Enforcement Directorate (ED) has busted a Rs 400 crore fraud linked to the Fiewin online gaming application said to involve Chinese nationals. This app flooded the market by announcing the capability to make tons of money through a set of mini-games. Nonetheless, the surface was painted with rather different colours; the whole project was a fraud that resulted in numerous users’ losses.
During the investigation, four Indians believed to be involved in the conduct of the fraudulent activities in tandem with the Chinese citizens were arrested by ED operatives in Kolkata. Indeed, even Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has joined the investigation and contributed to the tracking of transactions from the identified fraudulent resources. Till now, about ₹25 crore has been frozen during the investigation process.
According to a statement from Binance, the Fiewin app enabled new users to create accounts instantly and start participating in the gaming section of the site, where they could use many options to recharge their balances with funds. However, several people have testified within the press that as soon as they created a large sum of money, the app denied them the opportunity to take out the money, thus making it impossible for many to get their money back. This practice generated significant dissatisfaction with the work of the application among users, and local police received an increased number of complaints about its activity.
In our case, the cause escalated the case to ED as the number of grievances escalated. The agency investigations pointed out that hired Chinese individuals were collaborating with some people in India to conduct this elaborate fraud. The ED has been able to identify the various cryptocurrency addresses through which the ₹400 crores was siphoned off, confirming that once the money was channelled into the cryptocurrencies, it was impossible to track it.
The emerging event demonstrates the increase in obscurity as to what is in the online gaming platforms and the possibilities of deception that preys on innocent customers. As the investigations are still ongoing, authorities are trying their best to serve responsibility for their rightful consequences.
Check here for the latest updates in Hindi!