Amid Republic Media Network’s biggest financial expose of 2022, Mumbai DCP (Cyber) Hemrajsingh Rajput said that the city police has received around 30 odd complaints of victims who fell into dubious loan apps trap. He said that more than Rs 14 crore has been seized and 18 accused have been arrested in cases regarding shady loan applications.

In an exclusive conversation with Republic, Rajpur said, “This year itself we got around 30 odd complaints of victims from Mumbai and in these complaints, they were harassed by online loan Applications. The fraudsters were harassing them with morphing and threatening calls and were extorting money.”

The DCP said that in one case related to this matter a person committed suicide. The investigation has been taken up by Mumbai Police along with the cyber crime branch. “We have cracked down on a gang of fraudsters who were working on these loan apps.”

When asked about the modus operandi of fraud loan applications, Rajput said, “Basically, these loan apps are not hosted on Playstore. These apps are floated with links on social media, SMS or WhatsApp. These apps show a simple procedure so the victims fall prey to them. They download the app through links which give the fraudsters access to the victim’s contacts, camera, and microphone access. In just around 10 days of loan disbursement, the fraudsters demand repayment of a huge amount. If the amount is not repaid, the accused threatens the victim by morphing their image. They…