Chandigarh: A cyber crook from Uttar Pradesh, who duped thousands of investors by promising high returns from forex trading on digital platforms, was sent to nine days’ custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Chandigarh zone, for questioning by a Special PMLA court, an official said on Friday.
Navab Hassan was arrested by the ED on Thursday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, for his role in misleading innocent investors and mobilising public deposits to launder Proceeds of Crime (POC) through the QFX, YFX, BotBro, BotAlpha, Crossaplha, and Minecrypto scam, the official added.
The ED initiated an investigation based on multiple FIRs registered across Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Assam under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860. The widespread nature of this pyramid scam across several states has raised major concerns, the official said in a statement.
According to the federal agency, the accused promised high monthly returns of 5-6 percent through robot and AI-bot-based forex trading. He used payment aggregators and virtual currencies like USDT to collect funds from investors.
“Once invested, the IDs are deleted, payouts are halted after a few months, and the Proceeds of Crime generated from the investment are diverted to the UAE to purchase properties in the names of close associates of the main accused and for luxury spending,” the statement revealed.
The ED’s action comes after a series of crackdowns on operators involved in the QFX scam. Top agent Harinder Pal Singh, recently arrested by the ED on September 17, identified Navab as the leading agent of West Uttar Pradesh currently active in the region.
The investigation uncovered that Navab operated as a senior field leader at the rank of “Blue Diamond Executive” and had built a base of more than 10,000 investors under him. He was collecting cash and funnelling investments initially through payment aggregators and later through USDT, while coordinating with Dubai-based masterminds Lavish Chaudhary (also known as Nawab) and his associates.
The ED further revealed that Navab admitted no real forex trading took place on the platform. Investor dashboards showed notional balances, while new collections were used to service pending payouts. He has been a frequent traveller to the UAE to meet the absconding mastermind Lavish Chaudhary and was planning another trip to Dubai. Navab also took part in Zoom meetings along with Lavish Chaudhary to instil confidence and trust in new investors.
Earlier, a search at Navab’s residence in Shamli led to the recovery of Rs 94.23 lakh of Proceeds of Crime generated by defrauding common investors, the ED said.
Moreover, a recent Provisional Attachment Order of Rs 9.49 crore was issued on August 26, attaching 45 immovable properties acquired by Navab, his family members, and associates.
Searches conducted on February 11 and July 4 resulted in the seizure or attachment of 185 bank accounts containing Rs 391 crore of Proceeds of Crime linked to various shell entities. These include QFX Trade Ltd, Npay Box Pvt Ltd, Capter Money Solution Pvt Ltd, Rainet Technology Pvt Ltd, Kindent Business Solution Pvt Ltd, Mool Business Solution Pvt Ltd, and Tiger Digital Services Pvt Ltd, among others, the statement added.
*Note: Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ’s editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.*
https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/ed-arrests-up-cyber-crook-navab-hassan-in-multi-state-391-crore-forex-scam-linked-to-dubai-masterminds
