Thread: Scams, terror, and national security: Problems with Chinese microloan apps in India

While China's government continues to market itself as savior of the world, a part of the population appears to have different ideas. India's push to ban an increasing number of Chinese apps is making more and more sense.

Scams, terror, and national security: Problems with Chinese microloan apps in India | ZDNet

Technology has become a great enabler but it can also be a killer. In this case, it has literally proven so for India's lower-income residents, thanks to unscrupulous Chinese operators who have used spurious loan apps and hired Indian underlings to bilk the most vulnerable.

In just 10 months since the pandemic began, at least $3 billion worth of scam microloan transactions have taken place with a bulk of that siphoned off.

This is how the scam essentially works for the majority of borrowers. For example, a lady takes a loan -- mostly a small one, say Rs 3,500 ($1) from a digital lending app, such as My Bank. But within a few days, she notices something odd; Rs 26,000 is deposited into her account from 14 or so different lending apps that had never been downloaded onto her phone.

Before she is able to make sense of what is going on, the borrower has been suddenly assailed by collection agents from all of these apps for the repayment of Rs 44,000 -- 10 times the amount they borrowed.

When this already severely cash-strapped person is unable to repay her loans, they are threatened by collection agents who then morph her face onto naked bodies to create pornographic images of her.

The images are then sent to all of her contacts which the loan app had already accessed as part of the loan agreement, as well as the person's WhatsApp groups. Personal data, which the lending app made sure it collected, was essentially used as collateral.

This kind of public humiliation and shame has resulted in six suicides in the state of Telangana so far.

Originally Posted by Bored

So is it the Chinese running the scam or Indian operators who have seen the opportunity?

Did you read the post, because it explains that.

Originally Posted by Bored

So is it the Chinese running the scam or Indian operators who have seen the opportunity?

The chinky scum are running the show with the Indian hired help.

You're surely not suggesting this involves the Chinese government though? This is criminal activity, plain and simple. Seems to involve some sort of co-operation between Chinese & Indian crims.

Originally Posted by sabang

You're surely not suggesting this involves the Chinese government though? This is criminal activity, plain and simple. Seems to involve some sort of co-operation between Chinese & Indian crims.

You're not suggesting the chinky government would never do anything criminal are you?

I'm sure their criminal activities would not involve microloans to Indian slum dwellers.

Originally Posted by sabang

I'm sure their criminal activities would not involve microloans to Indian slum dwellers.

If it's part of a long game, I'm sure they would.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

If it's part of a long game, I'm sure they would.

With recent tensions, China's probably rather keen on weakening India any way it can.

Though I doubt the PRC organizes these scam loan activities, it surely has a thumb on everything its people are doing (via WeChat and other monitoring methods), and turns a blind eye since they are helping hurt India.

An interesting look into how thoroughly China's most widely used, life-essential WeChat app keeps close tabs on everyone who uses it: China social media: WeChat and the Surveillance State - BBC News