Thread by @justujuuu

PREDATORY LOAN APPS IN PAKISTAN

Recently, a 42-year-old man took his own life in Rawalpindi after being harassed and blackmailed for being unable to repay a loan he had taken from a predatory digital lender. This covers how they work and what we should do against it

A thread 🧵

After listening to the sad and unfortunate voice-note left behind by the man who committed suicide, it's been eating me from the inside to do something about this and not let more people fall victim to it. Read the whole thread, understand it, and spread the word.

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This thread covers:

- Different loan shark apps on the Play Store
- Reviews left by victims
- Their usual method of crime and blackmailing techniques through data collection
- Ads shown by these apps
- How to report them on every platform
- What we should do against this

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Due to the bad economic conditions and high inflation, it has been really tough for people to make ends meet, and in these times, there are people who are taking advantage of this and extorting people in disguise of easy loan, quick money and financial support.

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On the Google Play Store, I searched for the most popular loan shark "Barwaqt" app & looked for similar apps. I found multiple apps offering quick loans with no hassle. Almost all of them had critical reviews & red flags.

First, I'm sharing screenshots of each app & reviews

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Barwaqt app and reviews on the Google Play Store.

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SmartQarza app, Google Play Store reviews. Their website page even has an email and an office address.

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UdharPaisa app, their Google Play Store reviews, website and their email *with a typo.

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UdharPaisa website looks like a poor job done in haste. Even has a Contact Number that isn't Pakistani.
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UmePaisa app and their Google Play Store reviews. There is also a developer contact email available on the Google Play Store page.

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MoonLoan app and their Google Play Store reviews.

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UltraCash app and their Google Play Store reviews.

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CashBazaar app and their Google Play Store reviews.

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CashBazaar app and their Google Play Store reviews.

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PaisaYaar app and their Google Play Store reviews.

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Instant Loan - Mobile Cash Loan app and their Google Play Store reviews.

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The permissions that these apps ask for are invasive and unreasonable. It has been reported by the victims that after they install these apps, their contacts and personal gallery images are shared with these apps, which they later use to blackmail people.

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Please note that even though I have shared with you examples of critical reviews & victims, some of these apps still have good ratings on the Play Store, & it can be assumed that they're not organic & highly likely to be paid reviews to keep a positive rating on app store

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These apps also use an aggressive ad strategy where if you search for anything remotely close to a loan, you'll start seeing all sorts of easy loan ads on YouTube.

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Fake testimonies are leveraged as ads.

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Now, what should we do with these apps and advertisements, and how should we do it?

1. Report the apps on Play Store
2. Report these ads whenever you come across them

I'll explain how to do both.

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Reporting apps on the Google Play Store:

1. Open the Google Play App
2. Search the name of the app
3. On the detail page
4. Tap the three dots on the top right
5. Select "Flag as inappropriate"
6. Select "Other objection"
7. Write on how this is a scam
8. Tap Submit

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I'm also sharing a paragraph that you can rewrite and submit the report.

"This is a scam. They scam people by offering needy people easy and quick loans without letting them know the full terms and conditions, i.e., unreasonable interest rates.

(continued)

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Due to Pakistan's falling economy and high inflation, people are in very bad financial situations. This app and others take advantage of them by offering loans but later blackmail them for recovery. One man in Pakistan committed suicide after he was harassed.

(continued)

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Please don't allow malicious scam apps on your platform through ads. Their mobile app takes unnecessary permissions and later uses photos and contacts to blackmail the loanee."

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Now, how do we report the ads from these apps on YouTube? I'm adding the link to a YouTube video that explains it, but I'm also adding screenshots to explain it.

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When you see an ad on YouTube shorts, tap the three horizontal dots on the bottom left. A pop-up from the bottom will appear saying "Why this ad?".

Tap on it, and a screen will appear with the "Report Ad" option.

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Tap on it, and it'll take you to a browser, where you need to select a reason.

Choose the first option "scam and offensive".

Next, again choose the first option "It's misleading or a scam..."

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On the bottom of this page, you're asked to "Provide additional details," where you can add the paragraph that I added in a previous tweet with some edits and additions if you want.

I know this experience can be made better by Google, but it is what it is.

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The process for reporting ads on long-form videos is similar, with one difference at the start. When you tap the 3 dots, the pop-up on the bottom of the screen says "My Ad Centre" in place of "Why this ad?" like for the shorts. Tap on "My Ad Centre," & the rest is the same

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What else should we do?

1. Inform each and every person you meet about this scam, even if you think they are smart enough to not fall for it. Maybe someone in their circle could become a victim. Remember that with this inflation, people are struggling and you never know.

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2. Report each and every ad you see about these scammy loan apps. Also, report the apps you see or get to know about that look malicious.

3. Pressure the authorities to take action against these predatory loan apps.

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I found some other details too, like that each app on the Play Store has a developer email and a company name, and that company also has a page on LinkedIn with details about people associated with the company. I didn't pry further into it, though.

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Also, while reporting the ads, I saw an interesting detail about the advertiser for one of the apps. It's a digital marketing company from Hong Kong.

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Times are hard, and you never know when someone close to you is suffering financially, so please take some time to check up on them. Even if you can't offer them financial support, offer them emotional support.

No one should become victims of this from now on.

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Someone rightly corrected me that the number is indeed a Pakistani PTCL number and has Lahore's dialing code.

Apologies for the mistake.

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