APOMS, PayPal, and VPNS: Pulwama, Gorakhnath case quoted as FATF warning for online terror financeing; The misuse of ‘e-commerce and online payment platforms’ is called. Bharat News

New Delhi: Referring to the 2019 Pulwama attack, resulting in 40 CRPF casualties, and 2022 Gorakhnath Temple, FATF said on Tuesday that e-commerce and online payment platforms are being used for terrorist funding.FATF’s ‘Widespread updates on Terrorist Financing Risk’, a global terrorist financing Watchdog, highlighted state-proposed terrorism, given that various public sources and delegations input indicate financial and other support from several national governments to specific terrorist organizations.

FATF mentioned that the delegation reported state sponsorship of terrorist financing both as a fundamental law and financial management strategy for some terrorist organizations. PTI reported that PTI explained in various forms including direct financial assistance, logical assistance, physical resources and training provisions.After the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 lives were claimed, FATF announced the production of detailed analysis of terrorist financing in June, including 200 courts from their global networks.In an Indian case study, FATF expanded how aluminum powder, an important component for an instantaneous explosive tool, was acquired through EPOM Amazon to increase the impact of the explosion.“In February 2019, a suicide bombing targeted a convoy of Indian security forces in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in 40 soldiers. India officials concluded that the attack was carried out by Jaish-I-Mohammed (Jim).”Due to investigation, 19 persons were accused under the illegal activities (prevention) Act, including terror funding provisions. Seven foreign nationals, including the suicide bomber, were among those allegations. Law enforcement recovered the related property including vehicles and terrorist hideouts.Indian authorities have consistently highlighted Pakistan’s ongoing support for terrorism and multilateral funds for the purchase of weapons. Sources indicate that India believes that Pakistan’s actions warned its placement on the “gray list” of FATF.The report identified the misuse of e-commerce platforms and online marketplace terrorists for the operating purchase of equipment, weapons, chemicals and 3D-printing materials.These platforms enable terrorists to generate money by selling goods, including already low-desang products.FATF said that EPOM provides fund transfer through business-based money laundering schemes. This involves buying items and sending them to colleagues through EPOMs for resale in various courts using profits for terrorist financing.The report underlined the ways to increase, move and manage terrorist funds, given that online payment services provide more oblivion than wire transfer, making it difficult to identify transactions.The report cited the incident of Gorakhnath Temple on 3 April, 2022, where an ISIL-affected person attacked security personnel. The suspect transferred Rs 669,841 at the international level using VPNS and received Rs 10,323.35 from abroad.The financial investigation revealed the VPN service payment of the accused and about 44 international third-party Paple transactions, which is a total of Rs 669,841 in foreign accounts. The suspect also received foreign funds through Payal.The investigation highlighted payment to several ISIL followers abroad supporting terrorist activities.The Finance Ministry of India said, “Due to the suspected nature of these transactions and capacity to TF, Payal suspended the accused’s account to prevent illegal fund transfer.”The report mentions a significant increase in fintech payment services over the last decade, the terrorists have used these services rapidly for the ability to obscure participants through low cost, speed and pseudo -names.The evaluation of Europeol indicates widespread use in terrorist organizations. Small cells, FTFs, and individual terrorists use P2P payment services to purchase military equipment, chemicals and promotional materials.The report mentions that EORMT creates a major revenue source, using the use of goods-to-pear payments to promote extremist ideologies of groups.Online payment services facilitate donation to large organizations, especially when integrated, recruitment, crowdfonding and fund transfer with social networks and content hosting services through the same platform.The report concludes that online payment services provide less transparency than wire transfer, complicating the identity of transactions participants.