New Delhi, Dec. 15 -- The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday said it has filed a charge sheet against 17 individuals, including four Chinese nationals, and 58 companies in connection with its probe into a transnational cyber fraud network that allegedly siphoned off Rs.1,000 crore. CBI's probe has found that a single coordinated syndicate created an extensive digital and financial infrastructure to defraud thousands of unsuspecting citizens through misleading loan apps, fake investment schemes, Ponzi and MLM models, bogus part-time job offers, and fraudulent online gaming platforms, the agency said. The federal anti-terror probe agency had busted the racket in October and arrested three people. In a statement on Sunday, CBI said the group layered the flow of illicit funds through 111 shell companies, routing about Rs.1,000 crore via mule accounts. One account received more than Rs.152 crore in a short span, it said. The shell companies, CBI said, were incorporated using dummy directors, forged or misleading documents, fake addresses and false statements of business objectives. "These shell entities were used to open bank accounts and merchant accounts with various payment gateways, enabling rapid layering and diversion of proceeds of crime," the statement added. These shell companies, according to CBI, were incorporated at the direction of four Chinese handlers - Zou Yi, Huan Liu, Weijian Liu and Guanhua Wang. "Their Indian associates procured identity documents from unsuspecting individuals, which were then used to establish the network of shell companies and mule accounts to launder proceeds from the scams and obscure the money trail," the agency said. The investigation exposed communication links and operational control that nailed the role of Chinese masterminds running the fraud network from abroad, CBI said. "Significantly, a UPI ID linked to the bank accounts of two Indian accused was found to be active in a foreign location as late as August 2025, conclusively establishing continued foreign control and real-time operational oversight of the fraud infrastructure from outside India," the agency said in the statement. The CBI probe was launched on the inputs from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the ministry of home affairs, which flagged large-scale cheating of citizens through online investment and employment schemes....