In a recent money laundering scam, three Malaysian nationals, who posed as loan recovery agents to extort money, were arrested by the police in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.
The three fraudsters were identified as Lui Xing, Choo Kai Lun and Thiagarajan Kasi. The three fraudsters were arrested by undercover officers from Chennai who posed as loan agents for twenty days to trap the culprits.
The foreign fraudsters came into the police’s radar during an investigation into a suicide case. On May 5, a youth who had taken ₹10,000 loan from a loan app died by suicide after he was threatened by recovery agents of sending his morphed images to everyone in his contact. Recovery agents tried to extort more money from the youth in the name of recovery, even when he had paid the full amount with interest.
The nexus of foreign fraudsters was revealed when the police decided to investigate further after the arrest of the local agent to track the offshore loan app creators and operators.
Police laid trap for the foreign fraudsters
After this, police officers posed as loan recovery agents, and contacted the culprits on social media. The under cover police officers also proposed the offer of a partnership with the fraudsters. It was only after engaging with the fraud agents, police officers were able to track them down and convince them to come to India for discussing plans to expand operations.
As soon as they were arrested, the three Malaysian nationals were charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code. They are also accused of running loan apps and gaming apps.
How does the international loan recovery scam work?
These foreign fraudsters used to target people by giving them small amount of loans. Once the victims take small amount of loan from the loan apps or gaming apps, these applications get the access of the contact details and all the images saved on phones. After wards, victims are forced to pay more amount to the lenders by threatening them of circulating their morphed images and videos.
The local police informed that forcing nationals were arrested in a loan app case for the first time. The international nexus of loan fraud was operating out of Malaysia and VIetnam with the help of agents in India. These fraudsters have also targeted people from Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Thailand.
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Updated: 26 May 2023, 10:54 AM IST
