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MUMBAI: Google India has removed over 3,500 personal loan apps from Play Store due to non-compliance with policies and regulations. The apps were illegally accessing user data, including contacts and photos. They were not even following guidelines on other matters.
In response to the violations, Google recently updated its personal loans policy to prohibit personal loan apps from accessing sensitive data, such as photos and contacts. The action comes within months of Mumbai cyber police arresting 14 people for their involvement in an online loan app fraud that used half a dozen shell companies registered across India to open bank accounts and extort money. The fraudsters converted approximately Rs 350 crore into cryptocurrency before transferring it abroad.
Google has now introduced new licensing requirements for personal loan apps to combat fraud in India. The move comes after Mumbai police registered 176 loan fraud cases, leading to 70 arrests and 12 chargesheets between 2021 and March 31, 2023. Google’s action is part of a broader initiative following the Mumbai police’s breakthrough in busting the loan fraud racket in various parts of Mumbai, Bengaluru, and other parts of India. The racket’s operations were distributed, and it even had links in Nepal. Two call centers in Nepal were busted in 2022, following a tip-off from the Mumbai police.
The racket was exposed after Gopi Manddi (32), a resident of the western suburbs, was extorted five times more than a loan of Rs 3.4 lakh he had availed from various loan apps between September 2021 and April 2022. DCP (Mumbai-Cyber) Dr Balsing Rajput said the number of such cases declined after the racket was busted, with at least 27 arrests made during the probe. Nepal police cooperated in the investigation and provided details of shady call centers, which had been outsourced work of threatening victims with objectionable videos.
Police investigations revealed that a cash-free loan app aggregator gateway was used to receive around Rs 130 crore by one of the women involved in the loan fraud racket. The mastermind of the scam, Liyang Sheng (39), reportedly operated from China. Sheng was recently arrested.
In response to the violations, Google recently updated its personal loans policy to prohibit personal loan apps from accessing sensitive data, such as photos and contacts. The action comes within months of Mumbai cyber police arresting 14 people for their involvement in an online loan app fraud that used half a dozen shell companies registered across India to open bank accounts and extort money. The fraudsters converted approximately Rs 350 crore into cryptocurrency before transferring it abroad.
Google has now introduced new licensing requirements for personal loan apps to combat fraud in India. The move comes after Mumbai police registered 176 loan fraud cases, leading to 70 arrests and 12 chargesheets between 2021 and March 31, 2023. Google’s action is part of a broader initiative following the Mumbai police’s breakthrough in busting the loan fraud racket in various parts of Mumbai, Bengaluru, and other parts of India. The racket’s operations were distributed, and it even had links in Nepal. Two call centers in Nepal were busted in 2022, following a tip-off from the Mumbai police.
The racket was exposed after Gopi Manddi (32), a resident of the western suburbs, was extorted five times more than a loan of Rs 3.4 lakh he had availed from various loan apps between September 2021 and April 2022. DCP (Mumbai-Cyber) Dr Balsing Rajput said the number of such cases declined after the racket was busted, with at least 27 arrests made during the probe. Nepal police cooperated in the investigation and provided details of shady call centers, which had been outsourced work of threatening victims with objectionable videos.
Police investigations revealed that a cash-free loan app aggregator gateway was used to receive around Rs 130 crore by one of the women involved in the loan fraud racket. The mastermind of the scam, Liyang Sheng (39), reportedly operated from China. Sheng was recently arrested.
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