Loan app fraud: ED files chargesheet against seven Chinese nationals, 4 firms

CHENNAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a charge sheet against seven Chinese nationals, three mobile loan app firms and one Chinese owned payments aggregator under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at a special court in Chennai last month, sources said.

According to investigation by ED’s Special Task Force (STF) in New Delhi, the Chinese nationals hatched a criminal conspiracy to exploit thousands of vulnerable Indians by providing them short-term loans through mobile apps at a high rate of interest and processing fee in the year 2020. The cash were later recovered in an illegal manner by threatening and extortion by these companies and then siphoned off outside India through cryptocurrencies.