ED raids Paytm, Razorpay, Cashfree premises in Bengaluru
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New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting raids at premises belonging to online payment apps such as Razorpay, Paytm and Cashfree in Bengaluru. The central probe agency said that the exercise was part of an investigation into illegal instant smart-phone based loans operated by Chinese persons, PTI reported.
ED said that the searches, which are in progress, were launched on Friday.
The agency said that it had recovered Rs 17 crore worth of funds kept in "merchant IDs and bank accounts of these Chinese persons-controlled entities", PTI quotes.
It explained that the mentioned entities use forged documents of Indians, make them dummy directors and generate "proceeds of crimes.
ED said, "It has come to notice that the said entities were doing their suspected/illegal business through various merchant IDs/accounts held with payment gateways/banks."
"The premises of Razorpay Pvt Ltd, Cashfree Payments, Paytm Payment Services Ltd and entities controlled/operated by Chinese persons are covered in the search operation," it said.
According to the agency, the entities in question generated proceeds of crime through many merchant IDs/accounts held with payment gateways/banks. They were not operating from the addresses given on the ministry of corporate affairs website but fake addresses.
The central agency further said that the money laundering case in this context which it is probing, is based on at least 18 FIRs filed by Bengaluru Police cybercrime. The case was registered against "numerous entities/persons in connection with their involvement in extortion and harassment of the public who had availed small amount of loans through the mobile apps being run by those entities/persons," PTI quotes.
