New Delhi: Identity theft and loan fraud have become a major concern in today's world with Anupam Gupta, a financial influencer, being the latest victim. His name and address were used to take a loan without his knowledge and he was being "chased by MobiKwik agents" to repay this loan, he said.
Though MobiKwik has halted the loan calls for now and is trying to resolve this, the fact that a finfluencer, who is also a chartered accountant, could fall victim to such a fraud shows the grim reality of identity theft.
Sharing screenshots of his CIBIL (which maintains credit files in India) enquiry on X, Mr Gupta said a Rs 30,000 personal loan was taken from Lendbox, an online peer lending platform, using his name and contact details.
"From 28th April onwards, the calls and WhatsApp pings started. @MobiKwik collection agents said repay the loan. I said I have taken no loan. When I asked for details, here is the ledger they sent me," said Mr Gupta, who runs the investing podcast 'Paisa Vaisa'.
He said the agents refused to listen to him and provided him with a UPI number that had received the loan amount. But it did not belong to him, said Mr Gupta and filed a police complaint.
He said he had received a CIBIL notification a month earlier about a loan being taken using his account, which he had ignored.
"Folks, please be careful. My mistake was that when I got the CIBIL notification, I did not pay attention. I should have flagged it off then and there. But I didn't. And now I have to face these calls," he said.
Responding to him online, MobiKwik said all follow-up calls and process-related adjustments regarding the loan have been halted and they are trying to resolve the matter.
MobiKwik later issued a statement saying the customer was a victim of compromised credentials and that the matter is now resolved.
"India's digital evolution has set benchmarks worldwide. The flip side has been a surge in online spams and cyber frauds. At MobiKwik, we have implemented stringent security measures to combat cyber frauds. We continue strengthening our security systems to align with our rapidly evolving product portfolio and fast transforming digital ecosystem. In this particular incident, the customer was a victim of compromised credentials. The response team reached out to the customer to understand and manage the issue. It was able to resolve the issue timely and to the customer's satisfaction. This has been acknowledged by the customer as well," read the statement.
Loan frauds have targeted hundreds of unsuspecting individuals in the past.
Piyush Sinha, another chartered accountant, had a loan default reported by MobiKwik in April though he had not taken any such loan. Raising the issue with Lendbox, from where the loan was taken, did not help and they asserted the loan was taken by Mobikwik, he said on X.