Jalandhar: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached luxurious farmhouses, villas and other properties worth Rs 187.13 crore in Goa, Delhi and Haryana as part of a crackdown against call centre scamsters who defrauded US citizens of millions of dollars, an official said on Saturday.
The ED’s Jalandhar Zonal Office attached the properties under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The action was taken in connection with a money laundering investigation against persons involved in operating a network of transnational financial crime by running illegal call centres and committing cyber fraud by targeting foreign citizens online, the ED said.
The ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), based on information shared by the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation, under various sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, against the accused persons for defrauding the US citizens of millions of dollars.
“The ED investigation revealed that the illegal call centre, namely Digikaps — the Future of Digital, had 36 employees, including Jiger Ahmed, Yash Khurana, Inderjeet Singh Bhali, Nikhil Sharma under the supervision of Joney, Dakshay Sethi and Gaurav Verma,” the probe agency said.
They cheated US victims in the guise of technical support call centre service and during the process they stole crucial information of victims and threatened them about statutory action by IRS (Internal Revenue Service of the US), the ED added.
The accused induced them to transfer their money into crypto accounts which were siphoned from foreign victims’ accounts to cryptocurrency wallets and subsequently transferred the proceeds of crime for personal gains into shell entities, Bliss Infraproperties LLP and infused into immovable properties, the ED said.
Earlier in January and February 2026, the ED conducted search operations at 13 locations across state of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The search operation resulted in the recovery of various digital devices, seizure of Rs 34 lakh of unaccounted cash and incriminating records linking the accused persons to high value investments and acquisition of immovable properties in India and abroad, an official statement said.
The ED’s investigation revealed diversion of proceeds of crime into real estate in Haryana, Delhi and Goa by the accused — Joney alias Joney Tyagi, Dakshay Sethi, Raghav Satiha, Nikhil Verma, Gaurav Verma and Gautam Dhingra, the statement said.
(IANS)
