The Directorate of Enforcement have conducted searches at 21 locations across Delhi, Mumbai and Pune in connection with a money laundering probe relating to ‘Magicwin’, which was allegedly involved in illegal broadcast of cricket men’ T20 World Cup’ matches and online betting, the agency said on Tuesday.
According to ED, the searches by the sleuths of the anti-money laundering agency were conducted on December 10 and 12, and during the operation, bank funds to the tune of Rs 30 lakh were frozen, while various other incriminating documents and digital devices were seized.
ED’s probe has so far revealed that Magicwin is a betting website, guised as a gaming portal, and is owned by Pakistani nationals.
The federal agency had initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by Cyber Crime Police, Ahmedabad against the said website and other persons.
The probe agency further claims that the operations of this website are mostly handled by Indian nationals working, or settled in Dubai.
The agency further claims that their probe findings also establish that betting games being shown on the website are originally played in Philippines and other countries, where such activities are permitted.
However, the agency further said that the same is re-telecast on the said website by copying the APIs (Application Programming Interface) of the original games.
During the investigation by the ED, it was found that the money deposited by the players in the bank accounts reflected on the website, and the funds were diverted through various layers of shell/ mule bank accounts.
It was also revealed that the profit of the owners are invested in Crypto assets, or withdrawn in cash and further sent abroad, through Hawala channels.
The winnings are transferred to the respective accounts of the players, through merchant accounts of various shell companies, maintained with the payment aggregators, the agency added.
Meanwhile, ED Ahmedabad has conducted 68 searches till date in this case and has seized various incriminating documents and digital devices, with a total seizure and freezing of funds in this case as of now stands to Rs 3.55 crore.
Further probe is underway in the matter, the agency said.