Apps providing Instant Loan, a new way to steal data and extort money?
Google Play Store is full of many apps that claim to provide instead a loan of up to a few thousand Indian Rupees, without much hassle. I’m quite aware of the existence of such apps but I have never felt like I need to use an app to get a loan which may worth just a few thousand Rupees because if I’m under some sort of emergency, the best option is to seek help from friends I suppose. I’m quite skeptical about Credit Cards as well because the shopping part is surely fun, but then remembering dues dates and all is a hassle. I never owned one, and if I require to pay for some services which don’t accept International Debit Cards, I will rather use a VCC (Virtual Credit Card) or Paypal. In short- I don’t have any kind of affinity towards such financial services. But, though I have never used anything like apps or services that offer instant loans, I recently came across a very strange incident.
Over the last couple of days, suddenly I have been contacted by two people and it turned out that one of them has been affected quite badly due to a growing number of scam calls trying to cash out some amount from him. The victim is Vishal Saha and the incident is connected to someone I know very well- Pranav Shree, a friend of mine who I have known for the last 11 years or so, back from the days while we used to study in the same school. Vishal is getting a lot of IVRS calls or regular phone calls from international disposable phone number regarding loan recovery. All these calls contain abusive language, violently threatening him to repay the loans. The first point is that he never used any instant loan app but he is receiving calls from multiple such loan providers. Even if I assume that Vishal is lying to me and he really took a loan, another incident quite shocked me.
There is a plot twist- my school friend Pranav received messages regarding loan repayment of Vishal Saha. This is the SMS which mentions Insta Rupee. I have never heard of that app and the funny part is that though Vishal is from the North-Eastern state of Tripura and Pranav is from Haryana, where he is currently living, the text seems to be in Gujrati. I can understand bits of Gujrati when spoken, but there was no way I could read Gujrati. So, I ran a quick OCR scan to find out what the text means, but the translation is quite amorphous. Here’s the text Pranav received. It clearly mentions Vishal Saha.
Now, Pranav was furious. He didn’t know why he’s being contacted regarding a financial contract between Vishal and some financial service providers. He sent me this and asked me to verify it. He wasn’t just sure what was happening. But, there’s a connection between the three of us. Though all of us have somewhat common in terms of profession or hobby, neither I or Pranav Shree have ever met Vishal in real life nor all three of us are regularly in touch with each other. Pranav is a school friend of mine who I have known for a very long time. Both of us know Vishal Saha via Facebook due to professional reasons and I have personally worked with Vishal and I believe that at least a few people can confirm that.
I called Vishal and started asking him questions regarding what kind of apps he uses, whether he has ever used any such apps. He said that he never used such apps and it was very unlikely that someone has used his credentials to apply for a loan because to do that one needs a few documents of him and access to his phone for a few minutes at least. He also said that he’s quite cautious about permissions provided to apps and he is always careful about malicious apps and he ensures that data on his phone is safe. The same goes for me as well. So, both me and Vishal have investigated our phones for a possible RAT attack, but there is little evidence that such things have happened.
Now, I have no idea why it is just Pranav who received a text regarding some alleged loan repayment of Vishal. This is a bit weird because if Vishal had really taken a loan and now he’s a defaulter then I guess from the contacts of his phone those so-called recovery agents could easily find out the phone numbers of both me and Pranav. If Pranav had taken a loan, then could find the phone numbers of me and Vishal, if I were the one who they are looking for, they could find the contacts of Pranav and Vishal because all three of us have got each other’s phone numbers in our contacts. This might quite possibly be a case of data theft and social engineering.
We are not ruling out any chances of data theft. For me at least, misuse of OTP can be ruled out, but data theft is something very unlikely that can happen because of the reason that no one among us is dumb enough or is least concerned about privacy. It is quite strange that it is Vishal who is being accused of taking a loan and for that same reason, Pranav Shree is being contacted via text messages while Vishal is getting a lot of phone calls threatening him. It is quite weird, considering that under the current condition of the nation, I believe, no legit loan providers or financial institutions will dare to call anyone and use abusive language for imaginary loan recovery.
After having a lot of discussions with Vishal and properly looking into different possibilities, I have arrived at the conclusion that this might just be someone who is either playing pranks or is trying to fraudulently extort money out of Vishal Saha or Pranav Shree. Vishal has admitted quite frankly that he never took such loans. I have advised Vishal to file a formal complaint as he’s the victim and I advise everyone to be vigilant because, under the veil of an already tense situation, such scammers are possibly trying to make money by scaring innocent people. So, if anyone receives any such calls claiming that it’s your friend or relative who took a loan and didn’t pay it, don’t fall for the trap! Report any such cases to MHA via the Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
I wish to clarify that neither I nor any of the persons mentioned in this blog post are associated with any such kind of activities like refusing to pay back loan installments or EMIs, none of us uses any such apps that offer instant loans. If anyone receives such text messages or calls regarding some imaginary loan recovery, don’t pay attention to such scammers and report the same to relevant authorities. In case if you receive calls from numbers belonging to any other countries apart from India, report the same to TRAI using its dedicated apps. However, it is still safe to receive calls and texts from foreign phone numbers while you have requested OTPs for apps like Telegram, WhatsApp, Binance, etc. If you have not requested OTPs, have dealings with any apps or services that operate somewhat from abroad, there is no need to pay attention to such calls. Be alert and report possible cases of fraud & scam.
