Fake Loan App List | See List of Bogus Loan Platforms 2024

Fake Loan App List — the federal government has compiled a list of fake loan apps, also known as loan sharks, that prey on the increasingly structureless and unprotected debt market. Their findings are shocking!

The trend between borrowers/lenders also reveals how far clients can go to get the barest minimum out of a loan agreement, no matter how utterly stringent the contract is. Such transactions should be discouraged, as it leaves unexposed customers vulnerable to the antics of fake, unregistered loan agents.

So, this Fake Loan App List is a fresh start to helping people make better decisions about their finances and debt management. Also, you can read for enlightenment if you plan to avoid getting into risky deals with the loan sharks invading the West African space.

In this article, we outline the outed Fake Loan App companies, how to identify the fake loan apps, and steps to avoid getting entangled with any of these fake agencies. See below for details.

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Fake Loan App List | Updated List of Fake Loan Apps 2024

To spot the sort of loan apps to avoid, use the markers identified by experts below.

1. The company avoids conventional jurisdiction for moneylenders
2. The company offers large amounts of money without proper credit score checks or credibility metric
3. Also, the official Play Store app of the company is taken down or has too many flag-down votes
4.  Inability to sort out requisites with domestic bureaucracies like the Federation Competition & Consumer Protection Commission.
5. Too many negative reviews online and the failure to address such by the company.
6. If the company does not have any known office location, CS Support online, or verifiable business footprints.

Using these pointers, you can tell which companies are on the Fake Loan App List or are likely to make the list. You can always check for compliance with the appropriate agencies.

• GoCash Aapp
• Easy Moni
• KashKash
• Okash
• SoftPay
• Speedy Choice
• ChaCha
• Here4U
• Sokoloan

GoCash — Fake Loan App List

GoCash and Okash, among other entries in the above list, have negative reviews from experts as the only downsides. Here is what Go Cash racks up, according to research.

Rated 3.9 out of 5 stars on Google Play, Go Cash has been downloaded over one hundred thousand times. The app does not take up large storage space and is rated 3+ — of course, three-year-olds can not borrow money.

Apart from the usually delayed transactions, successful transactions not reflecting in the receiving party’s account, and delayed CS responses, Go Cash does not have many issues. So, it may not quite fit the Fake Loan App List criteria.

Regardless, Go Cash still poses a few weighty problems.

Downsides

• High-Interest rates
• Debt called in at very short periods regardless of the amount Of loan
• The app does not function properly during crucial periods
• Processing time takes long and carries beyond the set period for the loan.
• Too many negative reviews online

Further, despite GoCash teasing 256-bit-SSL encryption as a token of security and insurance for the customers’ data protection, the negative reviews keep increasing. In one instance, the customer complains about losing money despite paying the charges upfront — these are 699, 929, and 329 consecutively. After the deductions, the loan was not transferred to the customer’s account.

 Okash — Is It A Fake Loan App Too?

It is best to begin this section on Okash with a question, considering that the app seems kind of a subsidiary of the CBN-licensed Opay Loan App. However, there are still concerns about the legitimacy of the platform.

For one, Okash uses a typical hardliner in collecting debts from defaulters. One example of this is that it could press for delinquency on the customers’ part, hence using that window to impound any collaterals (pledges like wages or salaries).

However, Okash is quite legit and functional, recording one of the fastest processing rates among some of the entries on our Fake Loan App List.

Downsides

So, here are the downsides to the app.

• Do not take the loan if you will default by at least one hour.
• Often, the customer does not get a notice of the loan repayment period expiry
• Or, when the notice comes, it assumes an abusive and intrusive tone.
• The interests are high, which is typical of instant loan apps.
• You can lose your salaries and wages, especially if the company takes action against your debt status.

However, despite all that trouble, Okash offers good integrations with platforms like Opay. But this is only to an extent. You can check the CBN media outlets for any entry on legal Instant Loan Platforms in Nigeria for Okash.

Check the updated Fake Loan App List 2024 from the table below

Loan App Platforms Sanctioned for Unethical Conduct

Here4U, SoftPay, Max Credit, and ChaCha have been allegedly listed for investigation as per FCCPC reports according to popular media.

Following the spotlight trailing the FCCPC news, different journals have speculated on the severity of the unethical conduct and the effect on the platform at large, including operations, costs, and goodwill.

Do you have an account with any of these Loan Apps? If so, check that the most widely reported issues about the platform are — abusive debt collection tactics, stalking customers, inadequate data protection rules, poor security, a glitchy app, cursory or no requests for the borrowers’ debt history, etc.

The most obvious way to spot the issue is by noting that the site does not require any bank IDs or digital regs. For instance, no the platform does not ask for the client’s Bank Verification Number (BVN).

How did Here4U, ChaCha, Max Credit, and SoftPay make the list? At a glance, one will discover that none of these companies has an app on Play Store. They rely on sponsored reviews and APKs provided on unprotected websites to proliferate their product ads online.

