ED freezes fresh deposits of Razorpay and others
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has recently frozen fresh deposits worth Rs 78 crore following raids at the premises of payment gateway Razorpay and some banks as part of an ongoing money laundering probe against the alleged illegal operations of loan apps controlled by Chinese nationals.
The ED initiated the probe after several gullible debtors ended their lives after being coerced and harassed by these loan app companies by publicising their personal details available in their phones and threatening them. The alleged proceeds of crime were routed through these payment gateways.
The money laundering case stems from 18 FIRs filed by the cybercrime police station of Bengaluru police against numerous entities/persons for their involvement in extortion and harassment of the public who had availed small amounts of loans through the mobile apps being run by them.
The ED said, “The modus operandi of these entities is to use forged documents of Indians and make them dummy directors and generate proceeds of crime. It has come to notice that the said entities were doing their suspected/illegal business through various merchant IDs/accounts held with payment gateways and banks. These entities were generating proceeds of crime through various merchant IDs/accounts held with payment gateways and banks and they have submitted fake addresses in KYC documents.”
A Razorpay spokesperson said, “This recent visit by the ED is part of the ongoing investigation against a few suspicious entities who conducted illegal business through multiple payment gateways/banks. We proactively blocked all those suspicious entities and funds associated with them about 1.5 years ago, and have shared their details with the ED multiple times. All our operations and onboarding processes adhere to the highest standards of governance and regulatory guidelines. No funds of Razorpay were frozen.”
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