BOT investigates 11 loan apps, finds 10 illegal apps, prepares to forward to DE to be shut down

The BOT inspected 11 loan apps, found 10 illegal apps and 1 legal app. The inspection report will be sent to the DE early next week to inform the system owners to remove illegal apps from the App Store and Play Store.

from the casePersonal Data Protection Committee (PDPC) Secretary-General of the National Digital Economy and Society Commission (NDEC) Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DE) specify that The investigation into 11 suspicious loan apps on the Play Store, the online app store for the Google Android mobile operating system, has been expanded and the information has been forwarded to the Bank of Thailand (BOT) for investigation.

Ms. Peerachit Patmasut, Senior Director, Financial Services Protection and Inspection Division ธนาคาร แห่ งประเทศไทย (BoT) revealed that The BOT has already inspected all 11 applications, and found that 10 of them were illegal loan applications, while the other one was an application from a legitimate service provider. From now on, the BOT will send a letter to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DE) to close applications in the Apple Store and Play Store.

“The BOT will send a letter confirming the inspection of the 11 loan apps to the DE by early next week (3-7 Feb 68) to inform the Apple Store and Play Store to remove the illegal loan apps from both stores.”

Ms. Peerachit added that those who can provide personal loan apps must first request permission from the Bank of Thailand. After that, it will be forwarded to the Ministry of Finance for consideration of granting a license. The list of legal personal loan service providers can be checked by the public.

However, granting loans must comply with the 2560 Act on the Prohibition of Excessive Interest Rates, which stipulates that individuals and juristic persons other than financial institutions may charge interest of no more than 15% per year. If any loan apps are found to be charging more than the specified rate, they will be removed.

“Illegal loan apps found include groups that are informal lenders and make applications, and groups of fraudulent apps that pretend to provide loan services in the guise of using people’s information to commit other financial frauds. If people find any damage, they should report it to the police or the Bank of Thailand because there are criminal penalties.”

Mr. Wethangk Phuangsap, Acting Secretary-General of the Personal Data Protection Committee (PDPC), said that if the Ministry of Digital Economy receives all the app inspection data sent back by the BOT, the Ministry of Digital Economy will forward all the data to the platforms to immediately uninstall the illegal apps.

Meanwhile, for those who are found to have been damaged by using the said app, the Ministry of Digital Economy will forward the information received from the BOT, including the police information that has collected all the evidence of the victims, to the court for consideration in order to take action against the app service provider.

“After the DE sends the app information to the platform, the app must be removed immediately. As for the apps that are found to have complaints from victims, legal action will be taken to punish them according to the offense.”

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