News Analysis India

Tag: Loan scam

  • Indian Consumers Still Vulnerable To Being Tricked By Illegal Loan Apps: Report |

    Mumbai: One-third of high-confidence customers in India have limited knowledge about their digital loans, and lack understanding on how to detect illegal lending apps, finds a report on Tuesday.

    The report by the Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE) shares insights from a customer survey conducted between December, 2023 and January, 2024 to systematically understand gaps in users’ approaches and knowledge about Digital Lending Applications (DLAs) in India and drive action to address them.

    Almost all customers know the lender’s name, but less than a third know about the key fact statement and grievance redressal mechanism.

    Over 57 per cent of respondents reported checking the loan app’s affiliation with NBFC or Bank as the most crucial verification factor, while 55 per cent said they consider reviews and ratings.

    Over three-fourths of users noted that they ignore downloads and data-sharing metrics when deciding about lending apps.

    “Unscrupulous players hit the very core of the market, that is, customer trust for digital loans, harming customers and damaging the reputation of responsible digital lenders. We note that users are aware of downloading apps from the Play Store and checking the app’s partnership with NBFCs/Banks, ratings, and reviews,” said Sugandh Saxena, CEO at FACE.

    “However, the study informs us about significant gaps in the customer tool kit and behavioural biases, making them vulnerable to being tricked by illegal loan apps. As we work towards a safe loan app ecosystem for customers, the insights from the report will inform our effective actions to focus on aspects that customers overlook and break behavioural disposition,” she added.

    Further, the report showed that digital marketing through social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube triggers purchases, followed by word of mouth and product ratings. However, female users showed slightly better awareness of the loan product, the report said.

    The Reserve Bank RBI cautions against fraud in the name of KYC updation. It advises against sharing KYC documents or copies of KYC documents with unknown or unidentified individuals or organisations. Earlier, Google suspended or removed over 2,500 fraudulent loan apps from its Play Store between April 2021 and July 2022.

     

  • Loan App: Mumbai Woman Beautician’s Morphed Nude Photo Sent On Phone After Taking Rs 10K Loan |

    New Delhi: Even as online loan app syndicates and operating digital loan sharks continue to raise concerns about the exploitation of vulnerable and financially-stressed individuals, a new case has come to these loan sharks have reportedly sent morphed nude pictures of a beautician in Mumbai.

    As per a report in the Free Press Journal, a beautician from Mumbai had borrowed Rs 10,000 from an app called Everloan that she had bumped upon while browsing social media. As is the procedure, being followed by these online loan sharks, an individual as to agree to give access to his/her photo identity, documents and other digital/mobile access, the woman accepted the money on a ‘minimal interest’ and a ‘seven-day repayment window’ on April 1, FPJ reported.

    On April 7, the woman started getting calls for loan repayment. The loan agents pressurised her into paying the money within seconds, threatening to send her pictures to her contacts. And to her dismay, after she hurriedly made the payements, she recieved nude morphed pictures of her on her mobile phone.

    The woman approached LT Marg police while unknown perpetrators have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.

    Last year, in November, an e-survey was released by YouGov, in which it found that 72 percent of all Indians have fallen prey to various kinds of online scams/frauds in the recent past, as reported by IANS. The survey found that online shopping scams top the list (27 per cent), followed by fake job offers (26 per cent), bank/card phishing (21 per cent), investment scams (18 per cent), lucrative lottery hoaxes (18 per cent), social media swindles and loan offers (17 per cent each), fake charities and government phishing (12 per cent each), and dating App frauds (11 per cent).

    Though a huge number of gullible Indians have been duped in one or more scams, only 30 per cent bothered to report them to the authorities concerned and 48 per cent claimed to have got their money back, in the quick survey covering 1,022 people in the 18-plus age group.