Google removed 2,200 fraudulent loan apps from Play Store: MoS Finance

The government on Tuesday informed Parliament that Google has suspended or removed more than 2200 fraudulent loan apps from its Play Store between September 2022 and August 2023The government is constantly engaged with the Reserve Bank of India RBI and other regulators and stakeholders concerned to control fraudulent loan apps Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad said in a written reply to Rajya SabhaAs per the information received from MeitY Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology during April 2021July 2022 Google had reviewed approximately 3500 to 4000 loan apps and suspendedremoved over 2500 loan apps from its Play Store he saidSimilarly he said during September 2022August 2023 over 2200 loan apps were removed from the Google Play StoreFurther Google has updated its policy regarding enforcement of loan apps on the Play Store and only those apps are allowed on the Play Store which are published by Regulated Entities REs or those working in partnership with REs It has also deployed additional policy requirements with strict enforcement actions for loan apps in India he saidThe Reserve Bank has issued regulatory guidelines on digital lending which aims at firming up the regulatory framework for digital lending while enhancing customer protection and making the digital lending ecosystem safe and sound he saidThe Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre I4C Ministry of Home Affairs MHA has been proactively analysing the digital lending apps on a continuous basis he saidIn order to facilitate the citizens to report cyber incidents including illegal loan apps he said MHA has launched a National Cybercrime Reporting Portal wwwcybercrimegovin as well as a National Cybercrime Helpline number 1930To spread awareness against cybercrimes he said the government has been taking various initiatives from time to time which include cyber safety tips through social media accounts publishing of handbook for adolescentsstudents publishing of Information Security Best practices for the benefit of government officials organising cyber safety and security awareness weeks in association with statesUnion Territories etcIn addition to these he said RBI and banks have also been taking cybercrime awareness campaigns through dissemination of messages on cybercrime through SMS Short Messaging Service radio campaigns and publicity on prevention of cybercrimeFurther RBI has been conducting electronic banking awareness and training eBAAT programmes which focus on awareness about frauds and risk mitigation he saidIn a reply to another question Karad said JanSamarth Portal was launched to provide a common platform for availing loans under creditlinked government schemesA total of 183903 beneficiaries have availed loans under the said schemes linked to the JanSamarth portal since its launch till December 2023 he saidKarad in a separate reply said 725 cases of fraud related to UPI were reported during 202223 The amount involved in these fraud cases was Rs 573 croreThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever