In Game of Loans, Mumbai Crime Branch dials the Nepal police

Cops seize laptops and computers from the Kathmandu call centre

The crackdown against illegal call centres in Nepal that were allegedly involved in the harassment of borrowers of loan apps has spurred the Mumbai Crime Branch to approach the police in the Himalayan nation through official channels to take its own investigation forward. In several cases, morphed pictures of Indian borrowers originated from Nepal, said the police. In multiple raids in Kathmandu and Rupandehi, the Nepal police have arrested over 160 people, including five Chinese nationals, over shady loan apps.

Sources said the Crime Branch had probed over 200 loan apps but couldn't do much after finding that many morphed pictures had originated from sources with IP addresses in Nepal. They initially didn't communicate with the Nepal police as they thought the cyber crooks might have used a virtual private network to divert IP addresses to deflect their attention.

Also read: Loan app scam: How the Chinese spread tentacles around India

One of the call centres was operating out of this building in Butwal city in Nepal. The police arrested 120 people from here

"Since the Nepal police have officially said that the call centres were targeting Indian nationals and they were operating through WhatsApp, we believe that the morphed photos sent to Indian nationals were from these very call centres," said a Crime Branch officer. The Mumbai police have now activated its own network to gather information on hundreds of accused who might have been working in these Nepal call centres.

The Nepal cops have identified the arrested Chinese national as Hu Yuehua. The Indian names released by them - UP residents Manoj Saini and Neha Gupta - didn't match with the records of city cyber cops. "It's possible that the loan app agents are using different identities. That's why the Crime Branch has communicated with the Nepal police through official channels to get accurate details," said a source. Sources in Nepal police said most of the call centres raided in the past two weeks worked for dubious loan apps that lent to Indians.

Complaints come down

The arrest of five men from Karnataka by the Maharashtra Cyber, a nodal body, and 14 people by the Crime Branch in connection with loan app harassment cases seem to have hit the fraudsters hard. Cybercops in the city said they would get at least 50-60 calls daily on their central helpline 1930 but the number has now come down to 10-12. Complaints at police stations have also reduced, they said.

"The ongoing investigation has helped a lot where criminals are getting a clear message that law enforcing agencies are chasing them. Also, awareness created on different platforms has played an important role," said an officer from Mumbai cyber cell.