Center warns against illegal payment gateways like PeacePay and PoccoPay amid rising cybercrime incidents

Union Home Ministry has warned the general public against illegal payment gateways using mule bank accounts by transnationally organized cyber criminals, facilitating money laundering services, in the wake of the increasing incidents of cyber fraud.

Some of the payment gateways identified include PeacePay, RTX Pay, PoccoPay, and RPP. It is learned that these gateways offer money laundering as a service and are operated by foreigners, official sources said.

The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Center (I4C), the cybercrime arm of the Ministry of Home Affairs, has advised citizens not to sell or pass on their bank accounts, company details or Aadhaar registration certificate to anyone. Illegal funds deposited into such bank accounts can lead to legal consequences, including arrest.

Banks can use checks to identify misuse of bank accounts used to set up illegal payment gateways, the I4C said.

The citizens should immediately report any cybercrime on helpline number 1930 or www.cybercrime.gov.in and follow ‘CyberDost’ channels or social media account.

I4C further informed that during the recent nationwide raids by the Gujarat Police and Andhra Pradesh Police, it was revealed that transnational criminals have created illegal digital payment gateways using mule or rented accounts.

This illegal infrastructure that enables money laundering as a service is used to launder proceeds of various kinds from cybercrime, I4C said.

According to inputs from state police agencies and I4C, current and savings accounts are scouted through social media, mainly from Telegram and Facebook. These accounts are owned by shell companies and corporations or individuals.

These mule accounts are managed remotely from abroad, sources to be briefed further.

Then an illegal payment gateway is created using these mule accounts which are given to criminal syndicates for accepting deposits on illegal platforms such as fake investment scam sites, offshore betting, gambling websites and fake stock trading platforms.

The money is immediately deposited into another account once the proceeds of crime are received. Bulk payout facilities offered by banks are being misused for the same purposes, official sources said.