How to Avoid Chinese Loan App Scams

Scammers using the internet are not new to India. Swindlers with tech skills can con you into buying or selling something on OLX, or connecting to a customer service representative at a shopping site. Even though an award-winning journalist fell for the Harvard Phishing Racket. This scam is more dangerous and could be affecting hundreds of thousands of Indians. This app-based scam originates from China and not only embezzles your money, but also exposes you to nerve-wracking harassment. These extortions led to at least six suicides in India. We will tell you how to avoid these virtual traps. Let’s first find out How to Avoid Chinese Loan App Scams

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These scams: How do they work?

These shady businesses make good use of digital marketing to target people who are not expecting them and need quick cash. These apps are more likely to be found if you search for terms like “quick cash” or “loan” in Google Play Store. Your search history may indicate that you might see these ads on Google’s advertising network, including YouTube. Surprisingly most of these apps have positive reviews in Google’s repository. To hide genuine feedback, these fraudsters use content farm to dump thousands upon thousands of fake reviews each week.

These apps will ask for permission to access the gallery and the phone book during installation. Although this is an obvious red flag, it’s not uncommon to ignore such details. These apps are also very polished. Most victims don’t realize there’s something wrong until it is too late. These apps, like most financial services, require that you fill out personal and bank account information. You will also need to upload important documents like your PAN and Aadhar cards.

KYC

Once you have the KYC After the KYV (Know Your Victims) process is completed, these apps offer pre-approved loans in the amount of Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000. Google Pay instantly deposits the money in your account. The app user will be in absolute pain over the next few days. These companies charge ridiculously high processing fees and weekly interests. In order to put it in perspective, these companies may ask you to pay twice what you received within a few weeks. Late fees may be assessed up to Rs 750 per calendar day. The companies use Indian “employees”, to threaten users to repay the loan. The messages start with warnings about how the loan will negatively affect your Credit Information Bureau Limited (CIBIL) score. Within a few days, you start receiving messages from people pretending they are high-ranking police officers or P Chidambaram. They ask victims to install another app to repay the loans. Some victims end up downloading dozens of apps to escape this situation.

Hack Your Phone

Do you remember the gallery and phone book access that these apps request? These app permissions allow the perpetrators to access your entire contact list and your gallery photos. These con men will Photoshop you as a man and send that message to all his contacts. If the borrower was a girl, his photo is transformed into pornographic images that are shared with all her contacts. These criminals circulate the victim’s number to act as an escort. In addition, random numbers are constantly calling the victim and threatening them with worse consequences if they don’t pay. These crooks use the extracted data to find the contact information of the victim’s family members and harass them.

Even if you have paid the outrageous amount, harassment does not stop. They simply increase the pressure, realising how effective their scare tactics are. Most victims become overwhelmed by intimidation and give up their current phone number to switch to a different one. People don’t report these cases to the police because they are afraid or embarrassed. This is a scam that is growing rapidly.

Police Report

According to the most recent report, ED has detected transactions totalling 1,400 crore rupees. The police department has made many arrests , including two Chinese citizens. The law enforcement officers need more information from victims in order to identify more criminals. If you or someone you know has been through this, please inform your local police station.

Here are some ways to avoid these scam

This scam is certainly scary but you don’t need to panic. Just be sure to take a few precautions with your Android smartphone.

• Never accept a loan from any unknown bank. Stick with reputable banks like ICICI and HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank of India, Axis Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of India, and Kotak Mahindra. While the last one may keep you waiting until lunchtime, it will not scam you.
• You can check if the fintech company is registered with RBI if you believe you have found a legitimate start-up. You can find out more about such NBFC entities by going to this page .
• Find the address of the company that you want to do business with. Many scam companies don’t have an office address.
• Never share finance apps over WhatsApp or Telegram groups.

Google and Indian authorities are working together to remove these fraudulent apps from the Play Store. This is a game of cat and mouse, as these scam apps are resurfaced with a new name after Google removes them. A report shows that there are more than 600 suspicious apps on the Play Store. So that you are aware, we’re sharing the names: FF Loan. Infinity Cash. Bubble Loan. Liquid Cash. Cash Bee. Rupee Factory. Paisa Loan. SnapIt Loan. In Need. Cash Port. Udhar Loan. Flash Cash. One Hope. We have not yet found any suspicious loan apps in Apple’s repository.