Indian investigators link $96M flow to illicit trading platform

Indian authorities have claimed that an illegal trading platform has processed more than Rs. 800 crore (approximately $96 million) in the past nine months. According to authorities, its promoters are based in Russia, while technical support is based in Georgia. Meanwhile, its Indian operations are handled from Dubai, with the servers located in Barcelona.

The illegal online trading platform, OctaFX, is being investigated by Indian authorities for laundering thousands of crores of rupees from India to tax havens over the past few years. According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the platform has become a part of a study into transcontinental operations that convert proceeds of crime into digital assets and use the services of international payment gateways.

Indian authorities allege OctaFX made $96 million from crime proceeds

Indian authorities claimed that a multi-agency investigation has revealed that OctaFX made more than $96 million of alleged crime proceeds in nine months. According to authorities, some of the funds were layered, with the platform allegedly using fake import services from Singapore to launder criminal proceeds from India. In a particular case, the ED was able to connect Rs. 172 crore worth of assets in India and abroad, including a yacht, a villa located in Spain, Rs. 36 crore in banks, 39,000 USDT, land, and Demat holdings of about Rs. 80 crore.

Meanwhile, authorities have claimed that OctaFX is not the only platform being investigated by the ED office in the Mumbai zonal unit. Other alleged illegal online platforms carrying out investment frauds include Power Bank, which is under investigation at the Bengaluru zonal unit. Angel One, TM Traders, and Vivan Li are also being investigated by the Kolkata zonal unit, while Zara FX is being investigated by the ED office at the Kochi unit. The ED’s cases across its offices are based on the FIRs registered by the police in different cities.

“Cyber frauds in the name of cryptocurrency included Birfa IT and related firms acting as brokers, converting huge amounts of money to and from crypto to help clients send money to China for under-invoiced imports, laundering the PoC (proceeds of crime) through cryptocurrency,” the ED revealed in its study. Indian authorities also discovered that in the Birfa IT case, the scammers were able to send more than Rs. 4818 crore to Hong Kong and Canadian entities under their control.

Authorities say operators are usually foreigners

Authorities claimed that most of the payments sent abroad are done under the pretext of paying for leasing servers, while others are escrow services on fake invoices. The ED document revealed that Indians have lost more than Rs. 22,800 crore in around 36.4 lakh financial frauds reported in 2024, a jump of about 206% in estimated losses from Rs. 7,465 crore recorded in 2023. Notably, the ED recorded a 50% rise in the number of cases from 2023 to 2024.

Investigation against a similar cyber investment fraud also discovered that the masterminds were operating the operation from Laos, Hong Kong, and Thailand. They created and maintained shell entities using forged documents. The operations were maintained by Indians hired to carry out other types of alleged crimes, including issuing fake IPO allotments, stock market investments, and fake digital arrests.

Proceeds of crimes are collected from several shell companies and converted into digital assets before they are remitted overseas as payments for fake import services. While international payment gateways act as intermediaries for many of these illicit transactions, a part of the funds is laundered using hwala channels, the ED notes. In its reports, the Enforcement Directorate claimed that it discovered that some illegal funds were returned into the country under the premise of legitimate investments into stock markets.