East Godavari (Andhra Pradesh) [India], May 24 : Three foreign nationals involved in a loan app scam case were arrested at Chennai airport and brought to Andhra Pradesh, police said on Wednesday.
The three accused have been identified as Yong Lui Xing, Choo Kai Lun, and Thiagarajan Kasi, all hailing from Malaysia.
Police said that the matter came to their attention when a victim committed suicide after falling into the loan scam operated by the accused.
'The case was investigated by the police based on a case of extortion and abetment to suicide filed by the kin of the deceased at Kadiyam police station in Rajahmundry urban limits of East Godavari district. The victim had taken a loan of Rs 10,000 from a fake loan app and ended up paying many times the amount. The victim was threatened by the app agents who sent him his morphed images and threatened him of sending them to his contacts. Following the threats, the victim died by committing suicide on May 5," a police official said.
"Accused were found to be operating out of Malaysia and Vietnam with the help of agents in India. It is found that the arrested accused along with their accomplices targeted victims in 8 other countries including Pakistan and Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand etc," a police official added
Police further mentioned that they interacted with the accused disguised as an agent and invited them to come to India
"To catch the accused based out of Malaysia, Andhra Police interacted with the accused for over 20 days disguised as an agent and lured them to come over to India. The three accused Malaysian nationals who arrived in Chennai were picked up by the police team deputed for the task," police said.
A case has been registered under the relevant sections of the IPC and IT Act.
"Accused have been booked under sections 306, 504, 509, 384, 386 read with 34 IPC and Sec 67 of the IT act," police mentioned.
Police further stated that the accused used to run loan apps and gaming apps which promised high returns or free loans and targeted victims by providing them small loan amounts at lower interest rates without any guarantee.
"Once the loan is taken through these apps, their contacts and images will be accessed by the app developers. They begin to extort money from the victims by threatening them that they'll circulate morphed images and videos of the victims to their contacts and post it on social media," police said.
"They begin to extort money from the victims by threatening them that they'll circulate morphed images and videos of the victims to their contacts and post them on social media. While a few pay the amount demanded by the agents out of fear while a few commit suicide because of these threats when they post such photos on social media," police added.
Police said that it will be producing the three accused before the magistrate and seeking police custody for further investigation and interrogation.
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