Watch out for deceptive loan apps on Play Store and App Store—stay safe!

Beware of the instant loan scam orchestrated mainly by Chinese racketeers, causing havoc recently. Countless deceitful loan apps have infiltrated both the Play Store and App Store—the popular digital software marketplace.

Previously, the Apple App Store fell victim to massive digital loan frauds committed by racketeers using names of prominent non-banking financial institutions (NBFCs), including those in Kerala.

Now, Google’s Play Store has also fallen victim to numerous fake and fraudulent applications.

An inspection conducted with Fin Tech expert Babulal Punia revealed that the top 20 Finance category apps on the Play Store, with the highest user count, are all fake. Additionally, four of the top 50 applications are also fraudulent, each having over 1 lakh users.

One such app, Cash Prosper, impersonating Bajaj Finance, garnered over 50,000 downloads in just 20 days.

The email id for the fraudulent Bajaj Finance app is trgnzjplkzmnm@gmail.com.

Most of these deceitful apps were launched in June and July.

Taking loans through these apps leads to significant trouble. If the loans, along with their exorbitant interest rates, aren’t repaid promptly, the agents resort to blackmail.

Recently, Manorama reported that over 50 fraudulent loan apps infiltrated the top list on the App Store within the last three weeks. For instance, a fake app named “Sun Cash” operates through the Apple developer account under the guise of Kannatt Fingold Finance Private Limited of Chengannur.

Other findings include fake apps like Creditwallet, Easy Loan, AI Credit, Personal Loan, Future Rupee-Credit Loan, and Enjoy Rupee among the top 50 applications.

The app named “Vivify India Finance” has been falsely linked to the Creditwallet easy loan app, and Vivify confirmed this as untrue.

AI Credit operates under the name of Kailash Auto Finance Limited, a company whose license was canceled by the RBI two weeks ago.

To protect oneself, recognized digital loan apps must disclose the names of the associated finance companies as per the rules. To confirm if an app has misused the names of financial firms, check the official website of the finance enterprise. Reach out directly to the finance company for inquiries and verify the app’s authenticity on Google.