Key Points

Navab Hassan was arrested by the ED on Thursday under 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/ Minecrypto scam, the official said.

The ED initiated an investigation into the matter on the basis of multiple FIRs registered across Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Assam, under various sections of IPC, 1860, indicating that this pyramid scam is widespread across several states, the official said in a statement.

The federal agency said the accused promised high monthly returns of 5-6 per cent through robot/AI-bot-based forex trading and used payment aggregators and virtual currencies like USDT to collect funds.

"Once invested, the IDs are deleted, payouts are halted after a few months, and the POC generated from the investment is diverted to the UAE to purchase properties in the names of close associates of the main accused and for luxury spending," the statement said.

The ED's action follows a series of crackdowns on operators involved in the QFX scam. Top agent Harinder Pal Singh, recently arrested by the ED on September 17, further disclosed and identified Navab as the leading agent of West Uttar Pradesh currently active in the region.

The ED investigation revealed 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 had been collecting cash and funnelling investments earlier via payment aggregators and later through USDT, while coordinating with the Dubai-based masterminds -- Lavish Chaudhary, also known as Nawab, and his associates.

The ED said that Navab has stated that no real forex trading ever took place in the platform and that investor dashboards reflected 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 to travel to Dubai again. He also participated in Zoom call meetings along with Lavish Chaudhary to inspire confidence and trust in new investors.

Earlier, a search at his house in Shamli had led to the recovery of Rs 94.23 lakh of Proceeds of Crime (POC) generated by defrauding common investors, the ED said.

A recent Provisional Attachment Order of Rs 9.49 crore attached 45 immovable properties on August 26, acquired by the accused, his family members, and associates, the ED said.

Searches conducted on February 11 and July 4 resulted in the seizure or attachment of 185 bank accounts carrying Rs 391 crore POC across various shell entities, namely 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 said.

- IANS