Online Betting Racket: LOC Issued Against Main Accused Operating From Dubai

Bhubaneswar: The Bureau of Immigration (BoI) has issued a Look out Circular against accused Md. Saif of Shaheen Bagh, Delhi, on the request of the Economic Offences Wing, Bhubaneswar in connection with an online ponzi-cum-betting racket.

The website (http://18football.com) is registered/operated from Hongkong & Dubai. Transactions of Rs 300 Crore unearthed so far, suspected to cross 1000 Crore, the EOW said.

Accused Md. Saif, a native if Chhawni in Bettiah of Bihar is wanted in EOW PS Case No.06 dt.17.02.2023 U/s 420/467/468/471/120-B IPC r/w Sec.4/5/6 of PCMCs (Banning) Act & Sec.6 of OPID Act/Sec.66 (D) of the IT Act.  He is one of the main accused in this case and controls this scam from Dubai.

According to a press note from EOW, FIR was registered on the complaint of more than 800 duped investors of Ganjam district, Odisha. They and Lakhs others (Pan India, across the states) had invested money in 18football.com with a motive to earn quick money.

18football.com is a hybrid model of fraud where the Ponzi scheme (Multi-level Marketing) is run online giving the name of a football betting/ gaming APP. Investors are promised lucrative benefits like a 3% daily compound return on investment, recharge bonus, referral bonus, extra bonus on the earning of the downline members, salary bonus, daily withdrawal option etc.

Investors need to create an account with “18football.com” either by application or through an offline referral link and were being asked to bet money on some football matches as prescribed in the website/ APP.

Investors were also provided with the so-called foreigner “mentor” to assist them in betting. These mentors used to communicate through telegram or Apps only. There was extra bonus/commission for introducing/recruiting new members.

In order to promote and to allure the innocent public, the fraudsters were also taking up promotional activities like some social works, charity etc. in the rural areas and giving it huge publicity so that people will consider this scheme as a bonafide organization.

The fraudsters although initially paid the promised return for a few days to the investors, yet in the latter stage when the membership increased, stopped making any payment and closed the app “18football.com”.

The Scammers used multiple shell companies/ firms and their directors to route the ill-gotten money. They also used mule accounts for multi-layering of money transactions to confuse law enforcement agencies.

One of the companies was Kolkata-based M/s Hakim & Rustam Fabrics Pvt. Ltd. Of which two directors were arrested earlier. They had confessed to getting a small amount of commission to run this shell company. However, they used to get the order/ direction from one Md Sheikh Saif from Dubai.

“The fraud by 18football.com has got all India ramifications, and the fraud amount involved is suspected to be more than Rs.1000 Crore, out of which EOW has been able to trace transactions of approximately Rs.300 Crores till now.

Look Out circular is generally issued to alert immigration check posts at airports/seaports etc. to alert law enforcement agencies if the wanted person tries to leave the country or arrive inside the country from abroad.

Further, it is requested that anyone giving credible information leading to the arrest of above-noted accused Md. Saif will be suitably rewarded. The information can be given on Mobile No.8249600495. The name/details of the informer will be kept secret. Investigation of the case is continuing. Toll-free No.18003457103,” the EOW press note added.