A Dubai hotelier accused of running a fake investment scheme worth over Dh950 million has been arrested in India. Faridabad Police, in the northern Indian state of Haryana, confirmed the arrest to Khaleej Times on Saturday, describing it as a ‘big catch’.
The 39-year-old suspect, who reportedly ran a four-star hotel in Dubai Marina, was allegedly the key figure behind the HPZ Token scam — a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme that duped thousands of Indians with promises of unrealistically high returns.
Khaleej Times is withholding the man’s name for legal reasons. He was declared a fugitive economic offender by an Indian court earlier this year — a designation later made public by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
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The ED said it has identified laundered proceeds of over Rs2.2 billion (Dh956 million) in the HPZ Token case. The suspect allegedly used his Dubai businesses to move illegal funds out of India via payment gateways, then convert them into cryptocurrency, and hand over the crypto to Chinese handlers after taking a cut.
“He was arrested in Delhi’s Rohini Sector 11 area and is on police remand,” Faridabad Police PRO Yashpal Yadav told Khaleej Times on Saturday. “It’s a big catch.” He said the suspect was tracked through a payment gateway account that had received a portion of the defrauded money. “The bank account was opened with forged credentials,” Yadav added.
The accused had reportedly moved to Dubai in 2022, shortly after the ED launched its investigation into the HPZ Token racket. According to Faridabad Police, he returned to India around three weeks ago after the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed a lookout circular against him but ordered him to cooperate with investigators.
Police said the man and his business partner were running a parallel cyber fraud operation alongside their hospitality ventures. “He kept 30 per cent of the funds and routed the remaining to his Dubai-based partner, who managed the other end of the network,” Yadav said.
The arrest follows a complaint filed in January 2024 by a Faridabad-based engineer who was duped in a fake stock market investment scheme promoted on social media. The victim is said to have transferred Dh880,000 to 11 different bank accounts, all linked to the scam.
Faridabad Police said the man is the 12th person arrested in the case. Investigators are now trying to locate his associate and three others. “We are in the process of issuing a lookout circular against his partner so he can be arrested if he enters India,” Yadav said.
The HPZ Token scam has emerged as one of India’s largest tech-enabled financial frauds. Victims were lured into downloading a mobile app and investing in so-called crypto-mining schemes. Early fake profits were shown to build trust, only for the funds to vanish once larger amounts were invested.
The ED has so far frozen or attached assets worth Rs497 crore (Dh216 million) linked to the case and uncovered over 200 shell companies allegedly created by the suspect and his associates to conceal the money trail.
Mazhar Farooqui
Mazhar Farooqui, also known as Maz, is a multiple award-winning investigative journalist and Senior …Read More
