NCRPO arrest five Chinese owners, 49 Filipino employees of online lending firm

September 27, 2019

The National Capital Region Police Office ( NCRPO) arrested five Chinese owners of an online lending company and 49 Filipino employees Thursday.

Police Major General Guillermo Eleazar, NCRPO chief, led the implementation of  warrant to search, seize and examine computer data to Fuwei Lending Corpo at Ortigas, Pasig City after receiving complaints from victims.

The Chinese-owned company is the owner of "Mango loan", a mobile software application that allows people to get loans in just few minutes.

However, the application is said to have a high interest rate and is being used for phising of the borrower's personal data such as contact numbers, photos, and social media accounts.

According to Eleazar, those who apply for a loan on this company are being harassed or embarrassed if they fail to pay within the seven-day deadline.

"We already heard that they victimized a lot already. On our conversation with the complainants, they created a group and accordingly, almost 1,000 (people) were victimized," he said.

One of the complainants claim  five died because of fears after the company post pictures of borrowers who failed to pay online, which includes insulting captions.

The complainant said the company keeps on calling even it's not yet the due date and it did not inform them about taking their personal information.

As online lending applications keep coming out, the NCRPO chief told the public to be careful in using these apps.

"If you see this kind of application on the internet, be careful as you may face horrible consequences such as being embarrassed or harassed," he said.

"Be careful also when in come to terms and agreement," Eleazar added.

The arrested suspects will face Republic Act 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012 in relation to Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.  Ella Dionisio/DMS