Eight payment gateways like Paytm, RazorPay, PayU, and Easebuzz have come under the Enforcement Directorate (ED) scanner in connection with a ₹2,200 cr raises across 20 states and linked with the 10 Chinese nationals in the crypto scam.
Near about ₹2,200 cr was collected by the accused from 20 states. The address is the ‘proceeds of the crime’. That was sent out of the country and part of this amount was frozen through the payment gateways till a day or two during the bulk payment. During this process, the ED froze ₹500 cr.
By monitoring the money movement and determining whether payment gateways have generated suspicious transaction reports (STR), the ED is presently looking into the situation. Additionally, the agency has notified the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). All financial institutions are required to prepare STR and submit it to the RBI on a regular basis. The FIU receives this report from the central bank so that law enforcement can look into it further.
According to the report, PayU had the largest amount of the entire sum frozen by the ED, at ₹130 crores, followed by Easebuzz at ₹33.4 crores and Razorpay at ₹18 crores. Cashfree and Paytm had ₹10.6 crores and ₹2.8 crores, respectively, as purported proceeds of crime associated with the HPZ token scam.
Even some of the other payment gateways are also connected to the case including WunderBaked, AgreePay, and SpeedPay. The accused operated the scam across 20 states by giving the people options to invest in crypto mining like Bitcoin HPZ tokens and mobile applications.
More than 50 companies are registered in Delhi along with 84 bank accounts, 37 bank accounts plus 26 companies based in Karnataka. 19 companies in Haryana and 11 in UP. The scammers operate from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, West Bengal and other states.
Paytm also denied the allegations and claimed them to be factually incorrect and misleading.
Paytm stated in an exchange filing
“We confirm that we have not received any such new notice, communication, or query from the Enforcement Directorate regarding the matter mentioned in the media articles. The information published is factually incorrect and misleading and we had not received any query from the media prior to the publishing of this news article,”.
PayU denies all the allegations and the spokesperson said
“The investigations referenced in the recent media reports relate to events in 2022, for which we have fully cooperated with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the past,”
“We were not approached by the media for any clarifications prior to the publication of any of these media reports. There are factual inaccuracies in the reports concerning PayU, and we strongly refute any misrepresentations. At PayU, we remain committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations and continue to uphold the highest standards of governance and transparency in all our operations,”
Also, an official spokesperson of RazorPay confirmed to Livemint that they are not receiving any legal notices from ED.
