ED arrests 4 in Chinese-linked online betting app ‘fraud’ worth Rs 400 cr

New Delhi: Four persons have been arrested in connection with a Rs 400 crore “fraud” online betting and gaming app allegedly linked to some Chinese nationals, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Friday.

Arun Sahu, Alok Sahu, Chetan Prakash and Joseph Stalin were taken into custody under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the case related to the app named ‘Fiewin’, the federal probe agency said in a statement.

The money laundering case stems from an FIR filed at the Cossipore police station in Kolkata against some unknown persons for “cheating” and “conspiracy” with a number of online gamers through the app.

“An amount of Rs 400 crore was generated from the Fiewin app fraud and thereafter was 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.

Since these four persons played an “active role” in the Fiewin app-based scam and they are found to be involved in the offence of money laundering, they were arrested, the agency said.

The ED did not say when these persons were arrested but added that a special PMLA court in Kolkata sent them to 14 days of ED custody.

Probe found, the ED said, that Chinese nationals were operating the app with the help and support from Indian nationals.

The funds mobilised from “gullible” online gamers through the Fiewin app were deposited into the bank accounts of some persons —called recharge persons — who had allowed the use of their accounts by the app owners in lieu of certain commissions, as per the investigation conducted by the ED.