The Bureau of Immigration on Thursday issued a look out circular against a Dubai-based shell farm operator in connection with a gaming and betting app case registered by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Odisha Police.

The racket operating online gaming and betting applications from Dubai had earlier been busted by the EOW with the investigating agency arresting two fraudsters from Howrah in West Bengal.

Look out circular is generally issued to alert immigration check posts at airports or sea ports to alert law enforcement agencies, if a wanted person tries to leave the country or arrives inside the country from abroad.

“On the request of the Economic Offences Wing, Bhubaneswar, Bureau of Immigration (BoI) has issued a look out Circular against accused Md. Saif of Shaheen Bagh of Chhawni, Bettiah, Bihar in EOW PS Case No.06 dt.17.02.2023 U/s 420/467/468/471/120-B IPC r/w Sec.4/5/6 of PCMCs (Banning) Act & Sec.6 of OPID Act/ Sec.66 (D) of IT Act,” EOW said in a statement.

It is a well-knit racket operating online from a website which has been registered in Hongkong (China) and also operated from Dubai. EOW is planning to seek the help of other law enforcement agencies of central and other State governments and also Interpol to unearth the scam.

The online racket lured the investors by promising lucrative benefits like 3% daily compound return on investment, recharge bonus, referral bonus, extra bonus on the earnings of the downline members, salary bonus, daily withdrawal option etc. Investors were asked to create an account with “18football.com” either by application or through offline referral link, and were being asked to bet money in some football matches as prescribed in website/App.

Investors were also provided with the so called foreigner “mentor” to assist them in betting. These mentors used to communicate through telegram or Apps only.

There was an extra bonus/commission for introducing/recruiting new members. In order to promote and to allure the innocent public, the fraudsters were also taking up promotional activities like some social works, charity in the rural areas and giving it huge publicity so that people will consider this scheme as a bonafide organization.

The fraudsters although initially paid the promised return for some few days to the investors, yet in the latter stage when the membership increased, stopped making any payment and closed the app.

The scammers used multiple shell firms and their directors to route the ill-gotten money. They also used mule accounts for multi-layering of money transactions to confuse the law enforcement agencies., EOW added.