The Fiewin app, which initially appeared to be a legitimate gaming platform offering easy earnings through mini-games, turned out to be part of an elaborate international scam. Users from across India were drawn to the app, lured by promises of quick money. However, once they accumulated substantial balances, they were blocked from withdrawing their funds, trapping their money within the platform.
As victims began reporting the scam to local police, the case was escalated to India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), the key agency tasked with investigating financial crimes. What began as a series of isolated complaints quickly revealed a much larger operation that spanned multiple countries.
Upon investigation, the ED discovered that Fiewin’s operators had set up a sophisticated money laundering scheme. They used a complex network of financial transactions and multiple intermediaries—referred to as “mules”—who allowed their bank accounts to be used for illicit transactions in exchange for commissions.
The app’s operators, based in India, funneled the funds into cryptocurrency wallets, most of which were linked to the global crypto exchange Binance. This made it challenging for investigators to trace the flow of stolen money, as it was converted into cryptocurrencies like USDT (Tether). However, Binance’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) played a crucial role by assisting the ED in tracking these transactions.
The investigation led to the arrest of several individuals involved in the scam. Among those arrested were Arun Sahu and Alok Sahu, from Rourkela, Odisha. They acted as “recharge persons,” receiving stolen funds into their bank accounts and converting them into cryptocurrency. These funds were then transferred to wallets controlled by Chinese nationals.
In addition, Chetan Prakash, an engineer from Patna, Bihar, helped facilitate the conversion of INR (Indian Rupees) into cryptocurrency. Another key player, Joseph Stalin, a software engineer from Chennai, assisted a Chinese national named Pie Pengyun in setting up a company called Studio 21 Pvt. Ltd., which was used for bulk payouts. This company helped add a layer of legitimacy to the scam in its early stages, encouraging more users to make larger deposits.
All those arrested are facing charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of 2002, as well as other related financial crimes. Their actions, along with the involvement of foreign nationals, highlight the international scale of the scam and the increasingly sophisticated nature of financial fraud.
Binance, which had obtained a license to operate in India in August 2024, played a critical role in unraveling the scam. By collaborating with the ED, Binance’s FIU provided essential intelligence, helping investigators trace the flow of funds across various cryptocurrency wallets and uncovering the full extent of the fraud.
A representative from the ED emphasized the importance of public-private collaborations in complex financial crime investigations, stating, “Binance’s specialized investigation team provided valuable analytical support that significantly contributed to the investigation.”
Binance’s expertise was also crucial in a previous case, the E-Nugget scam, where they helped the ED freeze 42 digital-asset accounts and recover nearly Rs6 million in illicit funds.
While several arrests have been made, the investigation into the Fiewin scam is far from over. The ED, with continued support from Binance, is likely to make additional arrests as they trace the illicit transactions further. The cooperation between the ED and Binance is expected to become even more critical as they expose the full scale of the operation.
Ferdinando D., a Binance investigation specialist, pointed out the importance of such collaborations, stating, “This case shows how critical it is for public institutions and private companies to work together in addressing digital threats. By combining our expertise, we can better protect the public from financial fraud.”
