Telangana: 6 held in connection with instant personal loan Apps fraud case

As many as six people were arrested by the sleuths of the Cyber Crime Police Station in Cyberabad after they busted an instant personal loan Apps fraud. The apps were identified as Cash Mama, Loan Zone and Dhana Dhan.

Hyderabad: The sleuths of the Cyber Crime Police Station in Cyberabad on Tuesday arrested as many as 6 people after busting an instant personal loan Apps fraud.

The apps were identified as Cash Mama, Loan Zone and Dhana Dhan. While the first two have an association with as many as nine Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), one did not have any approval.

Based on a complaint, police arrested Konataham Sharath Chandra of Kokapet and CEO & Director of Onion Credit Private Limited & Cred Fox Technologies Private Limited, Ms Pushpalatha, Director of Onion Credit Private Limited & Cred Fox Technologies Private Limited, B Vasava Chaitanya, Director of Cred Fox Technologies Private Limited, B Venkatesh, of Chilkalguda, Secundrabad, collection agent, Sachin Deshmukh of Shilparamam, collection agent and Syed Ashiq of Gachibowli and team leader, a police release here said on Tuesday.

A complaint was received in this regard on December 7 where the complainant stated that because of his financial needs he searched in Google play store and downloaded an App namely "Cash Mama" on January 8, 2020.

He then uploaded his Aadhar card, PAN card, self-authentication photo, 3 months bank statement, etc, and based on which they provided Rs 5,000 loan for 7 days period deducting an amount of Rs 1,180 for GST and processing fees and credited Rs 3,820 into his SBI Bank account, he said.

The complainant further said that he took a loan 6 times through the same app "Cash Mama".

After that, he received calls from different mobile numbers suggesting him to take loans from various other loan apps, like Hey Fish, Monkey Cash, Cash Elephant, Loan Zone, Cash Zone, Water Elephant, Mera Loan.

Believing in them, he took loans to the tune of Rs 30,000, but instead, he received only Rs 20,000 between January 8 to September 21.

Following that, he had paid a total loan amount of Rs 29,000 till September 12.

But the loan did not get cleared till date and they asked him to pay a total amount of Rs 8,634 to their different apps and harassed and blackmailed him and threatened him with dire consequences, the complaint stated.

According to the police, the apps have even sent fake legal notices in the name of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to threaten their clients. The police said that as many as 50 petitions by victims are under scrutiny while five cases have been registered based on five complaints.