The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against 17 individuals including four Chinese nationals and 58 companies for their alleged involvement in a transnational cyber fraud network that siphoned off over Rs 1,000 crore, officials said on Sunday.
The scam, busted in October, involved a highly coordinated syndicate that ran a variety of digital frauds, including fake loan applications, bogus investment schemes, Ponzi and multi-level marketing models, fraudulent part-time job offers, and online gaming scams.
Shell companies and money laundering
According to the CBI, the group routed illicit funds through 111 shell companies and mule accounts, with one account receiving more than ₹152 crore in a short span.
“These shell entities were used to open bank accounts and merchant accounts with various payment gateways, enabling rapid layering and diversion of proceeds of crime,” a CBI spokesperson said. The shell companies were created using dummy directors, forged documents, fake addresses, and false statements of business objectives, making it difficult to trace the real controllers.
Chinese handlers and Indian associates
The investigation traced the origins of the scam to 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Four Chinese nationals Zou Yi, Huan Liu, Weijian Liu, and Guanhua Wang allegedly directed the operations from abroad.
Indian associates allegedly procured identity documents from unsuspecting individuals, which were then used to set up shell companies and mule accounts to launder money.
“Significantly, a UPI ID linked to the bank accounts of two Indian accused was found to be active in a foreign location as late as August 2025, conclusively establishing continued foreign control and real-time operational oversight of the fraud infrastructure from outside India,” the CBI statement said.
The probe revealed that the syndicate used sophisticated, layered methods including Google advertisements, bulk SMS campaigns, SIM-box messaging systems, cloud infrastructure, fintech platforms, and multiple mule bank accounts.
“Each stage of the operation, from luring victims to collecting and moving funds, was deliberately structured to conceal the identities of the actual controllers and evade detection by law enforcement agencies,” the spokesperson added.
The chargesheet names 17 individuals and 58 companies. The CBI launched the probe following inputs from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, which highlighted large-scale cheating through online investment and employment schemes.
“Though initially appearing as isolated complaints, detailed analysis by CBI revealed striking similarities in applications used, fund-flow patterns, payment gateways, and digital footprints, pointing towards a common organised conspiracy,” the agency said.
After the October arrests of three individuals, CBI conducted searches at 27 locations across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Haryana, seizing digital devices, documents, and financial records, which were subjected to detailed forensic examination.
