Loan app racket: ₹100 crore sent abroad through hawala in two years, say Chandigarh Police

The cyber crime investigation cell of Chandigarh Police on Sunday had arrested 34-year-old Chinese national Wan Chengua, 34, who had been operating the loan app racket with over 60 accomplices

The ongoing investigation into the instant loan app-cum-extortion racket being run by a Chinese national, who was arrested along with 20 others recently, point out that ₹100 crore have been sent abroad through hawala channels in the past two years.

The Covid-19 pandemic helped the gang’s loan app racket thrive, as people in need of small short-term loans would install their apps unmindful of the scam, said investigators. (HT Photo)

Following a 10-day operation, spanning five states, the cyber crime investigation cell (CCIC) of Chandigarh Police on Sunday had arrested 34-year-old Chinese national Wan Chengua, 34, who had been operating the racket with over 60 accomplices. He is in four-day police custody.

A Class-12 pass-out, he arrived in India on a work visa in 2019 that got expired in 2020 and has been living in India illegally ever since.

With his main man, Parwej Alam, alias Jitu Bhadana, alias Sonu Bhadana, 32, of Ranchi, Chengua had been running the extortion racket through multiple online loan apps, including Hugo Loan, Cashfree, Fly Cash, Cash Coin and AA Loan, developed in China and operated on China-based servers.

Through app installation, the accused would gain access to the mobile phone’s gallery and blackmail the victim for money after morphing their pictures, even if no loan was taken. The Covid-19 pandemic helped the gang’s racket thrive, as people in need of small short-term loans would install their apps unmindful of the scam, said investigators.

They said the probe so far had established that Chengua and his another accomplice, Anshul Kumar, 25, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, was managing the money extorted from victims that they deposited in accounts of shell companies, mostly located in Delhi NCR and Jodhpur. This money was then routed to China through hawala channels.

“In the last two years, ₹100 crore have been sent abroad using hawala through Anshul, who has a BSc degree and acted as the delivery man. We are tracing the money trail. This money was primarily the amount deposited by the victims of blackmail,” said Ketan Bansal, superintendent of police, cyber crime investigation cell, Chandigarh.

“So far, we just have names of the shell companies that were operating the accounts. We are getting more details. Our teams are in Delhi for further investigation,” said Bansal, adding that, “We are also writing to the Enforcement Directorate to look into money laundering by Anshul.”

Apart from Chengua, Parwej and Anshul, among the 21 people arrested till now are 13 agents/callers and five managers/team leaders, who were specially hired and trained to call the victims and force, blackmail and threaten them to deposit money again and again.