A Chinese man and three others of a gang have been arrested in Cyberabad, Telangana for allegedly defrauding people in the name of providing instant loans through mobile apps of a company set up by another Chinese national.
The four persons were arrested following a raid by Cyber Crime Police of Cyberabad at "Cubevo Technology Private Limited", a call centre in Cyberabad in Hyderabad.
Cyber Crime Police Station had registered 8 cases of fraud against loan applications of the company, Skyline Innovations Technologies India Private Limited whose head office is situated in Delhi. Registered with Register of Companies as located in Gurugram, Chinese national Zixia Zhang and one Umapati Ajay are its directors.
Apps many, aim one - cheating
Zixia reportedly created 11 instant loan apps with the help of his Singapore based company. In December 2019, the Chinese national along with Umapati established "Digipeergo Tech Pvt Ltd" first and then established Sky Line Innovation Technology India Private Limited.
The instant apps offer loans and collect huge repayments in the form of interest, processing charges, GST, default charges and 1 per cent penalty once the loan period is over, the police said.
The eleven instant loan apps are -- Loan Gram, Cash Train, Cash Bus, AAA Cash, Super Cash, Mint Cash, Happy Cash, Loan Card, Repay One, Money Box, Monkey box.
Systematic harassment
According to police, the call centres run the company systematically abused, harassed, threatened borrowers. They would even call and harass family members, friends and relatives of the borrowers as these applications are designed in a way that they got access to users' contact list, photos and other private information. The mobile applications would even collect the ID proofs, PAN card, KYC documents, bank account details of the customers.
The gang even blackmailed the borrowers by sending fake legal notices to their relatives and family members.
How fraudsters land into police net
On December 17, a person lodged a complaint with the police stating that he searched for loan on Google and downloaded such an application and uploaded Aadhaar, PAN details, self-authentication photo, three months bank statement, and took a loan of Rs 2,015 for 7 days. The complainant said that he was given Rs 1,600 after deduction of Rs 415 as GST and processing fee in August. He got several phone calls from different mobile numbers, advising him to take instant loans from their mobile applications.
The complainant said that he took loans amounting to Rs 1.2 lakhs from 28 instant loan applications on the advice of the callers. The person decided to reach out to police when he started getting abusive and threatening calls from different numbers even though he had paid Rs 2,00,000 with interest.
Accused Zixia Umapati Ajay are on the run. While Yi Bai Dennis, a Chinese national who is the native of Jiangxi, Shanghai and resides in Delhi, Satya Pal Khyalia, Aniriddh Malhotra, and Murathoti Richie Hemanth Seth have been arrested.
