Karnataka CID busts fraud using mobile-based loan apps
Bengaluru, Dec 24: A major online financial fraud involving theft of personal data of applicants by a few micro finance companies said to be front-end firms of investors in some neighbouring countries has been busted here, police said on Thursday.
Acting on complaints from some victims, including a woman who took loan using Paisa Loan app, the Criminal Investigation Department raided four companies, arrested the chief finance officer and human resource manager of one of them and seized laptops, mobile handsets and documents.
"On preliminary investigation we have found the owners of these apps are some front-end companies, citizens of neighbouring countries are the investors/directors and CEOs for every such company," the CID said in a press release, without naming the countries.
The mobile apps are directly installed, accessed, used and monitored from cloud systems based in those countries. All the data is also hacked and used against the victims.
The investigations revealed that these financing companies had used fake SIM cards to call the customers, it said.
Explaining the modus operandi, the CID said they found each company possessed several microloan apps of their own and on installation, users were made to part with details of PAN, Aadhaar, bank account number among others and grant permission for accessing SMSes, call logs, camera and storage on the phone.
The loan generally ranges between Rs 3,000 and Rs 9,000 and customers were charged an interest rate of 36 per cent per annum, which is deducted along with processing fee at the time of payment of the amount.
If the customers fail to repay, the financiers harass them by sending abusive and threatening SMS and call the reference mobile numbers collected during activation of the application.
Using data accessed by the apps, a WhatsApp group comprising the contacts of the customer is created and messages against them are circulated with their photograph and with all kinds of "abuse, sexual overtones," with a tag of CHOR, FRAUD, 420, DEFAULTER etc.," the CID said.
There were instances where a voice message was sent threatening physical and sexual assault on the women victims by the company recovery agents.
The CID appealed to the people not to share the data over any kind of applications which may go against them.
Beware of Fake App Based Loan Providers! #fakeloan #Cybercrime @Cyberdost pic.twitter.com/Y1OBH6AmOq
— Cybercrime CID (@CybercrimeCID) November 24, 2020
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Ordinance issued to increase number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38
New Delhi (PTI): The government has promulgated an ordinance to increase the strength of the Supreme Court from the present 34 judges to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.
The law ministry notified the ordinance on Saturday, which amended the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, to increase the sanctioned strength of the top court.
So far, the sanctioned strength of the top court was 34, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Now, the number of judges has been increased by four, taking the sanctioned strength to 38.
The top court will now have 37 judges, other than the CJI.
With the apex court having two vacancies at present, and the ordinance coming into force immediately, the Supreme Court Collegium will now have to recommend six names for appointment as judges in the top court.
A bill will be brought in the Monsoon Session of Parliament to convert the ordinance – an executive order – into a law passed by Parliament.
The Union Cabinet had cleared a draft bill on May 5 to increase the number of apex court judges.
The strength of the Supreme Court was last increased from 30 to 33 (excluding the CJI) in 2019.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, as originally enacted in 1956, put the maximum number of judges (excluding the CJI) at 10.
This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges), Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 by another amendment to the law.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1986, augmented the strength of judges from 17 to 25, excluding the CJI.
A fresh amendment in 2009 further increased the strength from 25 to 30.
Article 124(3) of the Constitution lists the qualifications required to become a Supreme Court judge.
An Indian citizen who has either served as a high court judge for at least five years, or as an advocate for 10 years, or is a distinguished jurist, can be appointed to the top court.
The strength of the Supreme Court is increased based on the recommendations of the CJI, who writes to the Union law minister. After consulting the finance ministry, the Department of Justice under the law ministry moves the Cabinet with a draft bill.
