Kerala: District police chiefs told to crack down on money frauds

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State police chief Anil Kant has asked the district police chiefs to take firm action on the complaints regarding online mobile applications that are engaged in illegal money lending, which mainly target students and youngsters.
A press release from the office of the state police chief on Sunday said that the instructions have been issued as the complaints regarding such transactions are being received by the police in large numbers. The state police chief also asked the public to be guarded against the services offered by such mobile applications.
There are several such applications that offer small loans to the general public using their know your customer (KYC) documents. The students and youths are easily falling for such offers, who install these applications in their mobile phones. Once they install, the application asks permission to access the contact lists saved in the phone. Those who are in need of urgent money, use the services, by giving all the necessary permissions sought by the application, it said.
On a loan of Rs 3,000, for example, such service providers disburse a sum anywhere between Rs 2,200 to Rs 2,600, after deducting the rest as service fee. The repayment period would be around one week, and if not repaid, it would send messages to all the contacts in the customer’s phone that the loan has been availed by making them as sureties and legal action will be initiated against them, it said. A worried customer would then depend on another similar application to repay the loan in the first one, thus making things more complicated.
The police say that there are many instances of such customers even committing suicide, after the friends and relatives pressurize them, after they receive threat messages of suing them from the service provider.