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Chandigarh | Accused in instant loans fraud case routed money to China via shell companies
Chandigarh superintendent of police (SP, cyber crime investigation cell) Ketan Bansal said, “It has been found that the money that the victims were made to deposit was routed to China through shell companies. We are getting more details on these shell companies and their handlers.”
The Chinese national and 20 others, arrested for extorting money from people after offering instant loans, were routing money to their handlers in China through shell companies, investigations have revealed.
Chandigarh superintendent of police (SP, cyber crime investigation cell) Ketan Bansal said, “It has been found that the money that the victims were made to deposit was routed to China through shell companies. We are getting more details on these shell companies and their handlers.”
The Chandigarh Police Cyber Cell had arrested 21 members of this gang in a 10-day long operation spanning across five states, including Delhi NCR, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. The kingpin of the gang, Wan Chengua, 34, a Chinese national, was arrested from Delhi NCR on September 11. He is presently in four-day police custody.
The probe also revealed that the accused had been communicating with the handlers in the neighbouring country through DingTalk, one of the largest professional communication and management mobile apps in China.
“All instructions and communications from the Chinese handlers came through DingTalk app,” said Bansal.
RBI had cancelled registration of firm where kingpin worked
The accused, Chengua, a Class-12 passout, had arrived in India on a work visa in 2019, and had been living illegally after his visa got expired in 2020. He worked with PC Financial Services Pvt Ltd, operating from Delhi. The firm was primarily engaged in mobile app-based lending operations through an app called ‘Cashbean’.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in February this year, had cancelled the certificate of registration issued to the firm after it was found that several norms, including those of outsourcing and Know Your Customer (KYC), were being flouted.
Once PC Financial Services was refrained from carrying out transactions, Chengua along with accused Parwej Alam, alias Jitu Bhadana alias Sonu Bhadana, 32, started duping people. Chengua had entrusted Parwej with the responsibility of hiring people.
Parwej hired six to seven team leads who had a large number of youths working under them. These youths sent the links which were used to entrap the victims.
Targeted middle-class families, offered loans without paper work
“The accused were working in work-from-home setup and thus managed to get away easily. They mostly targeted middle-class families that were looking for short-term loans. They offered loans without any paperwork,” said Bansal.
Police have recovered around ₹62 lakh from the accused.
“The money we have recovered is primarily the amount that was to be paid to youths hired by the accused,” said Bansal. The agents were paid around ₹11,000 while team leaders and managers were paid anywhere between ₹15,000 and ₹35,000.
100 complaints in Chandigarh alone, police seek removal of apps
Police said the accused had been managing domains of all online loan applications --- Hugo Loan, Cashfree, Fly Cash, Cash coin, AA Loan.
“Around 100 complaints have been lodged from Chandigarh alone. Residents here have lost around ₹65 lakh to these fraudsters. We have written to Google Play Store to remove these applications,” said the SP.
