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ED arrests four accused in Fiewin gaming app scam case

According to the ED, its investigation revealed that Chinese nationals were operating the app with the help and support from Indian nationals. File.

According to the ED, its investigation revealed that Chinese nationals were operating the app with the help and support from Indian nationals. File.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested four persons in connection with an alleged scam executed through online gaming application “Fiewin” purportedly run by some Chinese nationals in conspiracy with their Indian accomplices.

The accused have been identified as Arun Sahu, Alok Sahu, Chetan Prakash, and Joseph Stalin. The arrests have been made on a money laundering charge related to a case registered by the Cossipore police in Kolkata. The agency has secured their 14-day custody from a special court for questioning.

According to the ED, its investigation revealed that Chinese nationals were operating the app with the help and support from Indian nationals. “The funds mobilised from the gullible online gamers through the Fiewin app were deposited into the bank accounts of various persons [called recharge persons] who had allowed the use of their accounts by the app owners in lieu of certain commissions,” said the agency, adding that about ₹400 crore was raised through the alleged fraud.

‘Recharge persons’

Accused Mr. Arun Sahu and Mr. Alok Sahu are based in Odisha’s Rourkela. They operated as “recharge persons” and the funds received in their bank accounts via the Fiewin app were converted into cryptocurrencies. They deposited and laundered the cryptocurrencies so earned from the app to the wallets of Chinese nationals on a foreign crypto exchange, Binance, the ED said.

It alleged that Mr. Chetan Prakash, an engineer from Patna in Bihar, played a key role in the money laundering activities by helping such “recharge persons” in converting the Indian currency into cryptocurrencies.

“Another person named Mr. Joseph Stalin, a software engineer based out of Chennai, helped a Chinese national named Pie Pengyun from Gansu province to become a co-director of Studio 21 Private Limited, a company owned by him. Mr. Pie Pengyun used the account of Studio 21 for bulk payout services related to the app which helped them gain confidence of gamers in the beginning and prompted them to place larger bets,” an official alleged.

The agency alleged that the funds used for payout services were received by Mr. Stalin as cryptocurrencies in his Binance account from the wallets controlled by the Chinese handlers, and he converted them into Indian currency by selling the digital currency through peer-to-peer mode on Binance.

The funds collected from the victims were credited into eight Binance wallets in the name of Chinese nationals. “These wallets were operated from the Chinese mainland as revealed by the access Internet Protocol logs. The Chinese nationals communicated with, and instructed, the above-named accused persons through digital communication, especially Telegram groups,” it said.

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