Instant loan app racket busted in Gurgaon, two arrested

Gurgaon: The cyber police of Gurgaon have busted an instant microloan lending racket conducted via a mobile phone app and arrested two persons from the firm’s call centre in Sector 58.
Police said the accused used the mobile app to offer instant loans of Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 for a week at exorbitant rates and also deducted processing fees ranging between Rs 600 and Rs 1,200 at disbursement. The recovery agents used to bully defaulters by threatening to make their personal photos and videos viral.
The ‘mycash’ app is similar to Chinese instant loan apps busted by the Hyderabad police earlier this year, which pushed several people in Telangana to end their lives.
Acting on a tip-off, a team from the Cyber police station raided the call centre of PSPR Enterprise Pvt Ltd operating out of the eighth floor of a building in Sector 58 on Thursday. Cops said the firm was offering instant loans via the app without the mandatory non-banking financial corporation licence from RBI.
The company was found to be charging exorbitant processing fees and interest on small loans offered for a week through the mobile app, cops said. The two arrested accused have been identified as Sanjay Kumar, a resident of Faridabad and Bharat from Charkhi Dadri.
“Investigations revealed that the accused used to collect the personal data of several people who had downloaded the app from Google Play Store by feeding their personal details and uploading copies of their PAN and Aadhaar cards for taking loans,” said ACP Karan Goel.
The accused also used to hack into the mobile phones of clients to obtain the personal details of their relatives, such as their names, addresses and mobile phone numbers. “They used the data to put pressure on people if they delayed in making repayment,” the ACP said. An FIR was lodged against the two accused under sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC and under the IT Act. The duo was produced in a court on Friday that remanded them in three-day police custody for further interrogation.