Lookout Circular Issued for Chinese National Involved in Rs 100 Crore Fraud through Fake Trading Apps
A Chinese national, Guanhua Wang, is now the subject of a lookout circular (LOC) for allegedly defrauding individuals in Odisha and other states of over Rs 100 crore (approximately $13.5 million) through fraudulent trading applications. The economic offences wing (EOW) of the Odisha crime branch has accused Wang of enticing investors by falsely claiming that prominent figures such as Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Mukesh Ambani, and Ratan Tata were endorsing his trading apps.
The LOC, issued by the Bureau of Immigration (BOI) at the EOW’s request, prevents Wang from entering or leaving India. Furthermore, immigration checkpoints at international airports and seaports have been alerted about the notice. Wang, who hails from Hangzhou in China’s Zhenjiang province, reportedly visited Bengaluru multiple times between 2019 and 2020. During this time, he established a company in Bengaluru and controlled two other local companies by employing individuals.
According to J N Pankaj, the inspector general of police for the EOW, Wang collaborated with cyber scammers in India, orchestrated mule bank accounts, and created shell companies to operate his illegal online trading, cryptocurrency, and Ponzi schemes. Wang’s modus operandi involved initially persuading victims to invest small amounts of money. Once the depositors received high returns within a few hours, the scammers enticed them to invest larger sums for even greater profits. The investigation revealed transactions worth crores of rupees in several bank accounts linked to these fraudulent applications.
Preliminary findings indicate that Wang’s illegal trading apps siphoned off over Rs 100 crore from India. The EOW has already seized approximately Rs 75 lakh from 14 accounts associated with his companies, while also requesting the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to provide information about other accounts.
In the past year, the EOW has discovered that Chinese nationals were behind at least three cases of cyber-financial fraud, involving hundreds of crores of rupees. LOCs have previously been issued against five Chinese nationals, all of whom had offices in Bengaluru.
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