Ghaziabad: Over 180 complaints of loan fraud, including harassment and unfair collection practices, by numerous mobile apps have been registered in the district since December 25 last year, police said. The apps attract gullible and needy people by promising quick loans without the hassle of paperwork or documentation, police added.
Once installed, the apps have access to all phone contacts, gallery and other sensitive information, which they then use to harass the victims. According to several complainants, despite repaying the loan, they were abused by debt collectors and also humiliated in front of friends and acquaintances with messages and photos indicating that the victim had committed “loan fraud” and that he shouldn’t trust him. Some also reportedly received false legal notices for “defaulting” on loans.
One complainant, Sushma (name changed), claimed she was harassed by debt collectors for more than four weeks for a loan she took out through a paperless instant loan provider app.
The Crossings Republik resident said she was just interested in the process after spotting a social media ad about fast loans. Initially, the complainant claimed to have applied for a loan of a lower amount on the Cash Fish app.
“I had applied for a loan of Rs 1,200 but after two days, a person, who claimed to be an enforcement official, demanded to pay Rs 2,000 against the loan. I cleared the sum and decided to deactivate my account on the app and uninstall it. But the next day I received a call telling me that my loan had been approved in another application. I also received a message with a link to the application. When I opened the link and downloaded the app, I was surprised to see that there was Rs 4,000 in the wallet of the account. Even the account was created in my name,” she said.
According to the complainant, when she tried to lodge a complaint, a company official ordered her to pay 7,000 rupees to settle the loan. “When I refused, the officials started behaving badly with me. They turned my photo and wrote loan fraud on it. These photos were sent to friends and relatives on the phone contact list. J I was made to pay 7,000 rupees but the harassment continued,” the woman said, adding that she also received more than 10 legal notices and eventually filed a complaint with the cyber cell.
The son of a retired IPS officer, who took out a small loan from a similar app and repaid it, was also recently targeted by criminals, police said. The accused allegedly harassed the complainant by repeatedly calling and texting him. The accused also accessed his mobile phone gallery, transformed his images and sent photos declaring him a loan fraudster to several of his relatives whose numbers were registered in the contact list. The victim finally changed his mobile number and filed a complaint at Kavi Nagar Police Station about a week ago.
Ghaziabad Cyber Cell Inspector Sumit Kumar told TOI that the first case emerged shortly after December 25, 2021 and since then there have been 15 regular complaints. “We have identified some of these apps as Rich Cash, Kwik Cash, Super Wallet, Lucky Wallet, Speed Loan, Happy Wallet, Cash Fish, Rupiya Bus, Live Cash, Best Paisa, Rupaye Smart, Rupee Box, Loan Cube, Credit Box among many others,” Kumar said.
“We have also formed a team to trace the source of these apps. Some of the complainants had provided contact numbers from where they had received calls,” he said.
According to a recent estimate by the Reserve Bank of India, there are more than 1,100 online lending apps available in India on various internet platforms, among which more than 600 apps for Android users were illegal but distributed in over of 80 application stores. A task force set up by the central bank recently proposed legislation that would subject these digital lending apps to verification to prevent scams.
Once installed, the apps have access to all phone contacts, gallery and other sensitive information, which they then use to harass the victims. According to several complainants, despite repaying the loan, they were abused by debt collectors and also humiliated in front of friends and acquaintances with messages and photos indicating that the victim had committed “loan fraud” and that he shouldn’t trust him. Some also reportedly received false legal notices for “defaulting” on loans.
One complainant, Sushma (name changed), claimed she was harassed by debt collectors for more than four weeks for a loan she took out through a paperless instant loan provider app.
The Crossings Republik resident said she was just interested in the process after spotting a social media ad about fast loans. Initially, the complainant claimed to have applied for a loan of a lower amount on the Cash Fish app.
“I had applied for a loan of Rs 1,200 but after two days, a person, who claimed to be an enforcement official, demanded to pay Rs 2,000 against the loan. I cleared the sum and decided to deactivate my account on the app and uninstall it. But the next day I received a call telling me that my loan had been approved in another application. I also received a message with a link to the application. When I opened the link and downloaded the app, I was surprised to see that there was Rs 4,000 in the wallet of the account. Even the account was created in my name,” she said.
According to the complainant, when she tried to lodge a complaint, a company official ordered her to pay 7,000 rupees to settle the loan. “When I refused, the officials started behaving badly with me. They turned my photo and wrote loan fraud on it. These photos were sent to friends and relatives on the phone contact list. J I was made to pay 7,000 rupees but the harassment continued,” the woman said, adding that she also received more than 10 legal notices and eventually filed a complaint with the cyber cell.
The son of a retired IPS officer, who took out a small loan from a similar app and repaid it, was also recently targeted by criminals, police said. The accused allegedly harassed the complainant by repeatedly calling and texting him. The accused also accessed his mobile phone gallery, transformed his images and sent photos declaring him a loan fraudster to several of his relatives whose numbers were registered in the contact list. The victim finally changed his mobile number and filed a complaint at Kavi Nagar Police Station about a week ago.
Ghaziabad Cyber Cell Inspector Sumit Kumar told TOI that the first case emerged shortly after December 25, 2021 and since then there have been 15 regular complaints. “We have identified some of these apps as Rich Cash, Kwik Cash, Super Wallet, Lucky Wallet, Speed Loan, Happy Wallet, Cash Fish, Rupiya Bus, Live Cash, Best Paisa, Rupaye Smart, Rupee Box, Loan Cube, Credit Box among many others,” Kumar said.
“We have also formed a team to trace the source of these apps. Some of the complainants had provided contact numbers from where they had received calls,” he said.
According to a recent estimate by the Reserve Bank of India, there are more than 1,100 online lending apps available in India on various internet platforms, among which more than 600 apps for Android users were illegal but distributed in over of 80 application stores. A task force set up by the central bank recently proposed legislation that would subject these digital lending apps to verification to prevent scams.
