Transactions worth Rs 1600 crore; collected and misused data and photos stored in cellphones; four Chennai natives arrested from Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: ED has registered the first arrest in Kerala in the loan app fraud case. ED has arrested four people who are natives of Kanchipuram, Chennai. Daniel Selvakumar, Kathiravan Ravi, Anto Paul Prakash and Alan Samuel have been arrested. The arrests are in ten cases registered in Kerala.

ED has found that documents registered in the loan app were misused, the accused took control of the phone while registering on the loan app, and a huge amount was embezzled from the customers by showing nude pictures through morphing. ED investigated the case based on the FIR registered by the police. Four people suspected of having international links in the case were arrested based on this.

Rs 110 crore was found in Kathiravan Ravi's account. Out of this, Rs 105 crore went to a Mumbai-based company. They have made financial transactions worth Rs 1600 crore in this way. Whenever someone downloads loan apps through Chinese apps, the accused will get access to the downloader's data along with their photos stored in the cellphone. They will collect the information of everyone who downloads the app. They misuse the personal photos later.

The loan app's strategy is to give small amounts first and gradually give large amounts. When the loan amount increases, fraudsters demand a large amount in interest. When debtors are unable to pay this, fraudsters threaten to extort money by sending personal photos. Two suicide cases have been reported in connection with such loan app fraud cases. Only one arrest was made in South India before this. Cases have also been reported in other states of India, including Haryana. Accused have been remanded in four days' custody.