Organisers of shady loan apps are emerging as a major threat across the country as they look to target vulnerable people from poor and middle-class families by lending them large sums of money in the form of unsecured loans at high rates of interest, according to police officers.
“After the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisers of such apps targeted men from poor families. Now, they are also targeting students and women from low-income groups and poor families and enticing them with easy money,” police said.
Director General of Police K.V. Rajendranath Reddy has appealed to bankers to scrutinise the KYCs strictly, develop market intelligence and flag accounts through which large amounts of money are being transacted regularly.
Police arrested about 300 loan app organisers including a few from Malaysia, Singapore, Nigeria and China as well as neighbouring States. They seized about ₹50 crore in the last few months, said Inspector General of Police (Technical) G. Pala Raju.
Fugitives arrested
“For the first time, the Rajamahendravaram and Anantapur police formed decoy parties and arrested international fugitives from Malaysia and Nigeria recently, who were targeting the poor in A.P. through various loan apps,” the IGP told The Hindu on Wednesday.
A few days ago, the Gujarat police arrested a woman loan app organiser, Mohammad Juhi Salim Shaik (28), of Vijayawada, who has links to Pakistan, which shocked the police.
Loan app agents from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and other States were among those who were arrested, investigation officers said.
Mr. Rajendranath Reddy, who released a book on SOP and the investigation techniques while dealing with loan app cases recently, asked people not to fall prey to loan app agents.
“My friend took a loan of ₹2,000 from an app. The agents demanded ₹5,000 in return within just a few days. Later, the agents demanded a further ₹3,000 and he was forced to borrow money from his friends to repay the organisers,” a student of a private engineering college said.
“Two women, hailing from Anakapalle and East Godavari districts, complained to the Disha police over the harassment of loan app agents. Police are investigating the cases,” said a Disha police officer.
Students disturbed mentally
“Loan app agents are targeting students. Many victims, pursuing Intermediate, degree and professional courses, who took loans through apps, are now mentally disturbed after the agents harassed them over phone. Several of them have approached me for help,” said a psychologist Y. Ravi Bhargav.
“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has banned about 250 loan apps. We are enlightening the public through the Mahila Police against the ill-effects of loan apps,” the DGP said.
“Many people who are not tech-savvy are unknowingly handing over access to their bank accounts to fraudsters. We request the public to be careful and not access unknown apps and links,” Mr. Pala Raju said.
