The Bihar Police have approached the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), seeking a ban on more than 100 gambling or gaming and loan-providing apps that are allegedly engaged in money laundering and pose a threat to the financial security of the country.

The Economic Offences Unit of the Bihar Police recently approached MeitY, urging it to ban more than 100 such apps, a senior officer said on Saturday.

”The decision was taken after confirming that these apps attract Section 69 of the Information Technology (IT) Act as they contain materials which are prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India. Several complaints of extortion and harassment had been received from people who had borrowed very small amounts through such loan lending apps,”

Additional Director General (ADG) of EOU (Bihar Police) Nayyar Hasnain Khan told PTI. Section 69A of IT Act empowers the government to restrict access to any online content to protect the interest of sovereignty and integrity of the nation, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states and public order.

The EOU also received several FIRs registered against these apps and people associated with them in Arwal, Phulwari Sharif (Patna), Aurangabad and Jamui recently, the ADG said. ”It’s a serious offence and such digital lending, gaming or gambling apps must be banned as they pose a threat to the financial security of the country. We are keeping a strict vigil on the activities of online lending platforms. ”People should also remain alert about the activities of such apps. The EOU has been creating awareness among the people about such apps and requests the public not to take any loan from unregistered or illegal loan apps available on the Internet and Playstore,” he said.

Explaining the modus operandi, the ADG said, these loan apps on the pretext of advancing loans also access or hack all information from the customers’ phones. ”Such information might be used by the accused company to perpetrate other financial crimes. Most of the time, such apps harass customers by charging not only a high rate of interest but also by sending obscene materials to their contact list if they fail to repay loans,” he said.

Commenting on the move by the Bihar Police, cyber law expert Pavan Duggal told PTI, Loan, gaming and gambling apps are simply attempts to make people victim of cybercrimein the majority of the cases, people (victim) tend to get stuck. Therefore, we need more effective and strict regulations to combat cybercrime in the country. I must say that several areas in cyberspace are still unregulated. We must have a separate law for combating frauds related to loan apps.”

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has already issued an advisory stating that since betting and gambling are illegal in most parts of the country, advertisements of these platforms, as well as their surrogates, are also illegal under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019, Cable TV Network Regulation Act 1995 and the IT Rules, 2021.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)