Another loan app fraud in state: Delhi firm’s dir held

Bhubaneswar: The economic offences wing of the state crime branch on Friday arrested the director of a sham Delhi-based company on charges of duping people in Odisha of crores of rupees using a dubious loan app.
Nitin Mallik, director of Good Start Business Services Pvt Ltd, was caught in West Delhi’s Hari Nagar police station area. Mallik has been illegally operating the loan app, called Kredit Gold, which is suspected to be run by a group of Chinese nationals.
This comes close on the heels of the Bureau of Immigration issuing a lookout circular against a Chinese national in connection with another such loan app fraud, the Koko Loan App case, following a request from the state EOW.
“We have found the links of an international gang, especially a group of Chinese nationals, with the Kredit Gold Loan App. Mallik will be interrogated to elicit more information about the Chinese gang,” J N Pankaj, deputy inspector general of EOW, said.
What raised the suspicion of police was the similarity in the modus operandi of the two dubious loan apps — Kredit Gold and Koko loan. Though not authorised by the Reserve Bank of India, Kredit Gold still offers small amounts of loan instantly without much verification.
Shakti Prasad Dash, a resident of Bhubaneswar, recently downloaded the app and applied for a loan of Rs 9,000. He was instantly granted the loan and money was credited to his account.
“Within four days of receiving the money, Dash started getting messages to repay Rs 15,627. He received abusive calls and threat messages from different mobile numbers, which were traced to the Good Start Business Pvt. Ltd of which Mallik is the director,” Pankaj said.
When Dash downloaded the loan app, the fraudsters got access to his contacts and started sending them obscene messages and photos by branding him as a ‘rapist’. Their intention was to pressurise and humiliate Dash before his acquaintances so that he agreed to pay the extortion money.
“Many incriminating materials such as the passport of a Chinese national, an agreement copy for virtual space, contract agreements between Chinese and some private telecom service providers, WhatsApp chats and emails and several abusive text messages meant for the loanees have been recovered from Mallik. We will soon arrest the other gang members,” Pankaj said.