Despite awareness and measures to curtail the menace, loan app scams are on the rise in Bengaluru

Lack of due diligence from digital service providers only leading to rise in loan app scams in Bengaluru

A 37-year-old businesswoman from Yelahanka recently approached the North East Cyber Crime Police to report about five mobile numbers, which were not only spamming her with calls, but had also accessed her trading app to withdraw ₹4,800.

The victim said that a person, who called to inform her about a loan app Rupee, started harassing her, her contacts, and her family members to repay a loan that she never took. She never downloaded the app, she said in her complaint.

The businesswoman is not alone. The loan app scam seems to be a new category of cyber crime. It has topped the list of cases being reported in the city recently.

At least one in 10 cyber crime cases being reported in the city are related to harassment by loan apps, said senior police officials. Despite awareness and measures to curtail the menace, it continues unabated.

The modus operandi is simple: there are hundreds of apps freely available on the Google Playstore offering quick loans. Any person who downloads the app is giving access to his/her mobile phone. People who have access to the phone can cause havoc, a senior police officer, said.

However, even those who have not downloaded any of these apps may also end up getting messages, as someone who have their number on their contact list may have downloaded such an app.

Investigation into these cases also faces major challenges. “Most of the executives of these apps use WhatsApp calls and laptops to communicate. Accessing the IP address to track them is near impossible, unless mobile phones or direct calls are used,” an officer involved in multiple probes of loan app scams said.