In the ongoing investigation into the 712 crores investment fraud allegedly orchestrated by Chinese nationals, the Hyderabad police have shared details about the reported transfer of money into a crypto wallet, suspectedly belonging to a terror outfit, with the National Investigation Agency (NIA). After analysing the financial transactions, the cyber crime sleuths of Hyderabad found a few suspected ones linked to an account belonging to Hezbollah through cryptocurrencies. Since the police have limited reach and the case has cross-border implications, they alerted the NIA.
Sources from the Telangana police told TOI, “A team of senior NIA officials contacted cyber crime police and collected details to analyse if they can get further leads. Though the anti-terror unit may not formally investigate the case, they will conduct an inquiry related to a few specific transactions.”
On one occasion, $3,000 was reportedly transferred to an account suspected to belong to the Hezbollah. After further investigation with the help of the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) and contacting the crypto exchange, the account was found to be suspended due to its suspected links to the terror group.
Nine persons were earlier arrested by the cyber crime police for facilitating a few Chinese nationals in organizing the task-based job fraud, wherein Indians lost money in the hope of making easy money. The 712 crores (victims’ money) was credited into the accounts of a few accused in India, operated by the others from Dubai. The money was then transferred into cryptocurrencies and Prakash Prajapati allegedly played a key role as he had a crypto wallet. It was from these wallets that money was sent to different crypto wallets to send them abroad. A minor portion of the money was transferred to an account belonging to the Hezbollah.
