The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Jalandhar Zonal Office, has attached properties worth Rs 187.13 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against people operating a network of illegal call centres.The attachment covers immovable properties in Haryana, Delhi and Goa, including farmhouses and villas.The ED initiated a probe on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI (information shared by the FBI, US) against the accused for defrauding the US citizens of millions of dollars. The investigations uncovered a transnational financial crime and cyber fraud by targeting foreign citizens online.The ED investigation revealed that the illegal call centre, Digikaps, had 36 employees, including Jiger Ahmed, Yash Khurana, Inderjeet Singh Bhali and Nikhil Sharma under the supervision of Joney, Dakshay Sethi and Gaurav Verma. They cheated the victims in the guise of technical support call centre service.During the process, they stole crucial information from their victims and threatened them about statutory action by the Internal Revenue Service, US.Subsequently, they induced them to transfer their money into crypto accounts which were siphoned off from foreign victims’ accounts to cryptocurrency wallets. The proceeds of the crime were transferred for personal gain into shell entities, Bliss Infra Properties LLP, and infused into real estate.In January and February, the ED conducted search operations at 13 locations across Punjab, Haryana and Delhi under the provisions of the PMLA. The search operation resulted in the recovery of several digital devices, seizure of Rs 34 lakh of unaccounted cash and incriminating records linking the accused persons to high-value investments and acquisition of immovable properties in India and abroad.Investigation further revealed diversion of proceeds of crime into real estate in Haryana, Delhi and Goa by the accused persons, including Joney Tyagi, Dakshay Sethi, Raghav Satiha, Nikhil Verma, Gaurav Verma and Gautam Dhingra.