On April 21, 2023, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) conducted searches at three bank and payment gateway locations in Gurgaon, Mumbai, and Bangalore in accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in relation to the accounts held by entities under the control of Bhupesh Arora and his associates. This was done as part of an investigation into the abuse of the app-based token “HPZ” and other comparable applications by multiple entities.
The current case was documented based on an FIR filed by the Cyber Crime Police Station in Kohima, Nagaland, against HPZ Token and others, under several IPC sections. The HPZ Token was an app-based token that offered customers significant returns on their investments by purchasing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency mining equipment. The investigation uncovered a bigger plot and the participation of several organisations in money laundering.
According to an ED investigation, Lillian Technocab Pvt. Ltd. and Shigoo Technology Private Limited were responsible for running the HPZ token operation and taking money from investors. Further investigation showed that Bhupesh Arora and his associates controlled Shigoo Technology Private Limited. He was operating illegal gaming apps and websites in this company and various other entities, and he was defrauding the public by posing as these apps and websites to obtain money.
Money laundering firms’ different bank accounts, merchant accounts, and payment gateways were found to contain a total of Rs. 91.6 crores during the searches, and these accounts were frozen. The total amount frozen in this case is currently at Rs. 178 crore. The probe is being expanded upon.
