New Delhi, Dec 14 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it had carried out search operations on December 9 at various places in Bengaluru, Pune and Noida, in connection with its investigation into a money laundering case related to apps that duped people. One such MPF App was a "scam investment application" which promised very high returns, thereby luring innocent investors throughout the country to invest their hard earned money with expectations of high returns. During the search operations, an amount of Rs 51.11 crore kept in Merchant IDs and Bank Accounts of these entities who were behind the Matrix Partners Fund (MPF) app and other related apps has been frozen. The case is based on an FIR registered on November 26, 2021 at Mawlai Police Station, Shillong, Meghalaya, against entities behind the Matrix Partners Fund (MPF) App. During investigations, it emerged that a large number of companies were connected to this App, which ran many other Apps related to Investment scams, loans, games, betting, rummy etc. "The modus operandi of these entities is to register companies by using forged documents and making dummy directors of these entities, create mobile Apps and then generate proceeds of crime by collecting money through various Payment Gateways by faking / mis-declaring the nature of business related to the Apps," the ED said. When initially people used to get good returns or rewards, they invested more money and after a period, when a huge amount of money was collected, the people behind those Apps deactivated the Apps and disappear with the ill-gotten money. /IANS