At the time of writing, the platforms below are considered part of Fake Loan Apps.

• SoftPay
• ChaCha
• Max Credit
• Here4U

For not following due procedures and failing to uphold ethical conduct in operating its business, Here4U and the other companies are some of the fake apps to avoid, pending a review by the appropriate authorities.

How to Spot a Fake Loan Platform | Fake Loan App List

Many lenders hide behind ostensible business locations, which turn out to be unregistered, to proffer loan deals to individuals and micro businesses. They do not offer online Customer Service Support or invite in-person visits. 

Although these are not really eye-brow-raising issues, they need not be overlooked in the large scheme, as they could provide a medium for lenders to hunt defaulters without any fear of investigation. This is exactly what the vague info provided on the apps is intended to accomplish.

If you are looking to find out whether a loan app is fake, use these detailed criteria below.

Unprotected Site — Fake Loan App List

If the lending site, even if it only provides the download link for the loan app, is not protected, it is quite likely to compromise your personal data security. That could be a fatal security breach for the users, as it gives the lender access to the borrowers’ contacts and even emails.

You can easily check that the site is going to be this way by looking up the status attached to the HTTPS address at the top of the page. If it reads, “unprotected”, do not request a loan from the lender.

Also, check that the provider attaches reviews from at least ten users on the official website. Scrolling through the reviews should reveal if it is transparent or skewed to favor the site owner.

In any case, If the reviews are reasonably positive but the site is unprotected, liaise with the CS via any link appended to the Contact Us tab. Then ask questions about data safety and site protection.

Three things turn up via this exchange;

1. Evasive replies
2. Unsatisfactory replies
3. Rote Replies (showing that the CS is automated)

No App on Play Store — Fake Loan App List

Google Play is not exactly fool-proof as regards flagging down bogus apps, but it maintains a fairly reliable check on the sort of products uploaded. For that matter, it curtails a chunk of the fake apps, keeping them off the platform especially whenever users give an overwhelmingly negative review of the app.

Instead of using Google Play or verifiable domain addresses, a Fake Loan App resorts to newly-created proxies dating later than the app creation date to promote the download link.

For instance, you can find the URL link for such apps on APK sites or an unsecured app alternative that does not appear on Google Play or Apple Store. Only the ones that contain junk apps and APKs are typically provided on these third-party sites This is why Maxi Credit, Here4U, and SoftPay lack any credibility. They are firmly on the Fake Loan App List here.

Additionally, to compensate for the lack of on-par products, such platforms will usually not require details that could deter likely customers from accessing loans from them. One such detail is BVN or debt history. If it is a business, the credit score is waived.

Abusive Debt Collection — Fake Loan App List

On requesting a loan from a company, the terms and conditions about loan repayment, debt collection, and consequences for evasion will be detailed or at least highlighted for trhe customers.

Sadly, this does not happen with the fake loan apps you will across online. They tend to offer less than the amount specified by the borrower at high interest, which keeps increasing after a set repayment period cohort, compounding the issues.

Moreover, these fake apps serve as a kind of shroud for shady agencies that hack emails for the owners’ personal data. They tend to influence public perception of the person’s daily activities, including initiating scandalous topics about their private lives. In some cases, the person is falsely misrepresented as dead.

Some of the instant loan apps that do not require enough details of the clients before providing them with cash are extremely unethical when collecting debts. For Instance, the clients’ pictures are reworked as a mugshot or grainy images and posted on social media as evidence of the client being a criminal.

Thankfully, the ICPC and FCCPC have begun to clamp down on these unscrupulous debt collection techniques. Some of the platforms from the Fake Loan App List 2024 in this category are KashKash, Speedy Choice, and Easy Moni.

Conclusion

If you take loans from instant loan apps, chances are you may run into one that employs unethical methods in calling in debts, considering how hushed the sites can be about the abusive conduct they use.

The good thing is that Nigerian agencies are currently clamping down on these unregistered and unethical platforms, starting with the latest highlight from the FCPCC. In this regard, the following apps are currently not viable for legitimate loan sourcing.

• Easy Moni
• KashKash
• SoftPay
• Speedy Choice
• ChaCha
• Here4U
• Sokoloan

Some of the sites are easy to spot because they use proxies, fake CS Support links, have no offices, lack CBN certification, etc. You can check for the pointers listed in this article before opting for a loan app.

How Do You Spot a Fake Loan App?

The best way to do this is to check for the following downsides.

If the app is relatively new, read up reviews from different sources, instead of the articles from the paid promoters online.

Also, verify that the mobile app is available on Apple Store or Play Store and offers reasonable security and data protection.

The deal breaker should be apps that are not CBN-certified to provide loans in Nigeria. Before you take loans from an abroad instant loan app, ensure that it is not one of those that are negatively reviewed (ref. The table in the above section).

Stay Safe!