Chinese investment fraud of ₹903 crores busted by Hyderabad police

Chinese investment fraud of ₹903 crores busted by Hyderabad police

Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of 10 people, including Chinese and Taiwanese nationals, in a Rs 903-crore hawala and money laundering scam for defrauding a Hyderabad resident in an app-based Chinese investment scam.

"Hyderabad City Police Cyber ​​Crime Unit has detected a case of Chinese investment fraud, where they use authorized money changers approved by the Reserve Bank of India to transfer illegally collected funds through investment apps, convert them into dollars and then send them abroad," said Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand told reporters.

The police started an investigation after a Hyderabad resident complained that he was cheated of investing Rs 1.6 lakh in an investment app. The investigation revealed complex transactions and legal violations.

It was found that the complainant's money was deposited in the private company's bank account in a private bank.

During the investigation, it was revealed that the account holder had opened the bank account at the behest of a Chinese and had given him (the Chinese) the internet banking username and password of the bank account, a police press release said. 

Parallel to this, it was found that the bank account of another private company (opened by a person from Delhi) shared a phone number with the previous company.

It was also discovered that the person from Delhi had opened multiple bank accounts. Both bank account openers got a commission of Rs 1.2 lakh per account.

Most of the money from the private company's 38 virtual bank accounts went to two money-changing companies. Cash received in rupees is converted into cash in US dollars.

Money changers and foreign exchange exchanges have been found repeatedly violating the guidelines laid down by the RBI regarding money exchange activities.

Those who received the money in US dollars joined hands with other fraudsters and transferred it abroad through hawala.903 crore fraud has been committed through hawala, the investigation has revealed.

The investigation has revealed that two people who played an important role in this scam are in China.

Anand said the city police would coordinate with agencies like ED and DRI considering the serious nature of the scam.