Beware of fraud and personal loan apps

You will find many loan apps on Google Play Store. Most of them pose a threat to users. While some of these apps harass the borrowers when they fail to repay, other apps breach their privacy by collecting all their details including contact list.

In this context, Google India stated that it removed many loan apps from the store due to non-compliance with local laws and safety policies.

Google on the blog posted that several personal loan apps violated user safety policies. They also breached the terms of Google on loan repayment tenure. Some of the removed apps from Google Play Store are 10MinuteLoan, Extra Mudra, Ex-Money, and StuCred.

In a recent probe, it was found that there were a few Chinese nationals behind the instant loan apps scam.

The Reserve Bank of India also advised people to be careful about instant loan apps and not fall prey to unauthorized digital lending platforms.

The loan apps attract the borrowers assuring quick and instant loans. When borrowers seek the loan, lenders demand excess rates of interest and additional charges from them.

The apps follow unacceptable recovery methods. Moreover, they misuse the agreement between them and the borrowers and access their data to be used unfairly.

Several borrowers committed suicides due to the harassment of these loan apps in recent days.

Meanwhile, in another incident, a Kolkata scientist lost ₹2.07 lakhs by downloading a fake app suggested by fraudsters. Fraudsters called her like a bank official asking her to update KYC details. They suggested downloading an app from the Play Store. After that, they asked to pay ₹10 to a bank account.

As soon as the scientist paid the amount using net banking and mobile phone banking, she lost ₹2.07 lakhs from her account. She complained to the police.

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