Indian authorities have arrested a man on suspicion of laundering more than $1 million (Rs. 1 billion) in digital assets into a Pakistan-based digital asset wallet. The suspect, Chetan Gangani, was arrested by the operatives for his involvement in a cybercrime operation that collected funds in digital wallets.
Authorities said the arrests are part of an ongoing effort to crack down on Raba’s bank accounts. Cybercriminals use mule bank accounts to move the proceeds of their crimes, often using multiple accounts, which can obscure the source and destination of funds. In most cases, these usually occur before funds are moved out of the country, usually through digital wallets or other means. However, in this case, the suspects attempted to use digital wallets to move funds out of the country.
Indian police arrest suspect on money laundering charges
Indian police said the suspect was related to six other arrestees. His arrest was recent, while others were arrested on November 3 as part of a series of operations by local authorities. The operation covered areas such as Morbi, Surendranagar, Surat and Amreli districts. The group was accused of routing Rs. $200 million to Dubai-based criminals using over 100 mule accounts.
Police claimed that the Indian national was suspected of helping the gang members convert 20 million rupees. Convert hundreds of millions into various digital assets or USDT and send it to a Pakistan-based digital wallet. Gangani used the BitGet crypto wallet for transfers and used the application to transfer funds over a period of four months. Officials claimed that the Pakistan-based wallet that received the funds had a balance of Rs 100 million. 29 billion, of which 1 billion came from Gujarat.
Police said the criminals paid a 0.10% fee for each USDT sent to the wallet. They claimed that other persons detained in connection with the crime also provided over 100 mule accounts to the cybercriminals and confined their activities to Gujarat. They claimed the account was used in 386 cases, including digital arrests, task fraud, investment fraud, loan fraud, and part-time job fraud.
Police dismantle fraud network
Commenting on the arrest, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi said the CID Crime Branch had cracked down on a major cross-border cybercrime network. “In a major breakthrough, the Gujarat Cyber Crime Center has dismantled a large network of ‘mule accounts’ operating across multiple districts including Morbi, Surendranagar, Surat and Savarkundra, with direct financial links traced to Pakistan,” he said in a statement.
Sanghavi said the Indian police’s cybercrime wing was closely following the traces of the funds across multiple tiers. He said the criminals were smart and the department was able to discover the Indian account where the funds came from and link them to the USDT transactions. “Investigation revealed a transfer of Rs 10 million to a Binance USDT account in Pakistan. This money was accumulated over Rs 25 million from an account in India, with this gang being one of the major sources of funds,” he added.
Over the past few months, residents and stakeholders have called on the government to clarify how it intends to regulate digital assets. Meanwhile, the amount of illegal activities taking place in this universe is increasing and these criminals are targeting innocent citizens. To curb these illegal activities, India needs to move quickly to enact regulations that protect investors in the cryptocurrency market and give them a safe space to operate.
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