Pandemic and Online Financial Frauds Regulatory Issues and challenges

Various types of online frauds are going on as their prevailing practice, however, during Pandemic, a new type of fraud has been started which is going on with the help of loan apps. The trend of using loan apps has been started during the period when people are supposed to stay at home during pandemics due to fear in the society of any unfortunate happening in life, which created a situation of financial crunch. The started trend looks promising but it turns out to be frustrating for customers who later on lodge various types of complaints including criminal complaints in a compelling situation of unethical practices, against the money lenders who are providing loans through these apps. It has been seen that investigation agencies too found it difficult sometimes, to handle such types of new complaints due to their sudden emergence and lack of any specific law in the area. Therefore, the researcher will limit and find the scope of discussion of the article in the area of online financial Fraud through loan apps only. The Researcher will go through the legal provisions available in the Indian scenario i.e. RBI guidelines, Information Technology Act Regulations, etc. after knowing how such types of activities are going on between lender and borrower and what types of legal provisions are violated. The paper wants to evaluate legal issues and challenges that this pandemic is putting forward with regard to financial crime.