Page 7 - Frauds

Bhushan Steel bank 'fraud' case: ED arrests 5 including ex-executives

The Enforcement Directorate Friday said it has arrested five persons in connection with an alleged Rs 56,000 crore bank loan fraud linked money laundering case against erstwhile Bhushan Steel Ltd. Former vice president (banking) of the company Pankaj Tewari, former VP (accounts) Pankaj Agarwal, ex-chief financial officer Nittin Johri, Ajay Mittal, the brother-in-law of former promoter Neeraj Singal, and Ajay Mittal's wife and sister of Neeraj Singal, Archana Mittal were taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Thursday, it said. They were sent to three days ED custody by a court after they were produced over two days, the agency said. After completing the corporate insolvency resolution process, Bhushan Steel was taken over by Tata Steel Ltd in 2018. According to the ED, Bhushan Steel Limited's former managing director Neeraj Singal and his associates formed several shell companies and the promoters and entities linked to BSL "rotated funds from one

Govt warns users against dialling '*401#' followed by unknown mobile number

The Department of Telecom on Thursday issued an advisory to users warning against malicious calls that ask them to dial '*401#' followed by an unknown mobile number. In case a user dials '*401#' followed by an unknown number, then it leads to activation of unconditional call forwarding received on the mobile of the user to the unknown mobile number. "The Department has advised citizens to beware of receiving malicious incoming calls asking them to dial *401# followed by some unknown mobile number. "This activates unconditional call forwarding received on the mobile of citizens to the unknown mobile number. This allows fraudsters to receive all incoming calls and can be used for fraud," the statement said. Explaining the modus operandi of the scam, the DoT said a fraudster will call a telecom subscriber and pretend to be a customer service representative or technical support staff from their telecom service provider. The fraudster then states that either there is a problem with the

Indian-origin realty developer booked for perpetuating $93 mn fraud scheme

An Indian-origin real estate developer has been charged by federal authorities in the US with perpetuating a USD 93 million fraud scheme. Rishi Kapoor, a Miami-based developer, faces charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday. The SEC announced that it obtained an asset freeze and other emergency relief concerning the alleged USD 93 million real estate investment fraud perpetrated by Kapoor. The SEC also charged real estate company Location Ventures, its affiliate Urbin and 20 other related entities in connection with the fraud scheme, a statement said. According to the SEC's complaint, from approximately January 2018, until at least March 2023, Kapoor and certain of the defendant entities solicited investors by, among other things, making several material misrepresentations and omissions regarding Kapoor, Location Ventures, Urbin, and their real estate developments. The false statements allegedly included misrepresenting Kapoor's compensation; his cash ...

Digital money heist: What's behind surge in online payment fraud?

More than 47 per cent of all cybercrime is linked to UPI payments, making it the most common form of financial fraud, says a report by FCRF

Fraudsters swiped millions of dollars by faking product refunds: Amazon

The lawsuit lists more than a dozen transactions from June 2022 to May 2023 as leading to fraudulent refunds. Items purchased include gaming consoles, smartphones, laptops

Finance Ministry holds a review meeting on large value fraud cases

During the review meeting, it was emphasised that all measures should be taken to further improve coordination between the CBI and banks for expeditious investigation

British hedge fund trader Sanjay Shah detained in Denmark before trial

Shah is due to face trial in Denmark early next year on charges related to so-called "cum-ex" trading schemes in which the Danish state says it lost more than 12.7 billion crowns ($1.84 billion)

Trafigura checked traders didn't collude in Gupta fraud case: Report

Trafigura filed a lawsuit against Gupta in February, alleging seven companies that it said were controlled by him carried out a systematic fraud involving nickel cargoes

CBI files FIR, searches 13 locations in Uco Bank fund transfer case

The CBI has registered an FIR in connection with Rs 820 crore worth of suspicious IMPS transactions in UCO Bank in November this year and searched 13 locations in multiple cities, officials said on Tuesday. The search operation, which continued till late night Monday, also covered Kolkata and Mangalore, they said. The CBI action came following the FIR that was registered on a complaint from UCO Bank against two support engineers working with the bank and other unknown persons. It alleged suspicious Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) transactions amounting to approximately Rs. 820 crore, the agency spokesperson said in a statement. During the searches, electronic evidence, including mobile phones, laptops, computer systems, email archives and debit/credit cards, were recovered, he said. "It was alleged that between 10th November 2023 and 13th November 2023, IMPS inward transactions originating from 14000 account holders across seven private banks were directed to 41000 account holders

EU antitrust regulators accuse five car battery makers of running cartel

The five manufacturers are Banner, Clarios, Exide, Elettra and Rombat. They make 12-volt lead batteries which are currently used to start most combustion engine cars

