Posted onNovember 1, 2022
‘Serious impact on national security, citizen safety’: MHA warns states against Chinese lending apps | India News
NEW DELHI: With the growing threat of predators China’s Lending App lead to many suicides in India, Union Ministry of Home Affairs wrote to the states and Union Territories to take strict action against the perpetrators.
In a notice to all states and territories of the Union, the Department of the Interior said the matter had a serious impact on national security, the economy and the safety of citizens.
The letter raised concerns about the apps’ unfair recovery practices, which include extortion and intimidation by lenders.
The Home Office says vulnerable and low-income people are particularly at risk from these illegal applications, as they manage to get loans easily. However, these short-term loans or microcredit come with exorbitant interest rates and hidden fees.
Lenders use borrowers’ confidential personal data such as contacts, location, photos and videos for blackmail and harassment.
“The harsh recovery operations followed by these illegal loan applications have claimed the lives of many people across India. This issue has seriously affected national security, economy and the safety of citizens,” the information said.
The Home Office says these illegal lending apps which may not be regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RE) are using large amounts of SMS, digital advertising, chat messages and shops mobile applications at scale.
Borrowers must provide required access to contacts, location and phone memory in order to obtain a loan.
“This data is misused to harass and blackmail citizens using morphing images and other abuses by recovery agents in India as well as abroad in violation of the law. RBI“Code of Fair Practice”, states and UT were notified.
The Home Office said that after investigation, it has found that this is an organized cybercrime carried out using disposable emails, virtual numbers, la accounts, shell companies, general submissions. payment integration, API services (account authentication, document verification), cloud storage, cryptocurrency, etc.
Therefore, domain experts should be involved in the investigation process.
The Home Office said that law enforcement agencies can take advantage of the services of the National Cybercrime Forensic Laboratory (NCFL), one of the verticals of the India Cybercrime Coordination Center (NCFL). 14C), CIS Department for technical support on loan application analysis, malware analysis, and cryptocurrency transaction tracking.
“All states and UT are required to take strict legal action on this matter. Furthermore, all states and UTs are also required to disseminate public awareness in all counties about the risks of using such apps,” it said.
The growing threat
In the past, a large number of Chinese-controlled lending applications have been found to have engaged in predatory lending.
In August, the Delhi Police raided a Chinese lending app network and arrested 22 people for alleged extortion under the pretext of instant lending through their app.
This network consists of more than 100 malicious applications that are used to extract crooks in different states and steal people’s data.
Many such apps have emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic as people across India are in financial difficulty and need money.
The apps loaned them money for periods ranging from one week to 30 days. These loan applications will charge high interest rates and processing fees.
Furthermore, these apps were often found to harass users about refunding their membership fees, leading to dozens of reported suicides.
In a notice to all states and territories of the Union, the Department of the Interior said the matter had a serious impact on national security, the economy and the safety of citizens.
The letter raised concerns about the apps’ unfair recovery practices, which include extortion and intimidation by lenders.
The Home Office says vulnerable and low-income people are particularly at risk from these illegal applications, as they manage to get loans easily. However, these short-term loans or microcredit come with exorbitant interest rates and hidden fees.
Lenders use borrowers’ confidential personal data such as contacts, location, photos and videos for blackmail and harassment.
“The harsh recovery operations followed by these illegal loan applications have claimed the lives of many people across India. This issue has seriously affected national security, economy and the safety of citizens,” the information said.
The Home Office says these illegal lending apps which may not be regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RE) are using large amounts of SMS, digital advertising, chat messages and shops mobile applications at scale.
Borrowers must provide required access to contacts, location and phone memory in order to obtain a loan.
“This data is misused to harass and blackmail citizens using morphing images and other abuses by recovery agents in India as well as abroad in violation of the law. RBI“Code of Fair Practice”, states and UT were notified.
The Home Office said that after investigation, it has found that this is an organized cybercrime carried out using disposable emails, virtual numbers, la accounts, shell companies, general submissions. payment integration, API services (account authentication, document verification), cloud storage, cryptocurrency, etc.
Therefore, domain experts should be involved in the investigation process.
The Home Office said that law enforcement agencies can take advantage of the services of the National Cybercrime Forensic Laboratory (NCFL), one of the verticals of the India Cybercrime Coordination Center (NCFL). 14C), CIS Department for technical support on loan application analysis, malware analysis, and cryptocurrency transaction tracking.
“All states and UT are required to take strict legal action on this matter. Furthermore, all states and UTs are also required to disseminate public awareness in all counties about the risks of using such apps,” it said.
The growing threat
In the past, a large number of Chinese-controlled lending applications have been found to have engaged in predatory lending.
In August, the Delhi Police raided a Chinese lending app network and arrested 22 people for alleged extortion under the pretext of instant lending through their app.
This network consists of more than 100 malicious applications that are used to extract crooks in different states and steal people’s data.
Many such apps have emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic as people across India are in financial difficulty and need money.
The apps loaned them money for periods ranging from one week to 30 days. These loan applications will charge high interest rates and processing fees.
Furthermore, these apps were often found to harass users about refunding their membership fees, leading to dozens of reported suicides.