India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently launched operations across the country, freezing mule accounts worth 1.1 billion rupees (approximately 12.6 million US dollars) and seizing 1200 credit cards, directly targeting the money laundering network associated with the Parimatch online betting app. The raids covered 17 locations including Mumbai, Delhi, Noida, Jaipur, Surat, Madurai, Kanpur, and Hyderabad.
Investigations revealed that Cyprus-based Parimatch, through its Indian sub-brands Parimatch Sports and Parimatch News, conducts illegal betting activities, luring users with high returns and generating over 30 billion rupees (360 million US dollars) in turnover within a year.
The money laundering chain involves mule accounts, hawala channels, and cryptocurrency conversions: deposits made by players in Tamil Nadu are withdrawn and handed over to underground money changers, then exchanged for USDT through virtual wallets; in western India, funds are layered through mule accounts and credit cards.
Furthermore, some payment aggregators and technology service providers have been found to assist in setting up mule accounts and use UPI transfers disguised as refunds or supplier payments to obscure the source of funds.
The Enforcement Directorate stated that it will continue to track cross-border fund flows, targeting institutions that facilitate Parimatch, and may launch larger-scale actions against related domestic and international networks in the future.
