(Bloomberg) -- India's anti-money laundering agency on Friday searched a wallet on Binance crypto exchange, deepening its investigation in a case involving a mobile gaming application, it said in a statement.
The Enforcement Directorate froze 228.2 million rupees ($2.8 million) in Bitcoins of mobile gaming application E-nuggets, which was designed for defrauding public, the agency said. Further investigation is ongoing in the case.
After collecting money from users, E-nuggets suddenly stopped withdrawals on the platform and then proceeded to delete all the data from its servers. The collected funds were allegedly used to buy cryptocurrencies and launder money through more than 300 accounts, the agency said.
Local media reported that police have arrested at least six people in connection with the alleged fraud. Efforts by Bloomberg News to trace officials from the gaming app for comments proved unsuccessful.
The Enforcement Directorate earlier registered a case against the founder of E-nuggets and seized 173.2 million rupees. It had also frozen Bitcoins worth 135.6 million rupees in a wallet on the Binance exchange and other cryptocurrencies worth 4.7 million rupees.
Binance's investigation team was helping the agency, a spokesperson for the crypto exchange wrote in an email.
“It takes time to understand the full picture of a complex financial investigation as all facts do not appear at the initial stage,” Binance said. “It is logical to expand investigations to uncover a wider group of criminals,” the spokesperson added.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