US seeks over $4 billion from crypto exchange Binance to end criminal case

The US Justice Department has been investigating Binance for allegedly aiding in the evasion of US sanctions against Iran and Russia

Amway generated proceeds of crime of over Rs 4k cr via MLM scheme: ED

Amway India, which runs a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme, generated proceeds of crime worth more than Rs 4,000 crore and a substantial part of it was siphoned off to overseas bank accounts, the Enforcement Directorate alleged on Monday. The federal agency said this after filing a charge-sheet against Amway India Enterprise Pvt Ltd before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Hyderabad. The court took cognisance of the prosecution's complaint on Monday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement. The criminal case of money laundering registered by the ED stems from multiple FIRs filed by the Telangana Police against Amway and its directors. It is alleged that they were promoting an "illegal money circulation scheme under the guise of sale of goods" and "cheating the general public by promising them very high commissions/incentives through simple enrolment of new members and by claiming that these commissions/incentives would continue in ...

Cognitive tools for thwarting scams

In an era where we constantly fear being swindled, a book that delves into the psychology of deception and offers guidance on steering clear of fraud becomes essential reading

FTX founder Bankman-Fried convicted of defrauding cryptocurrency customers

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's spectacular rise and fall in the cryptocurrency industry a journey that included his testimony before Congress, a Super Bowl advertisement and dreams of a future run for president hit a new bottom Thursday when a New York jury convicted him of fraud in a scheme that cheated customers and investors of at least $10 billion. After the monthlong trial, jurors rejected Bankman-Fried's claim during four days on the witness stand in Manhattan federal court that he never committed fraud or meant to cheat customers before FTX, once the world's second-largest crypto exchange, collapsed into bankruptcy a year ago. His crimes caught up to him. His crimes have been exposed, Assistant US Attorney Danielle Sassoon told the jury of the onetime billionaire just before they were read the law by Judge Lewis A Kaplan and began deliberations. Sassoon said Bankman-Fried turned his customers' accounts into his personal piggy bank as up to $14 billion disappeared. She urge

Self-regulation does not work well in preventing frauds, says Sebi WTM

Amarjeet Singh says 16 working groups looking to simplify regulations

Two Indian-origin men in US guilty of fraud in multi-million Covid fund

Two men of Indian origin in the US have pleaded guilty to their participation in a multi-million dollar fraud scheme by obtaining loans under an economic assistance plan following the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, the justice department said. The Department of Justice in a statement said Nishant Patel, 41, and Harjeet Singh, 49, both from Houston and three others engaged in fraudulently obtaining and laundering millions of dollars in forgivable Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP) loans that the Small Business Administration (SBA) guarantees under the CARES Act. They admitted to submitting false and fraudulent PPP loan applications to SBA and certain SBA-approved PPP lenders. All five defendants also assisted in laundering the fraudulently obtained PPP loan funds by supplying co-conspirators with blank, endorsed checks, which were made payable to people posing as employees of the companies that received the PPP loan, but who were in fact not employees. These fake paychecks were

Civil fraud trial 'took me off campaign trail,' claims Donald Trump

"This was for politics. It has been very successful for them - they took me off the campaign trail," Trump said as he exited the courtroom after the court was wrapped for the day

22-year-old calls it his biggest mistake after losing Rs 67 lakh in crypto

A 22-year-old Google employee, whose aim was to resign at age 35 with Rs 41 crore savings, lost Rs 67 lakh post investing into crypto. He called it his 'biggest financial mistake'

Morgan Stanley sued for $750 million by private equity firms claiming fraud

Morgan Stanley said in a statement, "The Firm does not believe the claims have merit and will defend itself vigorously."

CBI books infra firm in Rs 3,800 cr bank fraud case, searches 4 locations

The CBI has conducted searches at four locations in Mumbai after registering an FIR against Unity Infraprojects Ltd, its then CMD Kishore Krishnarao Avarsekar and others for allegedly defrauding a consortium of banks to the tune of Rs 3,847.58 crore, officials said on Monday. The CBI took action on a complaint of the SBI, one of the consortium members which alleged that the fraud took place at its Commercial Branch in Mumbai where the accused persons siphoned the "Bank's funds by doing fictitious transactions, manipulated and fudged books of accounts with an objective to defraud and cheat the bank and to gain unlawfully at the cost of the Bank's funds". The officials said searches were conducted recently at the premises of the accused. The account of the 44-year-old infrastructure company, which had taken over Rs 3,800 crore from 23 lenders against moveable and non-moveable assets besides personal and corporate guarantees, had become a non-performing asset on June 24, 2014. Five yea