What Are Spyware Apps?
Spyware is a category of malicious software designed to gather information about a user and transmit it to a third party. On mobile devices, spyware can access call logs, SMS, GPS location, browsing history, photos, microphone and even physical activity or camera feeds. The danger lies in the fact that users typically remain unaware that their data is being monitored or sold.
Why India Is a Target:
India, with its massive smartphone user base of over 700 million, has become a lucrative target for cybercriminals and unethical app developers. Low digital awareness, widespread use of free apps, and the habit of granting permissions without scrutiny make Indian users particularly vulnerable.
Risks Involved:
The presence of spyware on mobile phones poses severe risks, including:
• Identity theft and fraud.
• Unauthorized access to financial transactions.
• Blackmail through personal media files.
• Targeted advertising and manipulation using personal behavior data.
How banking and lending apps misuse permissions to invade privacy and harass borrowers.
Tracking Millions of Indians:
Financial apps—including some mainstream banking apps, insurance company apps, and many instant-loan apps—often request intrusive permissions (SMS, contacts, location, storage). In too many cases, that data is mined to profile users, drive aggressive collections, and enable harassment through borrowers’ personal networks. Multiple investigations and complaints in India have documented these practices, especially in the digital-lending ecosystem.
What these apps collect—and why it’s a problem:
• SMS (salary credits, bank alerts, EMI reminders) → builds a financial profile without clear necessity.
• Contacts → enables “shame-calling” of friends, relatives, and colleagues during collections.
• Location & device identifiers → persistent tracking and linkage across devices.
India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 requires consent, purpose limitation, and user rights over personal data—standards many finance apps still fail to meet in spirit, if not law. Enforcement is evolving.
What regulators already say:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued binding Digital Lending directions: lenders and their apps must practice data minimization and have been told to desist from accessing files, media, contact lists, call logs, etc. except what’s essential and consented. Newer directions continue to harden the framework. If your finance app still asks for your contacts or broad SMS access, that’s out of step with RBI guidance.
How intrusive permissions turn into harassment:
Documented cases show recovery operatives using harvested contacts and personal media to threaten or shame borrowers—sometimes via sextortion tactics in illegal loan-app networks. While the worst abuses cluster around instant-loan apps and their vendors, the risk rises any time a financial app is granted contact/SMS access. RBI also prescribes strict conduct for recovery agents, but on-the-ground compliance remains uneven.
A simple rule for India’s finance apps:
No Contacts. No SMS. Period.
Banking and lending apps should not request contact lists or blanket SMS access for “convenience.” Balance checks, KYC, and risk assessment can be done without raiding a user’s address book or entire message history. Policymakers should encode this into explicit, enforceable bans with meaningful penalties, and app stores should reject builds that request these permissions without a narrowly justified, audited exemption.
What you can do today (practical, app-store neutral):
• Use the bank’s web portal in a modern browser instead of the app when possible.
• Revoke permissions: Settings → Privacy/Permissions → deny Contacts, SMS, Location, Storage for finance apps; re-enable only when absolutely necessary.
• Check your phone’s permission manager monthly; uninstall any finance app that won’t work without Contacts/SMS.
• Keep evidence (screenshots of permission prompts, call logs) if harassment occurs; escalate to the lender and file complaints with RBI’s CMS and the National Cyber Crime Portal.
• Separate device/profile for finance if you must use apps (Android Work Profile or a secondary phone).
The Path Forward for Digital Banking:
India has the contours of a privacy regime, but finance apps handle the most sensitive behavioral signals in the country. To genuinely protect consumers, regulators and industry should:
(1) codify “no contacts/SMS” for finance apps;
(2) Prohibit access to sensitive mobile data (contacts, SMS, call logs) and require independent audits of app permissions to ensure compliance.
(3) publish public non-compliance lists; and
(4) impose strict penalties for data-enabled harassment. Done right, this improves trust in digital finance without slowing innovation.
With the rapid adoption of digital services and mobile-first lifestyles, protecting user privacy has become critical. Authorities and app marketplaces must strengthen monitoring systems, while users need to remain vigilant about the apps they install. A collective effort is required to combat spyware, safeguard personal data, and build a secure digital ecosystem in India.
Further reading & recent coverage:
Former loan recovery agent arrested for extortion, blackmail scam via apps; police say pan-India racket exposed.
Jul 14, 2025, 05:28 IST
Read more at:
HC notice to Hry, Karnal police on plea against police inact ..
Jul 29, 2025, 04:48 IST.
Read more at: