Chennai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested two Tamil Nadu men — Roshan Fiaz of Chennai and Ammar of Pudukottai — in a money-laundering investigation into a nationwide online fraud network that the agency says generated proceeds of crime of more than Rs 400 crore, according to ED details reported on Thursday (November 5). The ED's Chennai Zonal Office-II arrested the two men on October 30 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, and both were produced before the Special PMLA Court in Chennai, which remanded them to 14 days of judicial custody.

Source: Traders Union (ED statement)

The arrests are a major new development in a probe that first surfaced during the ED's search operations in July, when the cases then on record were estimated at a far smaller figure. The agency now says that, as the investigation widened, more than 600 cybercrime complaints and 10 additional FIRs registered in Telangana, Karnataka and West Bengal were found to be linked to the same network.

Source: Traders Union (ED statement)

The ED case rests on two FIRs — one registered by the Tamil Nadu Police's State Cyber Crime Command Centre and the other by the Cyberabad Cyber Crime Police in Telangana. According to the agency, victims were lured through social media and phone calls with promises of investment returns, job offers and stock-market gains, and induced to transfer money into mule bank accounts.

Source: Traders Union (ED statement)

According to the ED, Roshan Fiaz was a key operator of the network and controlled a large number of mule accounts held in his own name, his wife's name and the names of proprietorship firms and other entities under his control; debit and credit transactions of more than Rs 300 crore were identified across 31 such accounts, and money collected from victims was allegedly routed onward and converted into USDT cryptocurrency through crypto wallets.

Source: Mirror Now

Ammar is alleged to have supplied Fiaz with mule bank accounts belonging to various individuals and entities, along with account kits, net-banking credentials, SIM cards, mobile phones and email IDs used to receive rupees from cryptocurrency buyers. These are allegations made by the investigating agency; neither man has been convicted in the case.

Source: Mirror Now

In earlier searches at premises linked to the accused and their entities, the ED seized Rs 14.50 lakh in cash and cryptocurrency worth Rs 3.26 crore, and froze about Rs 88.28 lakh held in bank accounts. The agency said its investigation is continuing to trace the remaining proceeds and identify others involved.