Enforcement agencies have highlighted risks related to money laundering and terror financing, prompting closer scrutiny of crypto platforms operating in India.
Mirroring the traditional hawala system, where money is sent through non-banking channels, this digital version uses the anonymity of unregulated cryptocurrency to erase the financial trail and inject cash into the domestic economy.
A 57-year-old woman in Bengaluru was allegedly defrauded of approximately Rs 32 crore in a 'digital arrest' scam. Posing as CBI officers, fraudsters coerced her into sharing financial details and making numerous bank transfers over six months.
'Foreign capital will continue to come directly into India, but companies have realised that GIFT City is a more cost-efficient way of channelling funds.'
A trends study conducted by India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has expressed suspicion that cryptocurrency is being used across the country in serious criminal acts like terrorist financing, fuelling secessionist activities, cybercrime, narcotics trafficking, illegal betting and gambling. The report, which was based on suspicious transaction reports and operational analysis, shared these trends and credible intelligence with law enforcement agencies.
An Enforcement Directorate team undertaking searches in a cyber fraud linked money laundering case was allegedly attacked in New Delhi on Thursday, officials said.
User protection and a proposal for a licensing framework for companies seeking to operate in the cryptocurrency area will be part of an upcoming consultation paper on the sector, said a senior industry executive. Even as specific regulations around crypto are yet to take shape, companies are setting up baseline user protection processes, including a redressal mechanism, fraud detection, regular filing of suspicious transaction reports (STRs), among others.
Regularly monitor your account for any suspicious activity. Keep your devices updated with the latest security patches to prevent vulnerabilities. Ensure the physical wallet you use is stored securely to avoid loss or theft.
'A lot of them are converted to other tokens, and since crypto is dealt with internationally, it can go to any exchange in any country.'
Only investors with knowledge of cryptocurrencies, long-term conviction, and a long horizon should invest in this asset class.
DAP does not consider past I-T returns to match a taxpayer's resources with their expenditures or investments, points out Harsh Roongta.
Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) has imposed a Rs 5.49 crore penalty on Paytm Payments Bank for violating anti-money laundering rules, the Finance Ministry said on Friday. FIU-IND initiated a review of Paytm Payments Bank on receipt of specific information from law enforcement agencies in respect of few entities and their network of businesses engaged in a number of illegal acts, including organising and facilitating online gambling.
WazirX lost about 45 per cent of its crypto assets to the security breach. People privy to the discussions say North Korea has been mentioned.
The swindled amount is nearly half of WazirX's total assets.
The Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-India), the national agency responsible for analysing suspicious financial transactions, has received requests from four more offshore crypto exchanges to operate in India again, said a senior government official familiar with the matter. In the beginning of 2024, India had banned nine crypto exchanges - Binance, Kucoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, Bittrex, and Bitfenix - for non-compliance with anti-laundering law in the country.
The regulatory gap between crypto firms registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-India) and unregistered offshore entities is expected to narrow, industry players said, after global crypto players Binance and KuCoin received approvals to register with India's anti-money laundering unit.
The cryptocurrency exchanges in India have got a fresh lease of life following the bull run in Bitcoin, which briefly hit a new all-time high of more than $69,000. Siddharth Sogani, managing director of CREBACO, expects the price to cross $1,00,000 by the end of the year. This will see a sharp reversal in the Indian market, which has largely been dormant since the new tax regime was implemented in 2023.
Has Vijay Shekhar Sharma given up on the bank? For now, he seems to be on a save-OCL mission. The bank will face its logical end, observes Tamal Bandopadhyay.
The government has imposed anti-money laundering provisions on cryptocurrencies or virtual assets as it looks to tighten oversight of digital assets. In a gazette notification, the Finance Ministry said the anti-money laundering legislation has been applied to crypto trading, safekeeping and related financial services. After this, Indian crypto exchanges will have to report suspicious activity to the Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU-IND).
Irani said the show of strength by the Congress is aimed at putting pressure on the probe agency, and asserted that nobody is above the law "even Rahul Gandhi".
The Financial Intelligence Unit will apply a multi-pronged approach in probing black money, counterfeit currency, terror funds and hawala transactions as it believes they are all interlinked, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
The quizzing of the 48-year-old daughter-in-law of superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan comes weeks after her husband Abhishek Bachchan was questioned by the agency in another case emerging from the same set of papers linked to the offshore leaks case, they said.
The poll-panel called these seizures by its various field and technical enforcement teams a "historic milestone" achieved "for the first time in any assembly electoral process", meaning during simultaneously-held assembly polls.
Financial Intelligence Unit will also provide information in this regard to the Income Tax department.
The company paid over Rs 231 crore over three years to a web of 135 fake firms.
With the Financial Intelligence Unit deciding to probe three major banks for alleged money laundering, it is interesting to note that the same agency also conducted a probe in the HSBC money laundering case.
In almost every hawala deal, 10 per cent of the amount goes towards terror funding, reports Vicky Nanjappa
The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, requires all financial institutions, banks and intermediaries like merchant bankers, FIIs and stock brokers to submit reports on suspicious transactions above Rs 1 million in Indian or foreign currency. According to FIU's annual report for 2007-8, while the agency received 2.2 million such cash transaction reports from banks, other financial intermediaries put together have submitted only 2,500 suspicious transaction reports.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the federal economic snoop agency under the Union finance ministry, sent 289 legal requests to its counterparts across the globe during 2018-19 as compared to 177 in 2017-18 and 138 in 2016-17.
Around 100 cases have also been forwarded by the FIU to intelligence agencies, besides the RBI, SEBI and IRDA for further investigation and action, they said.
The move is under consideration as the cash transaction reports just from commercial banks have shot up from 2.2 million to nearly 6 million for FY08. The number could go up further since data for the full financial year is still being compiled. Similarly, last year, the agency received more than 2,500 suspicious transaction reports from various entities in the financial sector, as compared with 817 in FY07.
The Financial Intelligence Unit last month marked 200 transactions in India -- running into Rs 2000 crore -- as terror-financed. Now, it has commenced its probe to trace the origin of the funds.
According to estimates of KPMG Advisory Services, around $1 trillion is laundered globally, of which $23 billion is remitted to India. The firm's Executive Director Arpinder Singh said that 40 per cent of this amount is routed through the parallel banking system.
'The number of STRs received in 2016-17 is 4,73,006 which is more than four times as compared to 2015-16 and this increase is attributed to demonetisaton exercise...,' the Financial Intelligence Unit's report has said.
4 luxury SUVs and documents indicating 'benami' assets of Rs 300 crore have been recovered during income tax raids.
FinMin's project will enable tax man to track electronic transactions like RTGS or NEFT.
The agency's probe till now found that huge monies were transferred through RTGS transfers to some shell companies including a case where the director of such a firm was a petty labourer
The probe is expected to take about three months.
While the two-phased assembly polls voting has concluded in Assam, in West Bengal two phases have completed while four more remain.
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