

Arun and Alok Sahu operated as “recharge persons”. The funds received in their bank accounts via the Fiewin app were converted into cryptocurrencies. They deposited and laundered the cryptocurrencies so earned from the app to the wallets of Chinese nationals on a foreign crypto exchange, Binance, according to the agency.

Chetan Prakash helped the duo and other recharge persons to convert the Indian currency into cryptocurrencies.

Joseph Stalin helped a Chinese national named Pie Pengyun from Gansu province to become a co-director of Studio 21 Private Limited, a company owned by him.

The ED said Pengyun used the account of Studio 21 Pvt Ltd for bulk payout services related to the app which helped them gain the confidence of gamers in the beginning and prompted them to place larger bets.

“The funds used for payout services were received by Joseph Stalin as cryptocurrency in his Binance account from the wallets controlled by the Chinese handlers. He in turn converted cryptocurrency into INR (Indian Rupee) by selling the crypto through P2P mode on Binance,” the agency claimed.