The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted search actions on the 12 entities involved in part time job fraud case located in Bengaluru and seized Rs 5.85 crore under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of one FIR registered in South CEN Police Station, Bengaluru City in the matter related to part time job fraud.
Investigation under PMLA revealed that gullible public mostly youth were cheated by some Chinese persons through a mobile App “Keepsharer” which promised them a part time job and collected money from them.
“These Chinese persons formed companies in India and recruited many Indians as directors, translators (for translating Mandarin to English and vice versa), Human Resource Manager and Tele callers. They obtained the documents of Indian persons and opened bank accounts by using their documents,” the ED said in a statement. The accused Chinese persons developed a mobile App and started its advertisement through WhatsApp and Telegram by offering part time job opportunities to the youth, it said.
This app was linked with an investment app. For registration on this app, they collected money from youth. Further, they collected money from the public also in the name of investment through this app. The youth were given the task of liking the videos of celebrities and uploading them on social media. When the task was completed, they used to pay Rs.20 per video and that would be credited in the “Keepsharer” wallet. For some time, money got credited in their wallet, later on, the app was removed from the play store, the agency said.
“The public was cheated with their investment amount and the remuneration to be paid which run into crores of rupees. The money collected through the scam was routed from the bank accounts of some Bengaluru-based companies and then converted into crypto currency and transferred to China-based Crypto exchanges,” it said.
All the transactions were under control of Chinese persons through phone and WhatsApp groups. As per the chargesheet filed by Police, out of 92 accused persons, six persons are citizens of China and Taiwan who were controlling the entire scam. Further investigation in the matter is under progress, it added.