Three more, including Chinese woman, held in loan apps fraud in Telangana

HYDERABAD: The Rachakonda police, on Sunday, busted a Pune-based company for running the illegal business of providing unsecured loans to citizens through instant loan-lending mobile apps. Three persons, including a Chinese national, were arrested by the police.

The arrested persons have been identified as Parshuram Lahu Takve, 31, his wife Liang TianTian, a 35-year-old Chinese national, and Sk Aaqib, a 20-year-old student. All three of them were residents of Pune.

Rachakonda police got hold of the accused persons, while investigating a complaint by an Uppal-resident named Bhumana Prasad. He had taken two small loans via an app called My Bank, both of which he had paid off in full.  Later, when he went through his bank statement, he found that Rs 26,000 was credited to his bank account from 14 different mobile loan apps, without him requesting for the loans. He ended up paying Rs 44,000 to the loan apps as repayment of the principal loan and interest.  

Even after that, he continued to receive loan sums from the said apps though he didn’t ask for any. The app company demanded that he repay the loan with 50 per cent interest. He later began receiving calls from agents working for the company, who harassed him into repaying exorbitant amounts of money. 

While probing the complaint, the police traced the source of the said loan app to Pune. Reportedly, the accused Parshuram Lahu Takve had floated a company called Jiya Liang InfoTech Pvt Ltd in Pune, with the help of another person from Maharashtra, named Amit Nandu Kalbhor. The company deals with providing instant unsecured loans through various mobile apps. 

When questioned by the Rachakonda police, the company failed to produce valid licences from the RBI to run the non-banking finance company. Presently, around 650 employees are working with the company, and they are instructed to use their personal mobile numbers to call up borrowers and harass them.

The company’s clients developed around 16 loan apps that offer instant loans to those in need, and collect huge repayments (including interest, processing charges, GST, default charges, 1 per cent penalty, among others). These apps are developed in such a way that on installing them, the company gets access to contacts and other data in the recipient’s mobile phone. These apps also collect ID proofs, PAN details, KYC documents and bank account details from the customer. 

The apps developed by the accused company include Krazy Bean, Krazy Rupee, Cashplus, Rupee Pro, Gold bowl, First Cash, Real Rupee/Rupee Bear, Rupee Most, First Cash, Credit Rupee, Cool Cash, Money Now, Pocket Rupee, Rupee Day, Cash Goo and Cash Star.Meanwhile, the Warangal Cybercrime and Jangaon police, in a joint operation, arrested three of a five-member international gang involved in the loan apps fraud on Sunday. 

Catchy names for many apps
Apps developed by the accused company include Krazy Bean, Krazy Rupee, Cashplus, Rupee Pro, Gold bowl, First Cash, Real Rupee/Rupee Bear, Rupee Most, First Cash, etc.