New Delhi [India], July 4 (ANI) In a major crackdown on cyber-enabled financial fraud, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested one Rohit Vij, identified as one of the masterminds behind a Chinese app-based investment scam involving the fake mobile application 'LOXAM.

As per a statement from the ED, the accused lured unsuspecting investors with promises of unrealistically high returns, defrauding them through the fraudulent app.

Vij, the mastermind in the conversion of proceeds of crime into forex (foreign exchange), was arrested on June 30 and has been accorded five-day ED custody by a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in New Delhi.

Following the arrest, the ED carried out search operations at five locations in Delhi linked to Vij, his business entities, and associates under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The searches led to the identification of Proceeds of Crime (PoC) and the recovery and seizure of incriminating documents.

ED initiated an investigation on the basis of the First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Hyderabad Cyber Crime division in 2022, wherein it was alleged that certain Chinese individuals, in association with certain Indian persons, have defrauded various investors by luring and offering unrealistically high returns on investments through their fake investment app named as 'LOXAM', claiming to be related to a reputed French MNC Group of the same name.

ED said its investigation revealed that the 'tainted money was collected in the bank account of a shell entity Xindai Technologies Pvt Ltd, which was formed in the name of an Indian person, on the instructions of a Chinese national, namely Jack, who took the internet banking credentials and routed the funds so collected through 38 mule accounts, which were subsequently converted into Foreign currencies with the help of Vij and his associates through shell money changer entities--Ranjan Money Corp Pvt Ltd and KDS Forex Pvt Ltd controlled by them based in Delhi.'

Vij and his associates 'converted the tainted amount into foreign currencies, mostly in US Dollars and UAE Dirham, through multiple Authorised Money Changers (AMCs), Full Fledged Money Changers (FFMCs), and provided the same to the Chinese perpetrators of fraud through various middlemen through hawala channels.'

Amounts totalling Rs 171.47 crore were laundered through Xindai Technologies Pvt Ltd and subsequently converted into forex through Ranjan Moneycorp Pvt Ltd and KDS Forex Pvt Ltd, said the ED in a statement.

However, the agency said, from the analysis of bank accounts of Ranjan Money Corp and KDS Forex Pvt Ltd, it was found that within a period of seven months, these entities, under the control and operation of Vij, has converted Rs 903 crore of similar tainted money generated by Chinese perpetrators of fraud and other accused persons. (ANI)