The Bureau of Immigration has issued a look out circular (LOC) against Liu Yi, a Chinese national, for his alleged involvement in running an illegal digital loan mobile app case in India.
Mr. Yi is the main accused in the case that’s being investigated by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Bhubaneswar, which requested the Bureau of Immigration to issue the LOC against the accused.
“Mr. Yi used to run many illegal digital loan apps in India such as KOKO Loan, JOJO Loan, Golden Lightening Loan and Silver Kredit Loan. Investigation revealed that there are more than 1.5 lakh downloads of one app alone. It is suspected that they have cheated and extorted lakhs of people across the country, particularly targeting lower middle class people in the need of small loans, especially during the difficult time of the COVID pandemic,” Jai Narayan Pankaj, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, EOW, said.
The EOW said the Chinese national started his illegal business in India in 2019 from Bengaluru, while his parent company was Jianbing Technology, which is based out of Hangzhou in China.
“He is the director of Omlette Technology Private Limited, but indirectly controls or owns many other companies like Yellow Tune Technologies Private Limited, Mudmate Technologies Private limited, and Pinkleaf Aryan Communications Private Limited. There are at least two more Chinese [nationals] who used to assist him in his scam,” Mr. Pankaj said.
According to the modus operandi, once these fake loan apps are downloaded, small amounts ranging from ₹3,000 to ₹10,000 are credited to the customer’s bank account, within a week of which the borrower is asked to repay the amount with excessive rates of interest. The accused used had several call centres make abusive and threatening calls for the recovery of the loan amount.
“If a person who has taken a loan refuses to pay a high rate of interest, the concerned customer is humiliated and bullied in many ways. Obscene messages and indecent pictures, along with abusive texts in filthy languages, are sent to his or her WhatsApp number and as well as to his or her contact list as a coercive measure to recover the loan amount with interest,” Mr. Pankaj said.
The DIG said the process of loan recovery was so overbearing and humiliating that some customers committed suicide. The EOW has received more than 100 complaints in Odisha related to abusive actions by illegal loan apps.
“The EOW is in touch of various State Police and has conducted raids in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi. More than ₹6.57 Crore has been frozen,” Mr. Pankaj said.
Investigation showed such illegal loan app scams were also being run in other countries, including Thailand in particular.
In this case, the EOW has already arrested five accused accomplices of Mr. Yi, the Chinese mastermind.
The investigating agency has already issued advisories on illegal loan apps In order to bring down such crimes and create awareness among the public.
