A look at the aggressive recovery methods used by dodgy loan apps plaguing the Play Store in India; Google doesn't say how many apps it recently removed
where 800 such apps shutdown & now it's India. https://twitter.com/... Varsha Bansal / @varshaabansal : Finding these apps isn't hard. A search of instant loan on Play Store will pull up 100s of options to choose from. Some are legitimate, most aren't. There are names like RapidRupee, CashNow, RapidPaisa, PandaLoan. Many don't have websites, privacy policy is written in Google docs https://twitter.com/... Varsha Bansal / @varshaabansal : At least 8 people have killed themselves due shaming and extortion by instant loan app debt collectors. Sunil from Hyderabad, started with borrowing Rs 5000 in June. By December, his debt grew to Rs 70,000. He killed himself last month and has left behind his wife and infant son. https://twitter.com/... Varsha Bansal / @varshaabansal : IMPORTANT: Shame, suicide and the dodgy loan apps plaguing Google's Play Store. My latest for @WiredUK on how one-tap digital loans that were meant to rescue families from financial emergencies due to Covid-19 are pushing defaulters to kill themselves. https://www.wired.co.uk/... Siddharth Zarabi / @szarabi : Not 100 but Google seems to have deleted around 450 apps beginning 28 Dec to 14 Jan from India PlayStore. A majority of these are personal loan apps. The list that is going around reveals a glimpse of this unregulated online labyrinth that has led to police cases and even deaths. https://twitter.com/... Subrahmanyam Kvj / @sub8u : Good to see more coverage of the big mess that is instant loan apps on the Google Play Store! “Open” in this case translating to open to cheat/hoodwink/scam/kill! https://www.wired.co.uk/... https://twitter.com/... @wireduk : In India, instant loan apps have boomed during the pandemic - with dire consequences. First, they lend people money, then they harass and publicly shame them until they can't cope anymore https://www.wired.co.uk/... Matt Burgess / @mattburgess1 : NEW: Google's app store has a big problem with instant loan apps. They offer quick money and if people can't repay set up WhatsApp groups to shame them. In India, the behaviour has been linked to a number of suicides Story by @VarshaaBansal https://www.wired.co.uk/... Matt Burgess / @mattburgess1 : Meanwhile, officials in India are starting to take the problem seriously. Regulators are looking at the apps and the police investigations are growing Read the full story here: https://www.wired.co.uk/...