The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Monday conducted search operations along with Gujarat Police’s Cyber Crime Police Station Ahmedabad, at 20 premises across multiple states including in Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Coimbatore, related to a money laundering probe into unauthorised streaming of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 cricket matches, involving magic win games.
According to the probe agency, it initiated an investigation into the matter on the basis of an FIR registered with the Gujrat Police alleging that the said website https://magicwin.games/ had unauthorizedly streamed/broadcasted ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 cricket matches for which rights had been given to Star India Pvt. Ltd by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The federal anti-money laundering agency said according to the complainant, the alleged website illegally broadcast cricket matches on June 7 and 9, and caused financial losses to the company authorized to broadcast the same.
According to the ED, its investigation revealed that the website is allegedly involved in illegal activities like betting on live cricket matches and other games.
The broadcast of live cricket matches of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 was without any subscription fee and was done in order to tempt the gullible people to bet on their website, the ED said.
As a result of the search operations, incriminating records/digital devices and cash of Rs 30 Lakh have been seized, the ED said.
Further, amounts to the tune of approximately Rs 2 Crore have also been frozen, the anti-money laundering agency added.
The ED has also identified certain crypto wallets containing balance to the tune of Rs 12 crore.