The Pimpri-Chinchwad Cyber Police, through its official X (formerly Twitter) handle, on Monday shared that they have busted a fake loan app scam and arrested the mastermind of the case from Mumbai.
The police mentioned that over 10,000 citizens across India were duped via eight fake loan apps: Credit Pilot, Creditkeeper, Inlonecredit, New-lone, Ligallone, Fastcash, Handycash and Insta-lone.
Explaining the modus operandi of the scam, the police stated that the victims were trapped with false loan offers, their phone data was accessed and then they were blackmailed using Pakistani numbers. Fake identities were used to conceal the fraud, they added.
The accused has been identified as Isaki Rajan Thevar (29), a Mumbai resident hailing from Tamil Nadu.
An FIR in the case was registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station of Pimpri-Chinchwad Police based on a complaint by a resident of Mahalunge.
According to the FIR, the complainant had received a message from an unidentified number offering a personal loan. As the complainant needed money, he took a loan of ₹5,000.
Later, he received several calls from unidentified numbers with the Pakistan country code +92, demanding repayment of the loan with interest.
The callers threatened and coerced him into transferring ₹9,000 as part of the repayment and continued to demand more money. Later, the caller asked for ₹15,000 more and threatened to release morphed nude images to people in his contact list.
The probe revealed that through the loan app, the accused had accessed the complainant's contacts and photos. When the complainant refused to pay the ₹15,000, morphed nude photos were sent to people in his contact list. He then approached the cybercrime cell.
Meanwhile, the police have advised citizens never to download loan apps from unknown sources. "Check for RBI approval. Never give apps access to your contacts and gallery," they added.
