New Delhi, Nov 24 (UNI) The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) Bengaluru Zonal Office on Monday stated that it recently conducted search operations at four locations in Delhi and Gurgaon in a case involving the WinZO Games app.
An official said, “WinZO Games Pvt. Ltd is in the business of online real-money gaming services through its app. During the search, Proceeds of Crime (POC) possessed by WinZO Games Pvt. Ltd, worth approximately ₹505 crore, have been frozen”.
These assets, the official said, in the form of bank balances, bonds, FDRs, and mutual funds, were seized under Section 17(1A) of the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act (PMLA).”
The ED initiated its investigation based on FIRs filed against WinZO Games Pvt Ltd and others, citing charges of cheating, account blocking, impersonation, and PAN misuse. The FIRs also alleged that the complainants’ KYC details were misused by the company, leading to substantial financial losses due to fraudulent activities.
The ED’s investigation revealed that WinZO is operating Real Money Games (RMGs) in foreign countries, including Brazil, the USA, and Germany, from its platform in India.
“Even after the ban on RMGs by the union government, an amount of ₹43 crore is still held by the company without being refunded to the gamers,” the official added.
The probe further uncovered that WinZO Pvt. Ltd. engaged in criminal and unscrupulous practices. Customers were made to play against algorithms/software without being informed they were not competing with human players in real-money games.
The company also prevented or limited customers from withdrawing money held in their WinZO wallets.
WinZO generated proceeds of crime from bet amounts placed and lost by real customers through the deceptive use of these algorithms. These funds were then received into the company’s bank accounts.
The investigation also found that global operations, including the hosting of all game types (including RMGs), are managed through a single application and platform from India. Furthermore, funds from the Indian entity were diverted to the USA and Singapore under the guise of overseas investments.
An amount of USD 55 million (approximately ₹489.90 crore) has been parked in a bank account in the US under the name ‘WINZO US Inc.’, which is a shell company, as all operations and day-to-day management of the bank accounts are conducted from India.
Further investigation is ongoing.
