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- Published: September 16, 2022 15:24
New Delhi: Stepping up scrutiny of various payment gateways with alleged connection with Chinese loan apps, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently conducted raids at multiple locations including Delhi, Mumbai, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Gaya & others.
On Friday, the ED said that it has frozen funds to the tune of Rs 46.67 crore, kept in payment gateways including Easebuzz, Razorpay, Cashfree and Paytm.
The action against these payment gateways have been taken under the money laundering law.
“Huge balances were found to be maintained in the virtual accounts of the involved entities with payment aggregators like Rs 33.36 crore was found with Easebuzz Private Limited, Pune, Rs 8.21 crore with Razorpay Software Private Limited, Bangalore, Rs 1.28 crore with Cashfree Payments India Private Limited, Bangalore and Rs 1.11 crore with Paytm Payments Services Limited, New Delhi,” the agency said.
“At least 16 premises of banks and payment gateways in Delhi, Pune, Gurugram, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Bengaluru in respect of an investigation related to an app-based token named HPZ and related entities were covered,” it further said in an official statement.
During the raids, the ED sleuths also recovered many damning documents relating to Chinese loan app case. The case was registered by the cybercrime unit of Kohima Police in Nagaland in October 2021.
Earlier on September 3, ED conducted raids at Bengaluru premises of these online payment gateways as part of an probe against “illegal” instant smartphone-based loans, being controlled & managed by persons based outside of the country.