New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate conducted search operations on July 8 and 9 at four premises in Gurugram and Jind, Haryana related to Probo Media Technologies Pvt Ltd and its promotors namely, Sachin Subhaschandra Gupta & Ashish Garg under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in connection with the company's alleged illegal gambling/ betting activities across India.
Probo Media Technologies Pvt Ltd operates the app & website "Probo', which provides platform for online gaming.
ED initiated investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs registered under various sections of BNS, 2023 and Public Gambling Act, 1867 against Probo Media Technologies Pvt Ltd and its directors/ promoters in Gurugram, Palwal (Haryana)and Agra (Uttar Pradesh).
The agency in a press statement on Wednesday said that the complainants in the FIRs had alleged that they were cheated and dishonestly presented a scheme of earning money through simple "yes or no" questions while the scheme in reality promotes gambling by luring players to invest more in the hope of earning higher returns.
The agency further said that its investigation revealed that the app/websites defrauds its users by initially promoting a deceptive image of a legitimate skill-based platform, only to ultimately exploit them through a betting mechanism where success is governed entirely by chance and not by the user's abilities or insights.
"The company claims its platform as ' opinion trading' and knowledge/ skill is required to play the game. However, analysis of games shows that all the games can be answered with 'Yes or No' and hence, there are only two possible outcomes which makes it indistinguishable from gambling/ betting resulting in loss of hard earned money of the users," ED said in its press statement.
ED claimed that its searches also revealed that the app/website does not have a mechanism to prevent minors from registering as users, absence of proper due diligence (KYC), inducing new users through misleading advertisements and promoting opinion trading related to election results.
The agency further said that its investigation also revealed that the company had received ₹134.84 crore against issue of preference shares from foreign entities based out of Mauritius, Cayman Island and others. ED said that its search resulted in seizure of incriminating documents and digital data.
Probo Media Technologies Pvt Ltd operates the app & website "Probo', which provides platform for online gaming.
ED initiated investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs registered under various sections of BNS, 2023 and Public Gambling Act, 1867 against Probo Media Technologies Pvt Ltd and its directors/ promoters in Gurugram, Palwal (Haryana)and Agra (Uttar Pradesh).
The agency in a press statement on Wednesday said that the complainants in the FIRs had alleged that they were cheated and dishonestly presented a scheme of earning money through simple "yes or no" questions while the scheme in reality promotes gambling by luring players to invest more in the hope of earning higher returns.
The agency further said that its investigation revealed that the app/websites defrauds its users by initially promoting a deceptive image of a legitimate skill-based platform, only to ultimately exploit them through a betting mechanism where success is governed entirely by chance and not by the user's abilities or insights.
"The company claims its platform as ' opinion trading' and knowledge/ skill is required to play the game. However, analysis of games shows that all the games can be answered with 'Yes or No' and hence, there are only two possible outcomes which makes it indistinguishable from gambling/ betting resulting in loss of hard earned money of the users," ED said in its press statement.
ED claimed that its searches also revealed that the app/website does not have a mechanism to prevent minors from registering as users, absence of proper due diligence (KYC), inducing new users through misleading advertisements and promoting opinion trading related to election results.
The agency further said that its investigation also revealed that the company had received ₹134.84 crore against issue of preference shares from foreign entities based out of Mauritius, Cayman Island and others. ED said that its search resulted in seizure of incriminating documents and digital data.
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