Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell has dismantled a major cybercrime syndicate operating across multiple states and allegedly linked to Chinese-controlled financial networks. The crackdown began after a 61-year-old man was duped of Rs 33.1 lakh in an online investment scam, leading investigators to a network of fake firms, shell accounts, and a crypto laundering chain involving United States Dollar Tether (USDT) transactions.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell) Aditya Gautam said the case revealed a sophisticated financial structure designed to move Indian victims’ money through several layers before routing it into cryptocurrency. He said the arrests mark a major breakthrough in disrupting syndicates that use shell companies and crypto channels to send money abroad.
During the technical probe into the victim’s E-FIR, investigators found that the cheated money moved through several second-layer beneficiary accounts linked to a fake company, Belcrest India Pvt. Ltd.
Police identified two men as its key directors, Shivam Singh from Faizabad and Lakshay from Delhi, and the total cheated amount, Rs 10.38 lakh, was traced directly to accounts tied to Belcrest.
Lakshay was the first to be arrested, on November 19. Police said he admitted to creating the fake company, opening multiple bank accounts, and handing over bank kits and SIM cards to a man named Shubham and others for Rs 20,000 per month.
Once Lakshay was arrested, the Cyber Cell tracked the money trail further and identified Shubham as the next key link. Police said he frequently changed SIM cards, moved between locations, and attempted to avoid digital footprints.
After multiple raids, investigators caught him on December 6 in Tilak Nagar. Police recovered a laptop, two mobile phones, five chequebooks and six debit cards that were used for laundering transactions. During interrogation, Shubham told investigators that he was working with a handler who supplied him with accounts of third and fourth-layer shell companies. The accounts were used to receive money that had already been cycled through several earlier layers.
Shubham told police that once the money reached these shell accounts, he converted it into USDT cryptocurrency through private vendors. He then sold the USDT to a Chinese-run entity known as “Kool Pay”.
Investigators say the cycle repeated continuously, making it difficult to detect and trace the funds in real time.
Police said the Chinese entity initiated the flow by sending funds from the first-layer beneficiary accounts to Belcrest-linked accounts. These were then distributed through multi-layer bank accounts created using forged documents and fake firms.
The conversion into USDT and resale to Kool Pay helped the syndicate quickly send the money out of the formal financial system.
