Loan App Safety Check: An OSINT Based Explainable Risk Assessment Framework for Identifying Predatory Digital Lending Applications in India

DOI

https://www.doi.org/10.59256/indjcst.20260503015

Published In

Volume 5, Issue 3 (2026)

Published Online

September-December 2026

Pages

110-120

Article Type

Original Article

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The growth of digital lending applications has made short term credit more accessible, but it has also introduced concerns related to privacy, security, and misleading lending practices. Users may encounter applications with excessive permissions, limited organisation details, newly created domains, or negative public reports. This research proposes Loan App Safety Check, an explainable Open Source Intelligence based framework for examining publicly available information about digital lending applications. The framework considers factors such as domain age, application permissions, public complaints, financial institution information, and infrastructure details. These indicators can be combined into a Suspicion Score to highlight applications that may require further verification. The score is intended as an early warning tool and does not confirm fraud or illegal activity. A survey of 94 respondents further examines user awareness, behaviour, and perceptions regarding digital lending safety.