Chinese Nationals Charged in Rs 1000 Crore HPZ Token Cryptocurrency Scam During Covid Pandemic

Further investigation is underway, say officials. (Representational)

New Delhi:

The CBI has filed a charge sheet against two Chinese nationals who allegedly masterminded the HPZ Token Investment Fraud case, which siphoned over Rs 1000 crore through shell companies during the Covid pandemic, officials announced Wednesday.

According to the CBI, Shigoo Technology Pvt. Ltd., owned and operated by Chinese nationals, deceived the public during Covid lockdown using a fraudulent mobile application called "HPZ Tokens." The app falsely claimed that investments would be utilized for cryptocurrency mining and would generate substantial returns.

CBI investigations revealed this was not an isolated incident but part of an extensive, coordinated cyber crime network operated by foreign nationals. This syndicate executed several cyber scams targeting Indian citizens in the post-Covid period through loan applications, fake investment platforms, and fraudulent online job offers.

The officials stated that Wan Jun and Li Anming had entered India to establish the company and infrastructure before departing the country to remotely manage operations from abroad.

Both individuals evaded investigation and remain fugitives, according to officials.

The syndicate served as the source of numerous scams through which unsuspecting citizens were defrauded via various loan applications, counterfeit investment apps, and platforms offering fake online employment opportunities.

When the CBI assumed control of the investigation, they promptly disrupted local operations by arresting six individuals: Dortse, Rajni Kohli, Sushanta Behra, Abhishek, Mohd Imdhad Husain, and Rajat Jain.

The investigation uncovered a complex operational network involving all 27 accused individuals. The CBI has filed a charge sheet against 30 entities, including the two Chinese nationals, 27 other individuals, and three companies.

"Wan Jun was the director of a company Jilian Consultants India Private Limited which was a subsidiary of a Chinese entity Jilian Consultants. Wan Jun with the help of one Dortse successfully created several shell companies including Shigoo Technologies," stated the CBI spokesperson in an official release.

The agency thoroughly investigated the company's suspicious operations, which revealed that shell companies established under the Chinese umbrella Jilian Consultants functioned as channels to collect and launder proceeds from major organized cyber frauds, with over Rs 1,000 crore transferred within months through their accounts.

"These frauds were connected and controlled by a single organized criminal syndicate based overseas," the spokesperson explained.

The CBI investigation also exposed an organized and sophisticated exploitation of Payment Aggregators that were in early operational stages in India.

The criminal network misused these aggregators to rapidly transfer money "at a high speed from the accounts of one shell company to other" and also partially returned funds to investors to gain their confidence.

"The payment aggregation systems had just taken off in India, and the payment aggregators were providing large collection and money disbursal services using technology to genuine companies. The technology had allowed the users to access large number of bank accounts simultaneously," the spokesperson detailed.

Jilian Consultants also employed professionals, including company secretaries (CS), to establish multiple shell companies that converted collected funds into cryptocurrency before transferring them out of the country.