Lakhs of investments, ED team raids Kochi house during investigation into online loan-betting apps

Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate raided the house of Raphael James Rosario, a native of Vypin, who invested lakhs of rupees in shell companies. The investigation team, however, was shocked to find an old dilapidated house in place of the big house that they expected. They were further shocked to find that Raphael is only 30 years old.

As part of the investigation against online loan/game/betting apps, Raphael was summoned to the ED’s Kochi office and his statement recorded. The directors of the NIUM companies also came to Kochi to give their statement.

ED has been carrying out investigations based on various fraud cases registered by Kerala-Haryana police, against online app companies. Singapore-based NIUM company’s Indian branch is in Mumbai. These companies opened accounts in various banks in Kerala under forged names and deposited money received through the apps.

This money will be transferred to shell companies in Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. From here, the method is to smuggle crypto currency while software imports fake invoices to foreign banks. 

Shell companies in Singapore prepare fake invoices worth lakhs of rupees for shell companies in India. These invoices are then transferred to the Global Forex Settlement platform of NIUM Pvt limited. 

Banks and investigative agencies cannot easily detect these frauds as no information other than the invoice is transmitted. Rs 123 crore said to belong to NIUM has been frozen.