SOURCE :- SIASAT NEWS
Hyderabad: The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), Hyderabad, on Thursday, February 19, arrested Pankaj Kumar, founder and director of Adsum Advisory Service Private Limited, for allegedly facilitating illegal online gaming operations.
Kumar’s firm provides fraud detection and customer verification services, including digital know your customer (KYC), for financial institutions.
The GST authorities uncovered an organised syndicate worth Rs 13,000 crore operating illegal online gaming websites with the help of fintech companies, including payment aggregators, payment gateways and third-party technology service providers.
Kumar is alleged to be one of the masterminds behind fraudulent KYC verification of merchants and shell entities on behalf of Reserve Bank of India (RBI)-regulated entities such as payment gateways and Banking as Payment Aggregators (BAPA).
As director of a company responsible for KYC verification, Kumar allegedly failed to conduct proper risk profiling of customers based on ownership and control structure. He is accused of facilitating the onboarding of shell entities for UPI integration, enabling the flow of funds linked to illegal online gaming operations. Investigators claimed he was among the beneficiaries who received illegitimate proceeds from the syndicate.
India’s online gaming sector is estimated to be worth around USD 23 billion (approximately Rs 2 lakh crore) in 2025. DGGI Hyderabad has launched a major crackdown on online gaming syndicates, freezing bank accounts worth Rs 100 crore and arresting key masterminds.
SOURCE : SIASAT
