New Delhi, March 12 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted coordinated searches at 15 locations across Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in connection with a large-scale organised online investment and part-time job fraud, an official statement said on Thursday.

The fraud is linked to offshore withdrawals and overseas fintech platforms, predominantly the Dubai-based “Pyypl”.

The case was registered by the CBI based on inputs received from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

According to the agency, thousands of unsuspecting Indian citizens were allegedly cheated of crores of rupees through deceptive online schemes run by an organised transnational fraud syndicate.

Investigations revealed that the network used social media platforms, mobile applications and encrypted messaging services to lure victims with promises of high returns on online investments and lucrative part-time job opportunities.

“Victims were initially persuaded to deposit small amounts and were shown fictitious profits to gain their confidence. They were subsequently induced to invest larger sums,” the statement said.

According to the agency, the defrauded funds were then transferred through multiple mule bank accounts to conceal the money trail. The proceeds were siphoned off through offshore ATM withdrawals using debit cards enabled for international transactions and through wallet top-ups on overseas fintech platforms, mainly “Pyypl”, using Visa and MasterCard payment networks. In banking systems, these transactions appeared as Point-of-Sale (POS) transactions.

The CBI has identified Ashok Kumar Sharma, a chartered accountant based in Bijwasan on the Delhi-Gurugram border, as the alleged kingpin of the syndicate. He is suspected of siphoning off hundreds of crores of rupees through a network of mule accounts and overseas financial channels. A portion of the proceeds was also converted into cryptocurrency.

CBI’s further investigation uncovered another major branch of the network through which Sharma is suspected to have siphoned off nearly Rs 900 crore over the past year alone. The defrauded funds were reportedly consolidated into accounts linked to 15 shell companies and routed through two entities.

Investigators found that these entities converted the proceeds into USDT through India-based virtual asset exchanges and transferred the cryptocurrency to their white-listed wallets.

The CBI had earlier frozen the bank accounts of the entities involved, along with the funds lying in them, in September 2025. Searches were carried out at the residential premises of the directors as well as the official premises of the entities.

During the searches, investigators recovered incriminating documents and digital evidence related to the operations of the syndicate. The agency also found that several unsuspecting individuals had been fraudulently appointed as directors of shell companies using forged documentation.

The CBI said Ashok Sharma’s custody is being taken for custodial interrogation.

Further investigation is underway to identify and apprehend other accused, including foreign nationals, and to trace and freeze the proceeds of crime routed through domestic and international financial channels.

–IANS

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