ED seizes illegal call centre's 2 Punjab properties worth Rs 7.31 crore

Jalandhar, July 18 (IANS) In a crackdown against an international racket involving gift cards and Virtual Digital Assets, the ED attached immovable properties of an illegal call centre worth Rs 7.31 crore in Ludhiana and Mohali, said an official on Friday.

The call centre was being run by Ankush Bassi, Piyush Malik, Gurmeet Singh Gandhi and others for duping foreigners under the garb of offering customer support service.

The call centre operators used to manipulate foreign customers into buying gift cards and Virtual Digital Assets, said an ED statement.

The gift cards and virtual digital assets were later encashed in India by the accused persons through crypto exchanges and layered through multiple bank accounts of Bassi, Malik, Gandhi and their family members, said the probe agency.

The federal agency’s Jalandhar Zonal Office issued the Provisional Attachment Order against the Ludhiana and Mohali properties under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 on Thursday.

The ED’s investigation revealed that the trio were running a call centre purportedly for providing services without having any affiliations.

The Proceeds of Crime thus generated through illegal activities were utilised in purchase of immovable properties, the ED said.

Earlier in a separate case, the ED’s Chandigarh Zonal Office carried out search operations on July 4 at the premises of three suspected shell companies - M/s Kindent Business Solutions, M/s Rainet Technology and M/s Mool Business Solutions, located in Noida and Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

These companies were being operated by dummy directors and posing as IT firms offering bill payment solutions, UPI applications and similar services without being regulated by the RBI.

Based on recovered evidence and confirmations received from various banks, the ED has frozen 135 bank accounts associated with these entities, with a total Proceeds of Crime (PoC) of Rs 204 crore.

The action is in continuation of the previous searches conducted in this ongoing case during February 2025, when a total of 52 bank accounts were frozen with a total PoC of Rs 187 crore. Till now, PoC of Rs 391 crore has been frozen.

Essentially, these companies serve as intermediary channels for laundering the proceeds of crime generated through the multicrore QFX/YFX online forex and MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) scam, which has duped thousands of investors across India.

The agents collect cash or money in their Bank account or in the Bank account of others and then route the money through the accounts as mentioned earlier, the ED said.

--IANS

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