Illegal loan app goons making harassment calls

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As people struggled to make their ends meet during the COVID pandemic, an army of illegal loan app by emerged under the grab of mobile apps. They attract people with their USP: Instant loan. But It turned out to be the beginning of hell to the borrowers, who are impact to harassment in countless ways by recovery agents, even after the loan is repaid. In this article, we will understand how these goons torture public to hell.

This has consistently highlighted by the RBI the danger of the game of loans that has pushed many to even take their lives, while several have slipped into depression just for borrowing a few thousand rupees.

The newspaper Mid- day recently decided to take fraudsters head, they applied for loans from four illegal loan app that were easy to download from Google play store, namely, Alexandria, PaPa Money, Wallaby and lemon Cash.

The team were well versed with the consequences of taking loan from these wolves, hence, they decided to reset their phone and erased all the data and created, fake contact list by feeding 300 dummy mobile numbers. They used the contact number of colleagues as references. The operation was conducted under the guidance of cyber expert.

How did they opt for illegal loan app?

After uploading few of their official documents like Aadhaar and PAN, Alexandria disburse Rs. 3,850, while PaPa money lent Rs.1,740. All the intrusive apps demanded full access to their mobile phone, including camera, location, and storage. If the access was denied to anything at any stand, the app prompted that the loan application would remain income will be left incomplete, and the money won’t be transferred into the account. The loan application also sought details like bank details, educational qualifications, employment information, and monthly incomes of the applicant and his family members. One is required to mention if the applicant lives in a rented home or self-owned property. These apps give them the permission to open the camera and prompts the applicant to show their face at a certain angle and capture the picture.

PaPa Money

Before taking any details, the app sets the credit of the borrower to a tempting pop up of Rs.50000 with a repaying period ranging between 91 and 180 days. But after documentation it credited a sum of Rs. 1,740 in the reporter’s account. The app asks for the money lend to them with GST and processing fee and interest, raising the amount to be paid to Rs. 3,021 within 7 days. After days, harassment by creditors begins which mostly happens through VoIP or WhatsApp calls. A lot of voice messages are sent through WhatsApp.

Alexandria

Here the credit limit of the borrower is preset at Rs.15,000 with a repaying tenure of similar days. The sharks disbursed Rs. 3,850 and demanded Rs. 7,000 that needed to be repaid in a week’s time. Recovery agents begin harassing borrowers from the fifth day. The recovery agents ask the customers to make the transaction through UPI and they keep changing the UPI ids. Misusing a borrower’s contact list is their standard practice.

Wallaby

This application provider kept the application ‘under review’ for three days, then unleashed its ‘loan warriors’. They inform us to repay their due immediately! They also threat us with exploiting our information during the time of expiry of loan. Later, they sent a few disturbing pictures with a message to your contacts, friends, and families.

Here is how they begin with the racket

– By tempting the borrower, popping up pre-set a higher credit limit.
– They seek information through verification of PAN, Aadhaar, employer’s details, info on family’s income, they will take the complete access of the borrower’s phone.
– In the name of pre- crediting a higher amount they disburse a small amount less than Rs. 5,000. They will be later told to pay 50% – 100% more on various pretexts within seven days.
– They will start calling you from the fifth day itself
– They start sending messages and morphed videos to those on the borrower’s contact list and start making threats of violence

Go to banks for loans

If you are the victim to such illegal loan app fraud, immediately report to the police as soon as their harassment starts by third party agent. People should approach banks to take loans and should avoid going to mobile lending apps until and unless RBI comes with strict guidelines regarding these apps.

What should you do if you or someone you know has been affected by illegal loan apps?

If you or someone you know has been a victim of illegal loan apps, there are solutions for you. SingleDebt can help cease harassment from these agents and handle the legal side for you. We urge you not to resolve this alone as this can lead to further harassment. Contact SingleDebt on +91 961 910 3594 or fill out the form either on the home page or contact page.