The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted raids in Gujarat and Mumbai as part of a money-laundering probe against fraudsters who allegedly committed cyber crimes such as digital arrests and illegally transferred funds worth over ₹100 crore abroad, sources in the agency said.

“The accused scammers used fake digital arrests, cryptocurrency trading and forged KYC documents to cheat people and transfer illicit funds via hawala operators,” said
an Enforcement Directorate (ED) official.

After committing the crime, the money was deposited in bank accounts opened by either using the KYC of dummy persons or forging KYC documents. The illicit funds were converted into cryptocurrency through hawala operators, who are suspected to have remitted more than ₹100 crore in funds abroad, the official said.

The raids were conducted in Surat, Ahmedabad and Mumbai by the Ahmedabad zonal office of the federal probe agency under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The money-laundering case stems from a 2024 Gujarat police FIR against Makbul Doctor, Kaashif Doctor, Bassam Doctor, Mahesh Mafatlal Desai, Maaz Abdul Raheem Nada and some others, sources said.

“The accused allegedly defrauded several people through various cyber
frauds such as fake USDT trading (cryptocurrency), digital arrests, and threatening innocent individuals by
sending fake notices of law enforcement agencies,” the official said.

“They cheated a large number of people through cyber frauds like digital arrest and fake summons or notices sent in the name of police or investigative agencies over the last few years,” the ED official said.