Another online money-lending racket busted in Hyderabad; Chinese national, 3 others held - Hindustan Times
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Another online money-lending racket busted in Hyderabad; Chinese national, 3 others held

Hindustan Times, Hyderabad | By
Dec 25, 2020 06:38 PM IST

The accused had developed 11 instant loan applications and hosted them on Google Play Store.

The Cyberabad police in Hyderabad on Friday busted yet another online money-lending racket and arrested four people, including a Chinese national, besides freezing a bank account with Rs 2 crore deposits.

Image for representation.
Image for representation.

The arrested included, Yi Bai alias Dennis, a resident of Delhi and native of Jiangxi in Shanghai, South-West China, Satyapal Khyalia, a Delhi resident and native of Sikhar in Rajasthan, Anirudh Malhotra, a native of Rajasthan and Murathoti Richie Hemanth Seth, a native of Andhra Pradesh’s Kadapa district.

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“The prime accused - Zixia Zhang, a Chinese national and Umpathi alias Ajay - are still absconding,” Cyberabad police commissioner VC Sajjannar told reporters.

Sajjannar said Zixia Zhang, the kingpin of the entire racket, had established two companies – Digipeergo Tech Pvt Ltd and Sky Line Innovation Technology Pvt Ltd,’ in December 2019 with the help of a Singapore-based sister company Xikai Holding Pte Ltd.

They developed 11 instant loan applications - Loan Gram, Cash Train, Cash Bus, AAA Cash, Super Cash, Mint Cash, Happy Cash, Loan Card, Repay One, Money Box and Monkey box - and hosted them on Google Play Store.

These apps offer loans to individuals. Once the customers install the apps, the company gets access to all contacts and other data from the mobile phone. The borrowers are transferred loan amount after deducting between 25 per cent and 30 per cent.

They set up four call centres in various places of India and hired executives to collect repayments, which would be huge, including interest, processing charges, GST, default charges. Once the loan period is over, they charge 1 per cent penalty.

“These executives resort to systematic abusing, harassing, threatening of the defaulters through call centres run by them. They even blackmail the borrowers by sending fake legal notices to their relatives and family members,” Sajjannar said.

The Commissioner said that a detailed investigation was being done by the Cyberabad police to know the source of funds. “The companies were not linked or entered in an agreement with the NBFCs. We are trying to find out the sources of funds,” Sajjanar told reporters.

He said the police seized four laptops, four mobile phones and froze a bank account with deposits worth Rs 2 crore. He asked the people to approach the Cyberabad police if they face harassment from illegal micro-finance companies.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Srinivasa Rao is Senior Assistant Editor based out of Hyderabad covering developments in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana . He has over three decades of reporting experience.

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