Promoters of the Mahadev betting app allegedly exploited loopholes in the system to disguise betting and gambling, both banned under Indian laws, as gaming — a playbook followed by similar apps that hook and con unsuspecting, and sometimes desperate, ‘players’.
News18 accessed documents and spoke to cyber and legal experts to understand how the Mahadev app promoters came up with, and managed to run for four years, a fool-proof plan to fly under the radar of anti-betting and anti-gambling laws in the country.
According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation, the Mahadev Book App was operational in different forms in three to four countries, including Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Since gambling is banned in India but gaming apps are not, the incentives and money used to lure ‘players’ was advertised as prizes to be won through skills. The amount returned to ‘players’ was shown as a ‘gift’. In some instances, questions were also added to the ‘game play’ to further blur the gambling aspect of the operations.
“Gambling is banned in India as per 120-year-old guidelines. Taking advantage of it, people are projecting such apps as skill apps and because those guidelines, obviously, did not take into account such apps. This is now being misused,” said Deepika Singh, cyber expert and CEO of DCCF Labs.
To evade accountability, these apps are also generally not listed on app stores. To lure audiences and lend a note of credibility, they also get celebrities to endorse them.
“What is being seen is that most of these apps are not listed on any app or play store. They usually get people to download the app through a link on WhatsApp or through their own portal. That is done to avoid checks and balances that they would otherwise encounter, if listed,” said cyber expert Sanyogg Shelar.
Experts added once installed on a smartphone, the app would use a spyware to collect details such as contact list and photos.
These apps also follow multi-level marketing (MLM) model, wherein an agent approaches people to convince them to invest in dummy bank accounts. These dummy bank accounts belong to different people, sometimes even those who are already dead.
Later on, from their account, transactions are made through hawala or in cryptocurrency and bitcoins. Since these are routed through international channels, it’s harder and time-consuming for the agencies to investigate.
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