By Mohammed Kudrati
A Facebook page promoting an Android app that supposedly gives out state-sanctioned loans of all kinds under the 'Pradhan Mantri Yojana Loan', is fraudulent as no such government loan scheme exists.
Furthermore, the app is not linked to Government of India.
The said Facebook page has multiples posts having the same image, app link and the same text appealing to customers to take the loan. It also uses the emblem of the Government of India to lend itself credence.
The link to the app can be found here (only for the Android Play Store).
Further, all posts say the following.
The post can be seen below. This particular post has 474 likes, with several posts like them on thepage, which in turn has more than 5,000 likes.
When this post is accessed through a mobile phone, it launches a chat on WhatsApp to a number 85299 66116.
Further, the app is published by 'Aim2Excel', a publisher having no links to the government. The app description says though that it offering services through Sarvottam Fincap Limited, a non-banking financial corporation (NBFC) registered with the Reserve Bank of India.
BOOM found no evidence that this app is linked or funded by the government in any way.
A credit scheme of the government is the 'Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana' that has three credit categories based on the quantum of disbursement:
- 'Shishu' for loans up to ₹50,000
- 'Kishore' for loans above ₹50,000 and up to ₹5 lakh
- 'Tarun', for loans up to ₹10 lakhs but above ₹5 lakhs
However, MUDRA, the authority in charge of this scheme, says that it is a refinancing company, with all the customer-facing formalities for the execution of this scheme done by banks, NBFCs or micro-finance institutes.
This can be read here.
The Press Information Bureau too has taken to social media to deny previous variants of this message that went viral in 2021 and 2020, whose tweets can be read here and here.
The Reserve Bank of India has previously said that it has found nearly 600 apps engaged in unauthorised or predatory lending and has cautioned against using such services.
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