Beware! Stay away from THIS Chinese loan app, Rs 10 crore extorted, people harassed and threatened with morphed pictures

In a fake loan scam, a man was granted a loan of Rs 6,870 following which the accused persons started harassing him using his contacts and photographs stored in the gallery of his cellphone.

New Delhi: The Delhi Police have arrest of four persons in a case regarding Chinese loan application racket that duped people of crores of rupees in the name of providing hassle-free loan.

As per an IANS report, police have arrested four people identified as Anil Kumar (35), Alok Sharma (24), Avnish (22) and Kannan (35) for running the online loan application scam. Apart from these four, the police have also issued notices to 149 persons who were part of a fake call centre.

Quoting Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer District), Brijendra Kumar Yadav, IANS said a complaint was lodged by a man on the NCRP portal, alleging that after getting lured by an advertisement on Facebook regarding hassle-free loan of Rs 50,000, he had downloaded a loan app by the name of `On Stream`.

"While downloading this app, it prompted the complainant to give access to his phone`s contacts, gallery etc., which he did. He was granted a loan of Rs 6,870 following which the accused persons started harassing him using his contacts and photographs stored in the gallery of his cellphone," the DCP said.

To get rid of this problem, the victim paid Rs 1 lakh to the accused persons, but they kept on sending him derogatory messages demanding more money. During the police raid, it was found that the whole syndicate was being run by Anil kumar, the mastermind, through 134 female tele callers, 15 male callers and three team leaders.

"They purchased 300 SIM cards by raising a firm in the name of Silpani International, of which 100 were used to send derogatory WhatsApp messages to compel the victims to fall for their extortion threats. The remaining 200 SIM cards were termed as spam which they discarded," the DCP said.

The accused extorted money from innocent victims in connivance with Chinese loan application firms. They also routed proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 10 crore to two Chinese nationals going by the name of Albert and Trey, and got Rs 3 crore as commission in March.

How to protect yourself from Fake loan websites, loan App frauds

RBI has listed out the following options that one must exercise before opting for any loan from any website or mobile app.

Verify if the lender is registered with the Government / Regulator /authorised agencies

Check whether the lender has provided a physical address or contact information to ensure it is not difficult to contact them later.

Beware if the lender appears more interested in obtaining personal details rather than in checking credit scores.

Remember that any reputed NBFC / bank will never ask for payment before processing the loan application.

Genuine loan providers never offer money without verifying documents and other credentials of the borrowers.

Verify if these NBFC-backed loan apps are genuine.

With IANS Inputs