QFX Trade, Botbro, and TLC Coin

One operation, three names and a Rs 3,200 crore international fraud

QFX Trade, Botbro, and TLC Coin are three separate brand names belonging to the same fraud network. The Enforcement Directorate of India has traced all three to a single operator, Lavish Chaudhary alias Nawab Ali, based in Dubai, and to a single playbook. When one name is exposed and banned, the operation rebrands. QFX became YFX (Yorker Ex) after Himachal Police filed the first FIR. The same network then ran simultaneously under the names BotBro, TLC Coin, Yorker FX, Crossalpha, Botalpha, and Minecrypto.

How it started

QFX Trade Ltd began operating around 2022, presenting itself as a forex trading company offering guaranteed five to six percent monthly returns. The recruitment infrastructure was substantial. Events were organised in Indian cities and in Dubai, paid agents were appointed across multiple Indian states and into Bhutan, and the network grew through aggressive multi-level marketing.

In August 2022, Lavish Chaudhary set up a stall at the Money Expo at Sahara Star Hotel in Mumbai under the QFX Trade name. Visitors were encouraged to invest with the promise of a guaranteed monthly five percent return. When Himachal Police later filed an FIR, the same operation reappeared as YFX with identical mechanics.

The Enforcement Directorate began investigating in early 2025. By February 2025, it had frozen Rs 170 crore across thirty bank accounts of shell companies. By August 2025, the ED had attached forty-five immovable properties across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. The total proceeds of crime identified by the ED has reached approximately Rs 3,200 crore, or roughly Nu 36 billion.

Bhutanese citizens were drawn into all three brands. The names appeared in local WhatsApp groups and recruitment chats well before the Indian press began documenting the scale of the operation.

What to watch for next time

The QFX-Botbro-TLC Coin operation reveals a pattern worth understanding clearly: legitimate businesses do not rename themselves every six to twelve months. When a "trading platform" you have invested in suddenly announces a rebrand — new website, new logo, same dashboard balance — that is not a marketing decision. That is regulatory evasion. The rebrand window is the moment to withdraw whatever is left and to document everything.

Second, all three of these brands relied on a hierarchy of in-person events to build trust. Money Expos in Mumbai. Investor conferences in Dubai. Zoom calls with the "founder." When an investment opportunity is built around theatrical events designed to inspire confidence in the leadership, the events are the product. The trading platform behind them is the prop.

Third, the funds in all three operations were routed through shell companies — Rax Box, Capter Money Solutions, Tiger Digital Services — which had no visible business activity beyond moving money. Legitimate trading platforms do not collect deposits through unrelated shell entities. When your money is going into a private company you have never heard of, with a name unrelated to the platform, the structure exists to make the funds difficult to trace later.

A note for those already affected

The QFX network is the most extensively documented Ponzi operation currently affecting Bhutanese investors. The Indian Enforcement Directorate has an active and aggressive investigation, multiple arrests have been made, and assets have been attached. Bhutanese victims should report to the Royal Bhutan Police and CCAA, and should preserve every record of every transaction.

Sources: Enforcement Directorate of India, Business Standard, DD News, Organiser, Free Press Journal, BrokersView, Prokerala.