Illegal Betting Apps Case: ED Freezes Rs 110 Cr, Seizes 1,200 Cr Credit Cards
Describing the alleged modus operandi, the ED said Parimatch routed users’ funds through mule accounts using different strategies across the country.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has frozen funds worth ₹110 crore kept in mule bank accounts and seized 1,200 mule credit cards following recent searches against the Indian operations of a Cyprus-based illegal online betting platform named “Parimatch.”
The agency said the ₹110 crore was parked in various bank accounts belonging to individuals and entities used as mule accounts, accounts used for money laundering and similar criminal activities, and/or for “layering” purposes. The 1,200 mule credit cards, found in a single premises during the searches, were also seized.
The ED had conducted searches on August 12 at 17 locations in Mumbai, Noida, Jaipur, Surat, Madurai, Kanpur, and Hyderabad as part of a case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Parimatch’s operations in India.
According to the ED, the online betting app gained traction in the country through aggressive marketing, including sponsorship of sports tournaments and partnerships with well-known celebrities. It is alleged to have cheated investors by luring them with promises of high returns, generating more than ₹3,000 crore in a single year.
“They also set up Indian entities to run surrogate advertisements under the names ‘Parimatch Sports’ and ‘Parimatch News.’ Payments to these agencies were made via foreign inward remittances,” the agency said in a statement.
The ED case was registered based on an FIR filed by the cyber police station of Mumbai Police against Parimatch.com for allegedly “duping” users through online betting.
Describing the alleged modus operandi, the ED said Parimatch routed users’ funds through mule accounts using different strategies across the country.
In one case, funds deposited by users into mule accounts were withdrawn in cash in a specific locality in Tamil Nadu and handed over to hawala operators, who used the money to recharge virtual wallets of a UK-based company. These wallets were then used to buy cryptocurrency in the name of mule crypto accounts, which were actually operated by Parimatch agents, the agency alleged.
In western India, the ED said, Parimatch engaged the services of domestic money transfer (DMT) agents. Funds collected in mule accounts controlled by these agents were transferred to Parimatch operatives through payments made using mule credit cards.
The agency also found that payment companies whose applications for payment aggregator licences were rejected by the RBI offered their services to Parimatch under the guise of technology service providers (TSPs). These TSPs provided their application programming interfaces (APIs) to facilitate user fund collections.
“These TSPs offered the API to Parimatch agents, who onboarded mule accounts opened in the name of e-commerce companies and payment solution providers for collecting funds from users,” the ED said.
The money collected through UPI transfers was then “layered” and transferred out under the guise of e-commerce refunds, chargebacks, vendor payments, and other transactions, effectively concealing the actual flow and purpose of the funds, the agency added.
