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Hyderabad: Two other people, including a Chinese national, were arrested Wednesday as part of an investigation into instant app-based lenders alleged to harass borrowers for repayment, police said.
This means that 16 people have been arrested in 27 cases recorded by the Hyderabad police.
A preliminary investigation into financial transactions has shown that nearly $ 1.4 million in transactions valued at nearly 21,000 billion rupees have taken place, according to a statement from Hyderabad police.
On December 22nd, Hyderabad police announced they had arrested 11 people from five call centers in Gurgaon, Haryana and Hyderabad who were used to persuade, harass and intimidate defaulters.
The call centers were operated on behalf of four companies.
The police department for cybercrime is investigating up to 27 cases in connection with the granting of loans by allegedly unauthorized loan apps and the harassment of borrowers by the companies that operate the apps through their call centers.
On Wednesday, the 27-year-old Chinese national was intercepted at Delhi Airport while trying to leave the country, police said, adding that he is the overall manager of the loan apps operated by the four companies.
Another person from the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, who played a key role in running the call centers, was also arrested, police said.
Regarding the financial transactions, police said these transaction volumes were through payment gateways and bank accounts associated with these companies.
A large number of international transactions were also processed using bitcoins.
The majority of the transactions have taken place in the past six months and further investigations are ongoing, police said.
Police said the investigation also revealed that another Chinese citizen had established operations in India and is currently abroad.
Since December 25th, two Chinese nationals, including a woman, have been arrested on various counts.
According to the police, the lending companies offered loans to private individuals via instant loan apps and charged, among other things, high interest rates and processing fees, and resorted to systematically abusing, harassing and threatening the defaulting borrowers via the call center.
The crackdown on instant money loan apps began after three cases of suicide were reported in Telangana last month, including that of a software engineer resulting from harassment by such companies.
Cases have been recorded at various police stations in the state based on several complaints that these companies allegedly obtained sensitive information such as contacts, photos of customers’ cell phones and used them to defame or extort loan repayments.
Also read: Chinese citizen, 3 others arrested in Hyderabad on ‘instant loan’ apps
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