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New Delhi: Despite hundreds of lending apps being banned or removed of late, fraudulent loan applications targeting the middle class and financial unsavvy Indians are on the rise again. A similar case came to light in February this year when a woman alleged that she was being abused and threatened by some unknown persons who were sending her morphed and vulgar photographs to her family, friends and relatives through social media. She approached the IFSO unit of the special cell and lodged a complaint. Narrating her ordeal, the complainant said she had taken a loan from a Loan App, Cash Advance, which she repaid the same in time. However, after repaying the loan she started getting threat calls and messages on WhatsApp from Cash Advance employees.Also Read – Banking Scams and Frauds: How to Protect Yourself from Online Banking Fraud – Watch Video
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Indians Falling Prey to Cyber Frauds
Of late, gullible Indians are everyday falling prey to the small amount of loans that they get through these Chinese-operated fake loan apps that are available on the Play Store. People are being defrauded to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees everyday.
A similar case came to the Crime Branch of Delhi Police where a man alleged that he and his family, friends and relatives are being abused and also threatened by some unknown persons through some international and national WhatsApp mobile numbers, to repay the loan taken by the same “Cash Advance” application.
In another case, when the police were investigating a cyber fraud of just Rs 6500, it was shocked to learn that the bank account in which the cheated amount was deposited had a daily transaction of Rs 19.43 crores.
How Does Cyber Fraudsters Work?
Speaking to IANS, a senior Delhi Police official asserted that in the past six months several cases of fraud, ultimately connected to Chinese cyber gangs, have come to light. These high-tech Chinese cyber criminals have devised a new strategy to dupe people and are these days defrauding Indians via fake loan applications. “These lend money instantly to any person downloading these applications for a period of a few days. At the time of downloading the application, the app asks permission to capture, contact list, photo gallery and other personal data of the phone of the loan seeker,” IANS quoted the police official as saying.
- After taking a loan, some of the total amount is deducted as processing fees
- If the remaining amount is not paid within the stipulated time the interest and penalties together take the repayment to 200 percent of the loan amount.
- If the money is not paid, the call centres operating out of neighbouring countries like Nepal, threaten the victims to leak their personal data and make abusive comments to their contacts as while downloading the application it accesses all the contacts, photos and other data in the mobile phone of the victim.
- Since the money cannot be directly transferred to international or Chinese bank accounts, the fraudsters need Indian bank accounts to take payments.
- This is where the Chinese scamsters are finding vulnerable, poor and greedy people of the country to help them in getting the Indian bank accounts.
Unregistered digital lending apps vs Registered Lending Apps
Earlier last month, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das had said that customers borrowing from unregistered digital lending apps should approach the local police in case of any issue, making it clear that the central bank will only act against entities registered with it. Das said most of the digital lending apps are not registered with the central bank and operate by themselves.
The RBI website has a list of apps that are registered with it on the website, the governor said, adding that the police in many states have acted against the wrongdoers as per the provisions of the law.
RBI Registered Loan App List
| App Name | Credit Limit |
|---|---|
| Kreditbee | Loan up to 2 Lakhs |
| Kreditzy | Loan up to 2 Lakhs |
| Paysense | Loan up to 5 Lakhs |
| NAVI | Loan up to 5 Lakhs |
| Lazypay (Credit Line + Personal Loan) | Loan up to 1 Lakhs |
| Freopay (Credit Line) | Rs. 10000 |
| Stashfin – (Credit Line + Personal Loan) | Loan up to 5 Lakhs |
| Cashbean | Loan up to 1 Lakhs |
| MI Credit | Above 5 Lakhs |
| Dhani (Credit Line) | Loan up to 5 Lakhs |
| Avail Finance | Loan up to Rs. 50000 |
| NIRA | Loan up to 2 Lakhs |
| Branch | Loan up to Rs.50,000 |
| Smartcoin | Loan up to 2 Lakhs |
| Rupeek App (Gold Loan) | Loan up to 50 Lakhs |
| Simple Pay Later (Credit Line) | Loan up to 1 Lakhs |
| Mobikwik (Credit Line + Consumer Loan) | Loan up to 2 Lakhs |
| Paytm Personal Loan | Loan up to 2 Lakhs |
| Krazybee (Consumer Loan) | Loan up to 2 Lakhs |
| Bharatpe (Business Loan) | Loan up to 5 Lakhs |
| Paytm Postpaid (Credit Line) | Loan up to 1 Lakhs |
| True Caller | Loan up to 5 Lakhs |
| Simply Cash | Loan up to 2 Lakhs |
| Slice (Credit Line) | Loan up to 1 Lakhs |
| True Balance | Up to Rs. 50,000 |
| Zest Money (Consumer Loan) | Above 2 Lakhs |
| Amazon Pay Later | Up to Rs. 60,000 |
| Flipkart Pay Later | Up to Rs. 60,000 |
| Tata Capital | Above 10 Lakhs |
| Tata neu Credit card (Qik EMI Card) | Rs.10000 to Rs.150000 |
| Tata Neu App (Qik Personal Loan) | Rs.10000 to Rs.10,00,000 |
| Ola Money pay Later | Rs.1500 to Rs.20000 |
| Khatabook App | Rs.50,000 to Rs.10,00,000 |
| Jupiter credit limit | Up to Rs.50,000 |
| OneCard App | Rs. 10000 to Rs150,000 |
| Paisabazaar credit limit | Rs. 50,000 to Rs.10,00,000 |
| imobile Pay Later | Rs. 20,000 |
| SBI YONO APP | Rs. 1500 to Rs. 60000 |
| IDFC Bank Pay later | Rs. 1500 to Rs. 60000 |
| Bajaj Finserv App | Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 5,00,000 |
| Rufilo Loan App | Rs. 5000 to Rs. 25,000 |
| IBL FINANCE App | Rs. 5000 to Rs. 25,000 |
| Early Salary | Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 500,000 |
| Money View | Rs.10,000 to Rs. 5,00,000 |
| CASHe | Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 3,00,000 |
| mPokket | Rs.500 to Rs. 30,000 |
| Stashfin – Credit Line & Loan | Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 5,00,000 |
| MoneyTap | Rs.1,000 to Rs. 60,000 |
| FairMoney Loan App | Loan up to 2 Lakhs |
| KreditOne | Rs.5000 to Rs. 25,000 |
| FlexSalary Instant Loan App | Rs.5000 to Rs.25,000 |
| DigiMoney | Rs. 5000 to Rs. 25,000 |
| Indialends | Rs. 5,00,000 |
| Mystro Loans & Neo Banking app | Rs. 50,000 |
| Kissht: Instant Line of Credit | Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 1,00,000 |
How to protect yourself from fake loan apps
- Never download the app from the lenders’ website and only download from the app store.
- Most of the illegal Chinese lending apps don’t even list their website. If a company doesn’t have a website, do not download the app.
- If the Website is listed, visit the website and make sure the Company that owns the app is a legitimate lender registered with the RBI or works with a bank or NBFC registered with RBI.
- All legal lending companies are required to clearly show the same along with their Company Identification Number (CIN) and details of the Certificate of Registration (CoR) with RBI.
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