A security personnel walks past a gate of the office of Enforcement Directorate.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday said that it has frozen Rs 505 crore following its recent raids on a gaming company.
The ED Bengaluru Zonal office conducted the searches at four locations in Delhi and Gurugram belonging to WinZO Games Pvt Ltd between November 18 and 22, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
WinZO Games Pvt Ltd is in the business of online real money gaming services through its app WinZO, the ED said.
“During the search, Proceeds of Crime (POC) possessed by WinZO Games Pvt. Ltd., worth around Rs 505 crore, have been frozen in the form of bank balances, bonds, FDRs, and mutual funds under section 17 (1A) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002,” the ED said in a statement.
ED initiated an investigation based on the FIRs filed against M/s WinZO Games Pvt. Ltd and others on the grounds of cheating, blocking of accounts, impersonation, misuse of PAN, etc. It is also alleged in the FIRs that the complainants’ KYC was misused by WinZO and others, and the complainants have suffered substantial loss due to fraudulent activities and cheating by WinZO and others.
“ED investigation revealed that WinZO company is operating Real Money Games (RMGs) in foreign countries such as Brazil, USA and Germany, etc., from India (on the same platform used by the Indian entity). Even after the ban of RMGs by the Union Government (w.e.f. 22/08/2025), an amount of Rs 43 crore is still held by the company without refunding to the gamers/customers.
“ED investigation further revealed that M/s WinZO Pvt Ltd. was engaged in criminal activities and unscrupulous practices, i.e. customers were made to play with algorithms/software without being made aware of the fact that they are playing with software/algorithms and not with humans in real money games,” the agency alleged.
According to ED, WinZO has also prevented or limited withdrawals of monies held by the customers in the wallets of M/s WinZO Pvt Ltd. M/s WinZO Pvt Ltd also generated POC in the form of bet amounts placed and lost by real customers through the unscrupulous use of such algorithms/software, which are received by the entity in its bank accounts.
“ED investigation also revealed that global operations, i.e, hosting of all types of games (including RMGs) are undertaken under a single App(application), same platform from India. It was also found that the funds by the Indian entity have been diverted to the USA and Singapore under the guise of overseas investments. The funds worth USD 55 million (Rs 489.90 crore) have been parked in their bank account in the USA (bank accounts held in the name of ‘WINZO US Inc.'), which is a shell company, since all the operations and day-to-day business activities, operation of bank accounts are done from India,” the agency alleged.