Fraudulent credit lending digital apps downloaded 10mn times: CCP

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Thursday warned the general public about rising trend of fraudulent mobile app-based micro-credit and nano-loan facilities that are targeting vulnerable consumers, belonging to the lower- to middle-income groups

The initial finding of CCP revealed that these applications have been downloaded over 10 million times.

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While these applications, available on Google PlayStore and Apple’s App Store, offer short-term financing to borrowers, in reality they are currently facing numerous complaints and challenges in their track-and-trace process.

“There are over 30 applications under CCP investigation,” a CCP official told Business Recorder. “Cumulatively, there are 10 million downloads of these 30 apps and most of the consumers hail from lower to middle income backgrounds hence they are vulnerable.”

The official added that the investigation was taking time because these apps operated in a surreptitious manner – the management constantly changed premises, companies and undertakings behind such applications.

“Until the conclusion of the inquiry, the CCP deems it necessary to alert the general public about the many issues observed and how to avoid these issues. CCP has also intimated to SECP, FIA, and PTA in this regard,” a CCP statement read on Thursday.

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Most of these applications operate without complying with Pakistan’s regulatory framework. Therefore, the CCP stated that consumers should only borrow from duly registered apps, who are operating under a regulatory regime.

Moreover, these apps tend to take complete control of the user’s device by requiring the user to agree to access permissions. This may affect the privacy of the customers as well as make them vulnerable to the operators of such applications.

“Users are cautioned to carefully read the terms and conditions displayed so that they can make an informed decision,” it said.

When applying for a loan through these facilities, users are presented with various terms and conditions that outline the time period for which the loan is extended, the exact amount of loan disbursed, deductions made from the total loan requested, payment and repayment methods, and any hidden charges.

However, it has been observed that these terms and conditions are often at variance with what is advertised, resulting in deception or fraud.

The applications also require the user to fill in two or more emergency contacts, which are considered as collaterals and guarantors by the operators. Recovery agents have been known to harass and abuse borrowers and their contacts for the sake of repayment.

The general public is made aware that these lenders will, on maturity, make calls to the consumer as well as the emergency contacts for recovery of the loan.

To avoid falling prey to fraudulent activities, it is important for the public to be aware that there have been instances where recovery agents have given their personal account details instead of the lender’s valid account. This can result in payments not being adjusted against the repayment and cause further inconvenience to borrowers.

“Consumers need to be careful and only make payments on the registered accounts of the mobile app-based micro-credit and nano-loan facilities,” CCP statement read.