According to a report published by Hindenburg Research, Opera has been found to be running four Android Apps; OPay, OPesa, OCash, and CashBean, that provide loans and are targeted at developing markets like that of Nigeria, India, and Kenya. The apps provide loans to users with high interest rates and very short return periods, something that goes against Google’s Play Store policies.
While Opera states the interest rates to be betweena maximum of 12 to 33 per cent annually, reports suggest it is around 365 to 438 per cent. The number rises stupendously if there is the slightest delays, even of a a single day, in repayment, as it becomes 876 per cent. On top of that, loans are said to be offered for a period between 91 to 365 days. However, the actual duration ranges between just seven days to twenty-nine days, way below the minimum 60-day limit Google has for the apps on Play Store. As if that wasn’t enough, users even complained that the apps used their phone numbers to call and text asking for repayment of the loan, a practice that was deemed illegal last year. Users even received threats via texts for legal action against them. One of the four apps listed have already been removed from Play Store with the other three also expected to face the axing soon, which will expectedly have a massive impact on Opera’s already stuttering earnings.
Talking of apps on Google Play Store, WhatsApp recently crossed the five billion download mark to become only the second non-Google Android app to do so. The first app is WhatsApp’s own parent company app, Facebook, which crossed the 5-billion downloads figure at the fag end of 2019. WhatsApp also claims that it has over one billion active users.
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