The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Odisha police has frozen over Rs 6.57 crores of the bank deposits of a dubious company that deceived the people with a fake loan App.

An amount of Rs 6, 57,34,829 deposits in four accounts of Mahagram Payments Private Limited was frozen, The EOW had received a series of complaints from victims and Reserve Bank of India relating to the illegal functioning of loan apps that are not registered as NBFC under Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act. Economic Offences Wing (EOW) Bhubaneswar took up investigation in respect of one such loan APP “KOKO”, said STF in a statement on Tuesday.

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As the fake company through its App used many complicated and technical layers and routes to evade detection and disorient police, we are taking the help of technical experts, bank officials and chartered accountants to delve deep into the case. Three special teams of EOW are working on this case in different states like Maharashtra, Bihar, UP, and New Delhi. We are also in touch with Telangana and Hyderabad police, said Deputy Inspector General of Police, STF, Mr. Jai Narayan Pankaj.

Deceived by the fake App operator, more than 1.5 lakh people have downloaded this APP including many from Odisha.

During the investigation, it has been ascertained that once these fake loan apps once downloaded in one’s mobile Play Store, small amounts ranging from Rs 3000-5000 are credited through the link or through UPI to the customers’ Bank account. Once the amount is credited to the customer’s Bank account, within a week the customer is asked to repay the amount along with an excessive rate of interest.

On refusal to pay the high rate of interest, the concerned customer is humiliated in many ways. Obscene messages and indecent pictures along with abusive texts are sent to his WhatsApp number and as well as to his contact list.

During further investigation, it was ascertained that the victims who had downloaded KOKO loan APP from the Play store were credited small amounts from one company named Mahagram Payments Private Ltd which is not registered with RBI as an NBFC.

The accused company through its recovery agents placed Whatsapp and live calls to the victims humiliating/ abusing them with foul language to return the money with up to 5 times the rate of interest within a week.