Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said the main defendant is another Chinese national identified as Zixia Zhang. He is currently in Singapore. “None of the 11 apps had any ties to non-bank financial corporations (NBFCs). The defendants granted loans using their own resources. We are looking at how the defendants got the money they loaned, ”Sajjanar said.
Although Zhang is the CEO of the holding company, Dennis, who has been in New Delhi since February on a business visa, managed operations in India as the chief operating officer (COO).
Dennis is the second Chinese national to be arrested by Telangana police in cases related to online fraud. In October, authorities arrested a Chinese in Delhi for illegally exploiting betting apps and duping Indians with rupee crores.
Investigators had suspected the hand of a Chinese national in the case of applying for loan from day one as a betting racketeering and loan applications had similar operations. Both have used digital wallets extensively to move money and both have used Indians as facades.
Police also arrested six other Indians on Friday, two of whom were based in Hyderabad, three in Bangalore and one in Delhi. A total of 15 people have been arrested in this case so far. The Indians were largely responsible for the blackmail and threatening appeals against people who were unable to pay after taking out loans.
Sajjanar said that among those arrested, Satyapal from Delhi and Anirudh Malhotra and Richie Hemanth Seth from Hyderabad, operated four call centers in Gurgram and Hyderabad. During the raids, the police also seized 2 crore rupees in cash and froze the bank accounts of the various companies linked to the apps.
According to police, Zhang and another Indian identified as Umapathi started instant finance operations in December 2019. Later, they expanded the business by setting up different companies in different parts of the country.