Hyderabad: In the continuing crackdown against the dubious instant loan apps cheating and harassing people, the cyber crime wing of Hyderabad police has arrested a Chinese national who was trying to escape from the country.
27 year old Zhur Wei alias Lambo was arrested at the Delhi airport almost a week after raids across many cities in India exposed a massive fraud and extortion running into several billions dollars which was transferred out of the country in the form of bitcoins.
Arrest of Lambo, who hails from Xiangxi province, has taken the criminal investigations by the police of Telangana, Haryana, Karnataka and many other Indian states close to the alleged Chinese brain behind the operations.
Explained: What is the instant loan apps case? How were victims lured?
It is a racket in which instant personal loans are offered through mobile apps at exorbitant interest rates by unauthorised lenders. Written by Sreenivas Janyala , Edited by Explained Desk | Hyderabad | Updated: December 31, 2020 1:28:44 pm
Of the numerous apps that are available on Google PlayStore, most do not have any tie-up with any banks or Non-Banking Financial Institutions.
A woman employee of Telangana Agriculture Department and a software engineer
died by suicide last week after they were humiliated and blackmailed by tele-callers and recovery agents of a mobile app instant loan company. Their personal details were posted by the company on social media and labelled them defaulters and used abusive language.
Three Suicides Unearth Multi-crore Loan Apps Scam in Hyderabad and Gurgaon, 12 Arrested So Far
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Hyderabad Police have frozen 75 bank accounts holding Rs 423 crore in connection with a multi-crore money lending scam that was being run on 30 mobile phone application not approved by the RBI, that charged victims up to 35 percent interest.
The matter came to light after three people died by suicide after reportedly being harassed and humiliated by money lenders. Telangana Police were alerted and authorities conducted multiple raids in Hyderabad and Gurgaon arresting 16 people, according to ANI.
Cyberabad police carried out an independent investigations and arrested seven, including an engineer with degree from US. One 32-year-old Sarath Chandra ran the money lending operation through two companies- Onion Credit Pvt Ltd and Cred Fox Technologies and used to sell loan applications to companies in Bangalore.
Online Money Lending Scam: Hyderabad Police Freeze Bank Accounts Dec 24, 2020, 13:39 IST
In a recent development in the online money lending scam, police have frozen 75 bank accounts. These accounts had a total of ₹423 crore in it. These scammers were operating through mobile apps that are not even approved by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
There were a total of 30 apps running their operations in 4 offices. The employees were responsible for calling and luring in potential borrowers. After a person has borrowed money, he was pressured into paying back in as less as a week’s time. The interest will be as high as 35 percent or more. The employees, who are trained in this, will then blackmail and harass the victims.
Multi-Crore Loan Apps Scam Caught In Hyderabad, Gurgaon; RBI Warning Out Telangana Police were alerted once three people died by suicide after reportedly being harassed and humiliated by money lenders, and conducted raids in Hyderabad and Gurgaon
Updated: December 23, 2020 8:01 pm IST
The scam employed over 1,000 people in three call centres; many were college graduates
Hyderabad:
Hyderabad Police have frozen 75 bank accounts holding Rs 423 crore in connection with a multi-crore money lending scam - that charged victims up to 35 per cent interest - conducted via 30 mobile phone apps that were not approved by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Police in Telangana were alerted once three people died by suicide after reportedly being harassed and humiliated by money lenders. Authorities conducted multiple raids in Hyderabad and Gurgaon in Haryana, and arrested 16 individuals.