Online real money gaming scam: ED freezes Rs 192 crore linked to WinZo App

Bengaluru, Jan 1 (IANS) The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Bengaluru Zonal Office, has frozen Proceeds of Crime (PoC) worth approximately Rs 192 crore held by ZO Games Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned Indian subsidiary of WinZo Pvt Ltd, in connection with an online real money gaming scam.

The official statement released by the ED, Bengaluru Zonal Office stated on Thursday, “The ED has conducted a search operation at the office premises of the accounting firm for Winzo Pvt Limited under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 on December 30, 2025. WinZO Pvt. Ltd. is into the business of online real money gaming services through its App – WinZO.”

“During the search, Proceeds of Crime (PoC) possessed by ZO Games Pvt Ltd. (fully owned Indian subsidiary of Winzo Pvt. Ltd.) worth around Rs 192 crore, has been frozen in the form of bank balances, FDRs, and mutual funds under Section 17 (1A) of the PMLA, 2002,” the ED stated.

Earlier, the ED has conducted Search and Seizure operations at the office premises of Winzo Pvt Ltd, and residential premises of its Director on November 18, 2025.

The evidence unearthed during the search and subsequent investigation revealed that the company was engaged in criminal activities and unscrupulous practices i.e. customers were made to play with BOTs/AI/Algorithms/software (termed as PPP/EP/Persona) without being made aware of the fact that they are playing with BOTs/AI/Algorithms and not with humans in real money games, the ED stated.

“Winzo has also prevented and limited withdrawals of monies held by the customers in the wallets of Winzo Pvt Ltd”, the ED stated.

Winzo Pvt Ltd also generated PoC in the form of ‘Rake Commission’ from the matches played by the BOTs with the real players on their Winzo App. In this manner, the company has made winnings of around Rs 177 crore from the BOTs, for the period May 2024 to August 2025 and Rs 557 crore, for the period April 2022 to December 2023. Also, the company was in possession of users’ money amounting to Rs 43 crore, even after the ban on Real Money Games by the Union Government.

“So far, the investigation revealed that Winzo Pvt Ltd, has generated PoC, around Rs 802 crore,” the ED said.

“Further, a part of the PoC has been taken out of India to USA and Singapore under the garb of overseas investments. The funds worth USD 54Million have been parked in their bank account in USA (bank account held in the name of ‘WINZO US Inc.”), which is a shell company, since all the operations and day-to-day business activities, operation of bank accounts is done from India,” the ED said.

Further investigation is under progress.

mka/rad