Illegal digital payment: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday (October 28) issued an alert against illegal digital payment gateways being used for money laundering operations. The ministry said that the illegal payment gateways are being created using mule and rented bank accounts by Transnational Organized Cybercriminals.
"Recent nation-wide raids by Gujarat Police and Andhra Pradesh Police reveal that trans-national criminals have created illegal digital payment gateways using mule/rented accounts. These illegal infrastructure facilitating money laundering as a service are used for laundering proceeds of multiple nature of cybercrimes," the MHA said in a statement.
Govt taking steps to create Cyber Secure Bharat
The Ministry further said that the MHA, in collaboration with all Law Enforcement Agencies (LWAs) under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and guidance of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is taking all steps to create a cyber secure Bharat.
As per the information received from state police agencies and analysis by I4C wing, current accounts and saving accounts are scouted through social media (majorly from Telegram and Facebook), and these accounts belong to shell companies and enterprises or individuals.
"These mule accounts are controlled remotely from overseas. An illegal payment gateway is then created using these mule accounts are given to criminal syndicates for accepting deposits on illegal platforms like fake investment scam sites, offshore betting and gambling websites and fake stock trading platforms," said the MHA.
Some of the payment gateways identified during operation are PeacePay, RTX Pay, PoccoPay, RPPay etc. These gateways are learnt to be providing Money Laundering as a Service and are operated by foreign nationals.
MHA advised citizens not to sell/rent their bank accounts
The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Center (I4C) of the MHA advised "all citizens not to sell/rent their bank accounts/company registration certificate/Udhyam Aadhaar Registration certificate to anyone."
"Illicit funds deposited in such bank accounts can lead to legal consequences, including arrest. Banks may deploy checks to identify misuse of bank accounts that are used for setting up Illegal Payment Gateways," the MHA said.
The ministry further urged citizens to report any suspicious activity by calling the national cybercrime helpline at 1930 or visiting the official cybercrime reporting website, www.cybercrime.gov.in.
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