KOCHI: The police have registered a case against the persons running an online money lending app for allegedly threatening a Rajasthan native working in Kochi even after repaying the loan amount. The case has been registered against the app named Cash Advance at the Cyber police station in Kochi on May 30 following a complaint by Narsi Ram Meghwal, 21, a native of Nagaur, who has been working in a company here.
“The complainant took a small amount as a loan after downloading the app from Google Playstore on January 24. He repaid the amount through UPI on January 31. However, two weeks after, he started receiving calls and messages saying that he had not paid the loan dues. Though he tried to convince the app operators that he had repaid the full amount, they continued to be in a denial mode,” a police officer said.
When he refused to pay the amount again, he started getting abusive messages and calls on WhatsApp. The app operators claimed that they had accessed Narsi’s phone and threatened to send obscene messages to his friends.
The case has been registered under IPC Section 506 for criminal intimidation, Kerala Police Act 120(o) for causing a nuisance through anonymous calls, letters, messages, emails and messages and IT Act Section 67 for publishing or transmitting obscene material in an electronic form.
“It is a bogus company with no proper contact details. We are attempting to trace the persons running the app. The preliminary probe has revealed that similar cases have been registered against the company in other states as well. We will coordinate with the police in these states to identify the persons running the app,” an official said.
In March this year, the intelligence fusion and strategic operations (IFSO) unit of Delhi Police arrested eight persons associated with the Cash Advance app. The Delhi Police found that once the app is downloaded, the operators hack the users’ data from the mobile phones. The app was used to install malware on mobile phones using which all contents are accessed. It was found that money extorted from borrowers was routed to China, Hong Kong and Dubai via cryptocurrencies. Several persons who were thus cheated have made negative comments about the app on Google Playstore. Details from Google Playstore show that the app has had over one million downloads.