Exclusive | Centre Kicks Off Training for State Police Officers to Outfox And Hunt Chinese Loan Wolves

Appreciating the complexity of the multi-layered fraud perpetrated by predatory Chinese loan apps and the increase in such cases, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) has decided to give training to state police officers who will be dealing with these crimes and investigating them.

News18 has learned that various states raised challenges while dealing with these app cases before the MHA, after which the ministry decided to arrange training sessions for the officers.

MHA’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and states’ police cyber cell will have a full-day session where top officials will train officers dealing with the frauds perpetrated by these Chinese lending apps.

The Centre in 2020 banned 59 Chinese apps after critically analysing them and considering them a threat.

The series of sessions has already begun and one of them was also conducted for Haryana police officers, said sources.

A string of investigative articles done by News18 on the “loan wolves of China” exposed how these apps are using a web of shell companies, misusing loopholes in the system, and are responsible for the deaths of people who failed to repay them at interest rates ranging from 200% to 30,000% annually. These apps use illegal ways to extort money by defaming, threatening, and abusing people. Close to 60 people have taken their own lives in India due to harassment by these apps, said sources.

According to a senior official, during the training sessions, MHA officials, cyber experts, and police officers will learn technical aspects of the investigation to be carried out in the detection of such frauds.

“A session with the help of Haryana police in collaboration with I4C, MHA was carried out. There, officials talked about the background of instant loan apps, technical modus operandi, investigation tracks (SMS, OTP, payment aggregator, Android application extraction and analysis, call centre, NBFC, cloud), etc. All were asked to send at least two investigation officers for the mandatory session,” a senior government official told News18.

During the session held on Saturday, state police officers also asked questions and sought technical knowledge from the experts dealing with cybercrime. Officials from the ministry talked about pan-India data and government action on these apps. The challenges that government and central agencies as well as states are facing were also discussed in detail.

“Officers had various queries which they clarified from the officials. The purpose of such sessions is to help local police, and educate them by giving them help from the Centre. Details were also shared on actions taken by the government and what is in the pipeline. Also, the main focus was technical aspects and challenges while dealing with these apps,” a senior official said.

Sources in the home ministry have said that these sessions will be planned with different states, particularly for those who will show interest and have a high number of cases.

Sources said that since the ministry has a robust cyber system that collects all the data received from across the country, the officials will share crucial information which will help officers while investigating such cases.

I4C under the home ministry was set up to combat cybercrime in the country in a coordinated and effective manner. This centre has a National Cybercrime Threat Analytics Unit, National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, Platform for Joint Cybercrime Investigation Team, National Cybercrime Forensic Laboratory Ecosystem, National Cybercrime Training Centre, and National Cyber Research and Innovation Centre.

That’s not all. The home ministry is also planning to ban close to 300 such apps and final approvals from various agencies have been sought. It is expected that soon the file will get cleared and approximately 270 apps will be banned that are involved in illegal extortion.

Various agencies like the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), Enforcement Directorate (ED), ministry of corporate affairs (MCA), and state police are probing cases linked to these apps. It has been found that these apps are involved in money laundering and they siphon off money from India by converting it into cryptocurrency.

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