Hyderabad cops to contact Nepal police to expand loan app probe

Hyderabad: With the Nepal police finally cracking down on instant loan app companies operating from their soil, the Hyderabad City Police are now hopeful of reaching the masterminds of the illegal business.

The City Police, during recent investigations into the loan app cases, found that the managements had taken shelter in Nepal following a countrywide crackdown on illegal loan apps. The business was allegedly being run by Chinese firms and nationals and is now being operated from Nepal and Thailand.

“We have come to know about the raids on illegal loan app call centres in Nepal and recovery of voluminous data of Indian citizens. We will get in touch with the Nepal police through proper channel although previous attempts were not so fruitful,” a senior police official said.

During the raids, the Nepal police found data of several Indian citizens who were suspected to have been victimized by loan recovery executives through digital shaming. The managements were hiring Nepal nationals, China nationals and a few Indians for making calls and luring customers. Later, another set of people would make calls to loan defaulters and engage in abusing or social shaming to recover loans.

“Almost ninety percent of the instant loan app business is done from Nepal and Thailand. Full-fledged call centres were set up there after the police in India launched a crackdown and booked cases,” another City police official said.

The instant loan app firms create apps and send links through SMS or WhatsApp randomly to people. After people download the app, they are directed to download the app and money is credited into the account after a small documentation process. The interest is high and when the borrower fails to repay the loan, the executives begin abusing and social shaming. Several persons died by suicide due to such harassment.

The Telangana State Police have so far registered around 100 cases across the State against the loan apps.