EOW highlights patterns of cyber financial fraud, illegal Chinese loan apps

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha has busted several cyber financial frauds, including online Ponzi schemes and illegal Chinese loan apps which have caused serious problems to people across the country as well in the State.

In the case of Chinese loan app scams, more than 100 people committed suicide in different parts of India, while Odisha reported zero suicide, said EOW.

Apart from cyber financial fraud, illegal Chinese loan apps, the EOW has detected some patterns while carrying out probes into Crypto related frauds, Youtube/Hotels liking/ratings scams, work from home, or courier scams.

The EOW has found that these scams are being operated from China/Hongkong and Dubai with some of their support system based in India. The scammers generally use Whatsapp and Telegram channels to communicate with their associates and victims.

In almost all cases, fake SIM cards (SIM in someone else’s name) and mule bank accounts are used wherever required to ensure anonymity.

While the victims pay their money through UPIs/ digital wallets, the money through some payment gateway lands at mule bank accounts controlled by scammers.

In some schemes, victims are initially paid some amounts to (to lure/ trap) victims. After being channelized through multiple mule bank accounts, the bulk money lands at the current accounts of some shell companies or proprietorship firms.