Paytm shares nosedive 9% amid reports of ED probe in crypto scam

Shares of fintech major One97 Communications, which operates the payments platform Paytm, fell by up to 9% to a day’s low of Rs 773.90 on Friday after reports emerged that Paytm is among the eight payment gateways being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a cryptocurrency scam.

Besides Paytm, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also investigating Razorpay, PayU, Easebuzz, and five other payment gateways. The ED has frozen approximately Rs 500 crore in their virtual accounts over the past two years in connection with 10 Chinese nationals running one of the biggest cryptocurrency scams, HPZ Token, from India, The Times of India reported today.

The accused are alleged to have collected over Rs 2,200 crore from investors across 20 states and remitted the ‘proceeds of crime’ out of India, part of which was frozen with the payment gateways before being transferred to beneficiaries, the report said.

While making bulk payments, the amounts remained with the gateways for a day or two, during which the ED froze around Rs 500 crore, the report added.

Of the total Rs 497 crore frozen in the virtual accounts of payment gateways, PayU had the highest share, with Rs 130 crore of the alleged ‘proceeds of crime’ related to the HPZ Token scam, followed by Rs 33.4 crore with Easebuzz, Rs 18 crore with Razorpay, Rs 10.6 crore with CashFree, and Rs 2.8 crore with Paytm.

The accused formed companies in at least 20 states of India and lured investors with the option to invest in cryptocurrency mining, including Bitcoin, through the mobile app HPZ Token.

More than 50 companies were registered in Delhi with 84 bank accounts, 26 firms in Karnataka with 37 bank accounts, 19 in Haryana, and 11 in Uttar Pradesh, in addition to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, ToI reported.