ED uses AI-aided tools, modern forensic tech to help fraud victims, speed up probes

New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate is increasingly deploying AI-assisted analytical tools for identifying rightful claimants, among lakhs of names, who are to be restored the assets they lost in multi-crore frauds like Ponzi scams. The federal probe agency is also "leveraging" modern forensic technology and data analytics to crack sophisticated and complex financial crimes, conduct faster investigations and file "strong" chargesheets before courts in cases involving money laundering, foreign exchange violations, and fugitive economic offenders who have fled India after perpetrating frauds worth at least Rs 100 crore. The ED disclosed these new advancements in its investigative work in a latest 'compendium of e-governance initiatives' brought out by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. The 141-page document, which PTI accessed, is titled 'Viksit Bharat @2047 AI-Enabled, Data Driven and Secure Digital Governance'. Cases of Ponzi scams, multi-level marketing schemes, and real estate frauds involve lakhs of investors who invest their hard-earned money hoping for higher returns or homes but are duped by scamsters, ED Deputy Director Manoj Mittal stated in his submission to the compendium. He added that often, the number of victims in such frauds is quite large, making it difficult to identify and verify the real ones. He cited the Rose Valley case in West Bengal, one of India's largest financial frauds, where at least 31 lakh claimants have been recorded so far. The ED handed over a demand draft of Rs 517.54 crore to the Asset Disposal Committee (ADC) of the Rose Valley case in 2025 as part of its restitution procedure (a provision available in the anti-money laundering Act to attach, auction and restore assets to the victims of such frauds). "...the ED and ADC have initiated automation of the claims and disbursement mechanism through Artificial Intelligence-based technology..." "The ADC has entered into an arrangement with Stock Holding Document Management Services Limited, a government company for revamping the refund portal so that KYC extraction and multistage matching of claims can be carried out in a time-bound and efficient manner," the officer stated. Mittal said the AI aids in identifying, verifying, and restoring assets to the "real victims" by extracting personally identifiable information from valid documents using an AI engine, deduplicating using Aadhaar numbers, bucketing investors based on investment amount, and integrating with banks, among other functions. The Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer from the Income Tax Department cadre said this AI-aided output will not only "speed up" the restitution process but also "eliminate" the risk of human error. Shifting attention to money laundering cases, the officer said these investigations were "extremely complex" as they involved layered shell companies, nominee directors, benami property chains, cryptocurrency wallets and use of thousands of mule accounts, offshore entities and interlinked trusts. In the last few years, he said, the agency has witnessed a "sharp rise" in technology-driven and cross-border typologies, including crypto-cyber frauds, online betting apps, and digital arrest scams. "Manual investigation of such networks required years of effort, enormous manpower, and was susceptible to human error and delay. In response to increasingly sophisticated financial crimes, ED has adopted proactive approach in leveraging modern forensic technology and data analytics that has enhanced the precision and speed of its diverse range of investigations," the officer wrote. He said the agency found success with new technology: investigations previously stalled due to a lack of proof or reliance on physical searches. Now, ED officers "triangulate" financial intelligence from multiple databases simultaneously, trace cryptocurrency flows through blockchain analytics, and access corporate and property records in real-time. "The result is faster investigations, stronger prosecution complaints, and a growing pipeline of matters moving from investigation to trial," Mittal stated. He summed up the results of tech-aided probes by stating that the ED provisionally attached assets worth Rs 81,422.63 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during 2025-26, ”data that exceeds the cumulative total of the Act's first decade by more than 15 times. The PMLA was implemented in 2005. PTI NES KVK KVK