Fake Payment Gateways, Properties In Spain: Inside Rs 800-Crore Forex Scam

The Enforcement Directorate conducted raids across four cities in connection with a Rs
800 crore scam pertaining to online forex trading through an OctaFx app and website.
The Enforcement Directorate conducted raids at seven places across four cities in
connection with a Rs 800 crore scam pertaining to online forex trading through the
OctaFx app and website.
A probe revealed how investors were duped using mule accounts to transfer money
illegally, URL masking to hide the money trail and that the money laundering network
extended to Spain.
The case came to light when a FIR was lodged in Pune accusing some individuals of
defrauding investors by luring them with huge profits through OctaFX. The investigation
revealed that OctaFX and OctaFx India Pvt Ltd were running a foreign exchange
business in India without the permission of the Reserve Bank of India.
Following raids on June 13 across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Gurugram, it was found
that money deposited by investors on the OctaFX platform was first deposited in fake
accounts and then transferred to the escrow account of an unauthorised payment
aggregator called Dinero Payment Services.
Further, the money trail was hidden by using fake KYC and payment gateways of shell
companies posing as fake e-commerce companies, with transactions being shown
under the guise of online shopping, refund, vendor payment and chargeback.
The probe agency also found that the URLs of payment links were masked to mislead
banking and regulatory agencies about the rerouting of funds of illegal sources.
Among the assets attached and seized by the probe agency worth over Rs 160 crore
were properties in Spain.
So far, two chargesheets have been filed pertaining to the scam, while search is on for
more people involved in the racket.