The relationship between India and China has been on the back burner for a while. The primary reason is China’s aggressive stance on border issues, whereas it has also provoked India on various other issues such as constant support to Pakistan, its terror infrastructure, and building CPEC through India’s territory that has been illegally occupied by Pakistan.
India has recently called off the bluff of China by giving it a bloody nose in Doklam and Galwan. India performed really well on the Economics front by initiating Make In India and banning hundreds of Chinese applications in recent times. Indian authorities are also going after the Chinese mobile phone manufacturer companies to penalize them for tax evasion.
However, there is one more area, where China has orchestrated a massive trap for India. China has weaved an evil trap of Lending Applications to carry out scams and put unnecessary pressure on the Indian Economy.
India has recently called off the bluff of China by giving it a bloody nose in Doklam and Galwan. India performed really well on the Economics front by initiating Make In India and banning hundreds of Chinese applications in recent times. Indian authorities are also going after the Chinese mobile phone manufacturer companies to penalize them for tax evasion.
Nepal police officers confirmed the presence of Liu Yi in their country, and they are worried about the recent trend of anti-Indian illegal activities running from their soil. Yi faces numerous lookout circulars issued by the Mumbai and Bhubaneswar police and his role is being probed in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate.
The Nepal police have recently raided two illegal call centers in Kathmandu and one in Butwal city of Rupandehi district. They have arrested 190 people, including five Chinese nationals and two Indians, for extracting money from Indian borrowers of instant loan apps.
While Nepal police are still trying to fetch the data from the mobile devices and laptops captured from the call centers, they have realized that Yi is indeed a big fish.
As per the EOW (Economic Offences Wing) of the Bhubaneswar police, Yi started his illegal business in India from Bangalore in 2019. He has established a parent company in Hangzhou (China) with the name Jianbing Technology. He is also acting as the director of Omelette Technology Private Limited, and also owns/controls various other shell companies.
The ‘Evil’ Modus Operandi of Chinese Lending Apps
Li has been an active member of a syndicate that launched many loan applications with exceptional offers to lure marginalized Indians. These applications offer pre-approved instant loans to the customers.
They have chosen the COVID time when pandemic-induced joblessness and pay cuts have led to an urgent need for cash, the dire situation of these people is exacerbated in 2020, making them ripe for exploitation.
These applications put the promotional campaigns on social media, where they approach the potential customers and push them to download an application to get a guaranteed loan, that too with almost no approval-related hassles.
How this Scam unfolds?
Suppose Miss A installs a loan app and applies for a loan, say for INR 20,000. The amount will be credited to her account in a few minutes, she may feel happy, but her ordeal is about to start. In a few days, she will observe that money was deposited in her account from 5-6 different applications, that she never downloaded onto her phone.
Miss A has no idea from where this amount is being deposited in her account, and before she is able to make sense of what is going on, she will be getting threatening calls from abusive rude collection agents from all of these apps for the repayment of the amount, which is now 5-6 times of the amount she has borrowed at the first place.
When this already severely cash-strapped lady is unable to repay her loans, the collection agents morph her face onto a naked body to create pornographic images of her. These images are forwarded to her contacts and WhatsApp groups. The fintech application already has the access to the Contacts and Gallery as a part of the agreement customer accepted while installing the application. The personal data of the customer is essentially used as collateral.
This kind of shame and public humiliation has resulted in multiple suicides in the state of Telangana only, this figure is too high if we consider the entire nation. The collection agents charge hefty interest and other changes from the people who are ready to repay their loans.
Chinese Apps are Security and Social threat to Indian
You will be shocked to know that sensitive data (Personal, Demographic, Financial) of Indians have already been transferred to the Chinese servers. The demographic and other important information such as facial images and fingerprints are also available on Chinese servers and this has created an unprecedented national security issue.
These applications could lead to an untimely collapse of the Indian Fintech sector because borrowers were pushed to take multiple loans which became simply unpayable. Many people have already committed suicide, many have associated themselves with this industry forever, which is marking an unceremonious collapse of this industry.
Indian Government must take the inputs of the Nepal Police seriously, initiate a massive crackdown against these Chinese lending applications, restrict them, and put the culprits behind the bars. We are living in a Digital Era and everyone is totally exposed to Information Warfare. Hence, we must prepare ourselves before Government could take any action. We must make people aware and ensure nobody uses these Chinese Lending applications at any cost.
