Google took down over 2,500 fraudulent loan apps from its Play Store between April 2021 and July 2022, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as per reports claim in a written reply to a query in the Lok Sabha.
Finance Minister also said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had share ‘whitelist‘ of betting apps with the government to separate applications that operate legally from those that flout guidelines.
Earlier in 2023, Indian government ban over 230 Chinese-link lending apps that facilitate betting and loans following complaints of extortion and harassment.
As per Finance Minister, government has been in talks with the RBI and other industry stakeholders over curbing illegal loan apps in the country, as per report.
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As per Report Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said :
“Between April 2021 and July 2022, Google also reviewed approximately 3,500 to 4,000 loan lending apps and suspended or removed over 2,500 fraudulent loan apps from its Play Store,”
The issue of fraudulent loan apps is regularly brought up in meetings of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), as per report.
Nirmala Sitharaman also said that a ‘whitelist of legal loan apps, prepare by the RBI, had been share with the government and further sent to Google, as well.
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Google has also update its Play Store policy on enforcement of loan lending apps and implemented stricter requirements for lending apps in the country.
In April 2023, Google had said that it had act against more than 3,500 loan apps in India for violating Play Store policy requirements.
Google had claim it prevent 1.43 million policy-violating apps from being publish on Google Play, ban 173,000 bad accounts, and prevent over $2 billion (approx. Rs. 16,350 crore) in fraudulent and abusive transactions in 2022.
Google’s announcement had come weeks after the Indian government ban over 230 loan lending and betting apps with Chinese links following complaints of extortion and harassment from borrowers in February 2023.
The crackdown on loan apps saw 138 betting apps and 94 loan lending apps block under Section 69 of the IT Act.
In March 2023, Enforcement Directorate (ED) file charges against payment gateway Razorpay and three Chinese-link fintech companies, among many others, in a money laundering probe link to fraudulent loan lending apps.
In addition to Razorpay, firms name in the chargesheet include fintech companies Mad Elephant Network Technology Private Limited, Baryonyx Technology Private Limited and Cloud Atlas Future Technology Private Limited, all allegedly control by Chinese nationals, and three non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) register with RBI.
Earlier in December 2023, security researchers reveal details of apps use by loan sharks to defraud users, and list the methods use by the apps to bypass some of the restrictions put in place on the Play Store.
As many as 18 apps identified as ‘SpyLoan’ malware were found on the Play Store in 2023.
