Govt Warns Against Illegal Payment Gateways Facilitating Laundering

Weeks after the Maharashtra government partnered with L&T Technology Services to set up an advanced cyber command and control centre in Navi Mumbai, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), along with Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) has issued an alert against illegal payment gateways that facilitate money laundering.

Gujarat Police and Andhra Pradesh Police have unearthed that transnational criminals have created illegal digital payment gateways using mule or rented accounts in a recent country-wide raid, as per the statement of the MHA.

These illegal infrastructure facilitating money laundering as a service are used for laundering proceeds of multiple nature of cybercrimes.

A few of the payment gateways that were identified during operations carried out through the police raids are PeacePay, RTX Pay, PoccoPay, and RPPay, among others.

State Police Agencies and analysis by Indian Cybercrime Coordination Center informed that current and saving accounts of shell companies or individuals are fished out through social media platforms such as Telegram and Facebook.

As a preventive measure, I4C warned banks to deploy necessary checks in identifying misuse of bank accounts used for setting up illegal payment gateways. Additionally, it also warned that illicit funds deposited in such bank accounts would result in legal consequences, including arrest.

It is pertinent to note that there has been a huge spike in cyber attacks across the country. Money laundering has gone beyond the means of just pursuing an individual’s bank account. Betting apps have been the easiest medium used by fraudsters.

This development comes nearly two months after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) discovered a money laundering operation being operated by illegal gaming and betting apps via kirana stores.

The ED has also been lately making its rounds to uncover scams involving platforms that offer digital loans and make false promises of getting high returns in lieu of investment in cryptocurrencies.

Updated at 01:38 PM

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