Unlicensed money changers found operating with fake RBI permits
Hyderabad: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Hyderabad Zonal Office, on Friday conducted searches at five locations in the city targeting full-fledged money changers (FFMCs). The firms raided include Prism Forex Private Limited, Garuda Forex Services Private Limited, Sree Vimal Nath Forex Private Limited, Victory Forex and Travel Services Private Limited, and Digital Forex Private Limited.
According to ED officials, the FFMCs and their managements were allegedly operating illegally without valid licences from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and carrying out unauthorised financial transactions. The raids were conducted under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999.
Earlier, an inspection by the RBI’s Hyderabad office had revealed serious irregularities at these FFMCs, including KYC documents without corresponding travel tickets, fictitious traveller names, forged flight tickets, manipulation of flight dates and numbers, and signature mismatches. Multiple copies of the same ticket were also found, with forged details.
Officials said that many transactions were shown as sales against travel to countries such as Indonesia, Maldives, Thailand, and Sri Lanka — destinations that do not require visas.
Following the RBI’s inspection, the concerned FFMCs surrendered their licences between June and July 2025. However, the ED investigation later found that some of the entities — namely Prism Forex, Victory Forex and Travel Services, and Digital Forex — continued to operate illegally, even displaying fake or forged RBI licences at their premises.
Searches under FEMA led to the seizure of incriminating documents, mobile phones, and laptops containing records of illicit foreign currency dealings. The officials also recovered unaccounted Indian currency worth Rs 11.99 lakh and foreign currency in various denominations equivalent to Rs 26.77 lakh.
Sources said further investigation is underway to determine the scale of illegal transactions and identify other entities or individuals involved in the racket.
