How to Spot a Loan Scam: Fake Agents and Advance Fees

The advance-fee scam

A caller or WhatsApp message offers a loan, often 'pre-approved', and sends a convincing sanction letter with a bank's logo. Before disbursal they need a processing fee, GST on the loan, an insurance premium, a 'RBI verification charge' or a refundable security deposit, paid by UPI to a personal account. After the first payment there is always another. Then the number goes dead.

Regulated lenders deduct any processing fee from the disbursal amount. They never ask you to pay anything to a personal account, and never before sanction and agreement.

The fake app and the harassment loop

Unregulated loan apps disburse small amounts instantly, deduct huge upfront charges, and charge effective rates in the hundreds of percent. When repayment is due they use the contacts and photos harvested from your phone to threaten and shame you. RBI's Digital Lending Directions require regulated lenders to publish their apps and agents, and app stores have removed thousands of illegal apps, but new ones appear weekly.

The impersonation scam

Fraudsters pose as employees or agents of well-known banks, NBFCs or distribution companies, using real names and logos, sometimes with fake ID cards. They may quote a real lender's product and rates. The tell is always the same: a request for money, or for OTPs and account credentials.

Two-minute checks before you engage

• Is the lender on the RBI's list of banks or registered NBFCs? Search the RBI website; if it is not there, stop.
• Is the app listed on the lender's website as its official app, and does the lender's name appear in the app?
• Has anyone asked for money before disbursal, or for an OTP, PIN or password? Stop.
• Is approval 'guaranteed' regardless of credit score? No regulated lender does this.
• Does the sanction letter come with a Key Fact Statement in RBI's format, from the lender's official email domain?
• Is the caller contacting you outside 9 am to 6 pm or pressuring you to decide now?

If you have already paid

• Call the national cybercrime helpline 1930 immediately and file a complaint at cybercrime.gov.in. Fast reporting can freeze the recipient account.
• Inform your bank and, if you shared card or account details, block them.
• Save every message, screenshot, number and UPI ID as evidence.
• If a real lender's name was used, inform that lender; most have fraud reporting channels.
• Do not pay anything further, whatever they threaten.

How LoansPartner works, so you can tell the difference

We are paid by lenders after disbursal and never by borrowers. Our staff and partners identify themselves and the lender, contact you only in working hours, and never ask for OTPs or payments. Any loan we arrange comes with the lender's own Key Fact Statement and agreement, and funds go from the lender's account to yours. If someone claiming to be from LoansPartner asks you for money, they are not from LoansPartner. Report it to us and to 1930.