India’s anti-money laundering agency on Friday inspected a portfolio of assets at cryptocurrency exchange Binance, widening investigations into the mobile gaming app.
The agency said the law enforcement department has frozen 228.2 million rupees (equivalent to $2.8 million) worth of bitcoins from the E-nuggets mobile game app designed to cheat the masses. Further investigation into the case is ongoing.
After collecting money from users, the e-Nuggets app suddenly stopped withdrawing money within the platform and then all data was deleted from its computer servers. The agency explained that the collected funds were used to buy cryptocurrencies and launder money through more than 300 accounts.
Local media reported that police arrested at least six people in connection with the fraud. Attempts by Bloomberg News to reach the people responsible for the gaming program for comment on the matter were unsuccessful.
The Enforcement Directorate had earlier registered a case against the founder of eNuggets and seized Rs 173.2 crore. It also froze 135.6 million rupees worth of bitcoins and 4.7 million rupees worth of other cryptocurrencies in Binance’s asset portfolio.
Binance’s investigative team is assisting the agency, a spokesperson for the cryptocurrency exchange wrote in an email.
“It takes time to understand the full picture of a complex financial investigation because not all the facts are clear at the initial stage,” Binance explained. “Expanding the investigation makes sense to uncover a larger group of criminals,” the company spokesperson added.
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