Continuing its action in the massive illegal online forex trading racket, allegedly orchestrated by international forex broker OctaFX and its India-based arm, the directorate of enforcement (ED) has seized incriminating documents, digital devices and traced assets worth Rs160.8 crore — including 19 properties in Spain in coordinated raids on 13 June 2025 across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Gurugram.
Investigators revealed that the unauthorised platform generated more than Rs800 crore from Indian investors in under a year, under the guise of high-return forex trading. The funds were layered through a web of mule accounts, fake e-commerce platforms, and crypto wallets — all designed to bypass regulatory scrutiny and launder money overseas.
ED's probe uncovered that OctaFX operated in India without authorisation from Reserve Bank of India (RBI), flouting Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) norms and provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
"Investor funds were routed through unauthorised payment aggregator Dinero Payment Services and disguised as online purchases via fake merchant websites. This allowed the platform to bypass due diligence processes of payment gateways," the agency says.
Accordign to the ED investigation, about half of the users’ money was diverted into mule accounts under the pretext of refunds, chargebacks and vendor payments — effectively hiding the flow and end-use of funds. "The trading platform also deployed URL masking to cloak payment gateway identities, making it harder for banks and regulators to trace the transactions."
OctaFX, which gained traction through influencer-led marketing and sponsorships in the Indian Premier League (IPL), manipulated trade data and login URLs to mislead users.
ED says investors were shown doctored trade activities that resulted in systemic losses. Meanwhile, the actual funds were diverted through e-wallets, shell companies and bogus imports.
The agencys supplementary prosecution complaint, filed before a PMLA court in Mumbai, identifies Spain-based Russian national Pavel Prozorov as the alleged mastermind. He is said to have controlled OctaFX's India operations through offshore entities based in Spain, Russia, Georgia and Dubai. Indian workers were recruited and stationed abroad to help run the platform and target Indian users.
Investigators also discovered that a large portion of the scammed money was converted into cryptocurrency. Funds were channelled through dummy bank accounts, deposited into wallets via Zanmai Labs Pvt Ltd — the operator of WazirX — and subsequently moved to Binance, a Cayman Islands-based crypto exchange.
"This elaborate scheme allowed the culprits to convert Indian rupees into crypto assets, thereby moving funds abroad and erasing audit trails," ED says.
The agency had earlier frozen Rs2.7 crore in April this year and Rs21.14 crore in September 2022. The case originated from a 2021 first information report (FIR) filed by Shivaji Nagar police station in Pune, against individuals linked to OctaFX for defrauding investors under the pretext of forex trading.
So far, ED has seized or attached Rs165 crore in assets, including cryptocurrencies, gold and foreign properties. Two prosecution complaints have been filed in court which has taken cognisance of the matter.
The case highlights significant regulatory blind spots in India’s forex trading and digital payments ecosystem. OctaFX was able to bypass RBI restrictions by posing as a tech platform and using unauthorised aggregators and shell entities to collect and disburse funds.
Forex trading by individuals is illegal in India unless done via authorised dealers or recognised stock exchanges. Yet platforms like OctaFX capitalise on aggressive digital advertising, social media influencers and referral incentives to lure unsuspecting investors.
ED says it will continue to investigate the extent of the financial network supporting OctaFX’s India operations. More seizures and arrests are expected in the coming weeks, with the agency also probing the role of chartered accountants and payment intermediaries who issued fake certificates and enabled money laundering.
