Source: newsthemegh.com
The public has been cautioned by the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) not to subscribe to any of the approximately 38 online loan applications, since they have not been approved by the Data Protection Commission or the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
ICSA asked Ghanaians to carefully check the access rights of mobile applications before installing them, cautioning that users using these services do so at their own risk.
Ahomka Loan, Antcredit, Beanloan, Bestloan, BezoMoney, Boomloan, Casharrow, Cashwave, CMG Loan, Cosycredit, Credit Bag, Divacash, Express Loan, Five lending, FullCredit, Homecredit, Unik Credit, and numerous additional loan applications are among the available apps.
The public is strongly cautioned not to subscribe to these mobile applications since they are not endorsed by the Data Protection Commission or the Bank of Ghana, according to a statement released by CSA.
The statement, which touched on the business practices of the companies behind these mobile lending apps, said that users who don’t make their loan payments on time face the prospect of their nude photos appearing on all social networking sites.
The CSA urged the public to avoid using these apps and to notify the Authority of any cybersecurity or cybercrime incidents by email, phone, or text message.
“When a user installs the App, an amount (usually less than GHS 200) is automatically credited into the user’s mobile money wallet even without an actual loan request.”
“One week after disbursing the loan, the fraudsters use extortion tactics including: Demanding loan repayment with high interest rates from the victim or an associate, threatening to circulate actual or fabricated nude photos of the victim on social media and threatening to label the victim as a thief or wanted criminal.”
“Even after victims repay, some fraudsters continue to demand additional payments…Victims would typically have granted these Apps access to their data (contacts, photos) and personally identifiable information (PII) e.g., Ghana card ID, during the installation,” the CSA disclosed.
“In addition, the owners of the Apps have not met the compliance obligations of the Data Protection Commission (DPC) and hence their access and use of the data and PII of users violate the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843),” they added.
PUBLIC ALERT BELOW:
