#IllegalLoanApps #OnlineLoaneAppsFraud #China
Crackdown on illegal instant loan apps; 17 arrested from Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad
Based on complaints, the Hyderabad and Cyberabad police have registered 16 and 7 cases, respectively, against such companies.
The Cyberabad police registered a case under sections 420 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC and also invoked section 66 of the IT Act, section 3, 10, and 13(1) of the Telangana Money Lenders Act and started an investigation.
Cracking down on illegal app-based instant microloan lending companies, Hyderabad police arrested 11 persons from Delhi, Gurgaon and the Cyberabad police arrested six others here. Based on complaints, the Hyderabad and Cyberabad police have registered 16 and 7 cases, respectively, against such companies.
Cyberabad police, acting on a complaint, raided the premises of city-based Onion Credit Private Limited & Cred fox technologies Private Limited and arrested the CEO and director K Sarath Chandra along with two other directors, two collection agents, and a team leader.
Over 8 months, he availed a total loan of Rs 30,000 but was given only Rs 20,000 after deductions. But he ended up paying back Rs 29,000 even after which the loan was not cleared. He was asked to pay up Rs 8,634 more, following which the representatives of the companies started harassing and blackmailing him with dire consequences. They also accessed his contact list from his phone and started contacting his family members and abused them in filthy language, he said in the complaint.
The Cyberabad police registered a case under sections 420 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC and also invoked section 66 of the IT Act, section 3, 10, and 13(1) of the Telangana Money Lenders Act and started an investigation.
“Dhana Dhan” application is not linked with any NBFC whereas “Cash Mama” and “Loan Zone” mobile applications have a tie-up with 9 NBFCs located in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Nagpur. ‘Cash Mama’ app linked to Onion Credit and ‘Dhana Dhan Loan’ app and ‘Loan Zone’ app linked to Cred Fox Technologies have a customer base of 1.5 lakh customers, of whom 70,000 are active at present, the Commissioner said.
The investigators found that the companies owned by Sharath Chandra developed their apps for maintaining the database of the customers and placed them in the Google play store for easy download by customers. Both the companies, i.e., Onion Credit and Credfox Technologies designed mobile Apps namely ‘Cash Mama’, ‘Loan Zone’, ‘Dhana Dhan Loan’, ‘Cash Up’, ‘Cash bus’, ‘Mera Loan’ and ‘Cash Zone’.
They also sold two Apps i.e., ‘Cash bus’ and ‘Cash Up’ to Asia Inno Networks Pvt. Ltd., Delhi, and two Apps i.e., ‘Mera loan’ and ‘Cash Zone’ to Blue shield Fintech Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore.
Hyderabad police suspects links to China
Meanwhile, the Hyderabad police raided two locations in Gurgaon and three other locations in Hyderabad where call centers were being operated on behalf of four companies. These tele-callers were found to be persuading, harassing, and intimidating the loan defaulters.
Speaking to the media, Hyderabad police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said that these call centers were being run on behalf of four companies- Liufang Technologies private limited, Hotful Technologies private limited, Pinprint Technologies, and Nabloom Technologies private limited. They have their registered offices in Bengaluru, and the call centers employed 500 tele-callers in Gurgaon and 600 in Hyderabad.
“These callers took instructions from their heads in Indonesia. The entire operation of these loan Apps appears to be run with Chinese nationals at the helm. This was also indicated during an investigation into the multi-crore colour prediction gaming App scam where crores of rupees were transferred to shell companies which were registered as NBFCs,” he said.
The raids at the call centers have led to the seizure of nearly 700 laptops, servers, computer systems, etc. Further investigation is on to find out the web of financial transactions, funding, technology base, etc, he added.
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