HYDERABAD: Four persons, including two Tibetan refugees, were arrested by the cyber crime sleuths of Hyderabad police on Saturday for their alleged involvement in the loan apps harassment case.
Joint commissioner of police Avinash Mohanty said Niranjan Umapathi and Usha, who are residents of Bengaluru, and two Tibetan refugees -- Yeshi Gyatso and Nyichak Dhondup -- were arrested in Bengaluru.
The accused were allegedly associated with 19 apps through which loans were disbursed. Many of the persons who had failed to return the loans within seven days were defamed by representatives of the apps by making phone calls and by sending messages to all the persons who were on the contact list of the loanees.
Police said the accused had set up a call centre with 200 employees to make calls to defaulters and harass them to return the money.
During the investigation, police came to know that the four accused have been working as directors of two different companies in Bengaluru.
They were hired by two Chinese nationals -- chief executive officer Cheen Wu and vice-president Andy Lu Wenjie. The duo is believed to be residing in China. After setting up the call centres in India, the Chinese nationals have gone back to their country, police said.
The four arrested persons were directly reporting to the two Chinese nationals, the police said. The directors told cops that they came to know about the job opportunity through an advertisement. After they applied, they were offered a job with a salary of Rs 1 lakh a month.