‘Accused got money through hawala channels’

MUMBAI: The MIDC police, which is investigating a foreign exchange trading website scam, has found out that the money invested by the victims was transferred to the accused through hawala channels. The police are now on the lookout for the hawala operator, who allegedly took the money from the company accounts and transferred them to the accused.

So far, two people have come forward claiming that they were cheated. The police had last month arrested the website’s manager, the parent company’s assistant director and an office boy who was named the company’s director against his knowledge.

Earlier this week, police found that the man who set up the bogus website, alpari.org, is a Russian national. Police have refrained from naming the hawala operator and the Russian national.

Subhash Global Marketing, a company based in Delhi, had floated the bogus website, alpari.org, operated from an office in Andheri.

The Mumbai office had a manager and seven other

employees.

The website was named after alpari.com, a Uk-based foreign exchange trading website, to mislead investors, said police.

According to the complaint, those who visited the website had to make a payment of USD 700 in order to invest.

However, investors sought their returns were told that the website had some “technical problems.”

During investigation, police found that investors’ money was routed via four separate accounts – two based in Ludhiana, and one each in Jalandhar and Delhi. Police said they have found 250 accounts that transacted money to these four accounts.