An illegal trading platform wrongfully obtained ₹800 crore in India within just 9 months
The company’s promoters are located in Russia, its technical support team operates from Georgia, the Indian operations are controlled from Dubai, and its servers are organised in Barcelona.
The illegal trading platform OctaFX—currently under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for allegedly laundering thousands of crores of rupees from India to various tax havens—has become the focus of a unique ED study. The investigation explores how global networks transform illegal profits into cryptocurrencies and transfer them through international payment systems.
A joint probe by multiple agencies has uncovered that OctaFX, which trades in forex, commodities, and cryptocurrencies and is registered in Cyprus, allegedly generated around ₹800 crore in illegal proceeds from its Indian operations within just nine months.
Officials also discovered that part of the money trail was concealed through fake imports of services from Singapore, a method used to launder funds duped from Indian investors.
In part of its probes, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized assets worth ₹172 crore across India and abroad. These consists of a luxury yacht, a villa in Spain, ₹36 crore in bank accounts, 39,000 units of cryptocurrency (USDT), and land and Demat holdings valued at ₹80 crore.
The Mumbai zonal unit of the ED is currently probing OctaFX, but it isn’t the only illegal online platform accused of running investment scams. Other entities under investigation include Power Bank (handled by the Bengaluru zonal unit), Angel One, TM Traders, and Vivan Li (under the Kolkata zonal unit), along with Zara FX (under the Kochi unit). These investigations originate from several FIRs registered by police departments in different cities.
According to an ED report, cyber frauds conducted under the guise of cryptocurrency trading involved companies like Birfa IT and its associates, which acted as brokers to move vast sums of money in and out of crypto. Their aim was to help clients transfer funds to China for under-invoiced imports and to launder proceeds of crime (PoC) through digital assets.
The investigation also uncovered that, in the Birfa case, scammers transferred ₹4,818 crore to companies in Hong Kong and Canada that they controlled.
These money transfers were posed as real payments for server rentals, escrow services, and other business expenses using fake bills.
According to Enforcement Directorate (ED), Nearly 36.4 lakh financial fraud cases reported in 2024 resulted in losses of over ₹22,800 crore to Indians.
This is a 206% increase in losses compared to ₹7,465 crore in 2023, and the number of cases also rose by 50% from 24.4 lakh the previous year. This figure is 206% higher than in 2023. In 2023, 24.4 lakh fraud cases were reported, resulting in fraud of Rs 7465 crore.
An investigation exposed that the masterminds operated from Laos, Hong Kong, and Thailand. These masterminds hired agents in India, who created shell companies using fake documents. These companies were then used to conduct fraudulent IPO allocations and fraudulent stock market investments. They even defrauded investors through fake digital arrests.
Money were transferred into these shell companies, converted into cryptocurrencies, and Sent money abroad as payment for a fake service.
Investigators exposed that international payment gateways often worked as intermediaries for these illegal transactions. Additionally, A part of the illegal money was converted through hawala networks, while in some cases, the ED discovered that the proceeds were restored into India, disguised as legitimate stock market investments.