Stay safe › Scams
Illegal instant loan apps
Quick loans with no checks, then huge charges, threats and morphed photos sent to your contacts.
How it works
When money is tight, an ad promises an instant loan, no questions asked. The app takes access to your contacts and photos. You receive less than promised, the repayment date comes in days, and the fees are huge. Miss a payment and the harassment starts: abusive calls, and messages, sometimes morphed photos, sent to everyone in your contacts.
What’s changed
From July 2025, the RBI runs a public directory of digital lending apps, so you can check whether an app really is linked to a regulated lender. The IT Ministry has blocked dozens of illegal lending apps under the IT Act, 87 of them by late 2025.
If it has already happened
- Don't panic-borrow from another app to repay. That's how the trap deepens.
- Keep screenshots of the app, messages and threats. Report harassment at cybercrime.gov.in and to local police.
- Report the app on RBI Sachet and on the app store, and revoke its permissions.
Protect yourself
- Borrow only through your bank or a lender regulated by the RBI. Check the RBI's public directory of digital lending apps.
- Never give a loan app access to your contacts or photos.
- Read the total cost, not just the monthly amount, before you accept.
Say it simply
If someone in the family is being harassed by a loan app, help them report it. It's a crime, and it's not their shame.
Got an app in mind? Check it in ten quick questions.Is this app safe? →
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Where to report
- RBI SachetReport an illegal loan app or a company collecting money without permission.sachet.rbi.org.in
- National Cyber Crime Reporting PortalFile a complaint about any cyber fraud, harassment, sextortion or morphed images.cybercrime.gov.in
- Local police or cyber cellFor threats, blackmail or large losses, file an FIR. Take your screenshots and transaction details.Emergency: 112
- The app or platformReport and block the account on WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube or wherever it happened, so it can be taken down.Report in the app