PhonePe, others under lens of cyber crime police for ₹500 crore Hibox app scam: Report

Payment aggregator platforms PhonePe and Easebuzz are allegedly facing investigation by the cyber crime unit of Delhi Police in what is turning out to be a well-entrenched fraud spanning thousands of investors, social media influencers and around 20 entities, reported Business Standard.

This is seen as part of an elaborate scam that reportedly defrauded nearly 30,000 people, who were lured into investing in Hibox mobile application by promising high returns on false assurance of daily interest rate ranging from 1 to 5 percent, per the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) of Delhi Police. 

These high returns add up to 30 to 150 percent a month – which are exceptionally high by any standard. 

Hemant Tiwari, deputy commissioner of police, IFSO, special cell of Delhi Police, was quoted by Business Standard as saying that apps such as PhonePe and others have not adhered to the guidelines of Reserve Bank of India.

Launched in February 2024, the app had over 30,000 people invested money into it, PTI reported. From February to June, the investors received high returns, while from July the app withheld the payments on account of technical glitches, GST issues, legal issues, etc.

Those who are unaware -- IFSO is a specialized unit investigating cyber crime in India that works in coordination with investigative agencies. Apart from these two payment aggregators, nearly 20 firms are under scrutiny for laundering the money involved in the scam. 

The notices were also sent to a number of social media influencers who promoted this app. These influencers include Abhishek Malhan, Elvish Yadav, Lakshay Choudhary and Purav Jha.

The report further highlights that the police has clubbed nearly 127 complaints against the Hibox app and arrested the alleged kingpin Sivaram and seized ₹18 crore from his four different bank accounts. 

"The alleged companies disappeared after closing their office in Noida in Uttar Pradesh," DCP Tiwari said.

“The merchant in reference was proactively blocked by Easebuzz platform in the month of July 2024 itself prior to the investigation by authorities. Moreover, Easebuzz has filed the Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) under the Financial Intelligence Unit, India (FIU) reporting norms immediately on receipt of our internal transaction monitoring system alerts in place and has blocked the merchant from transacting as per our company compliance policies. Further, Easebuzz is confident in its merchant onboarding and due diligence policy and necessary details of the merchant (KYC details, Transaction ledger and others documents) as required by the authorities have been duly submitted. Easebuzz ensures to remain compliant and cooperate with the authorities in the investigation process against the merchant,” said Easebuzz spokesperson in a statement sent to Livemint.