The Personal Data Protection Committee (PDPC) has listed 11 suspicious mobile applications available on the Google Play Store to the Bank of Thailand to check their legitimacy and proper registration with the regulator.
Acting Secretary-General of the PDPC Wetang Phuangsup said the move to investigate the applications stems from the pre-installation of two allegedly unlicensed personal loans apps on some models of Oppop and Realme, both Chinese brands.
Two apps are related to the Fineasy app, while a third-party loan app is known as “Happy Loan” in English.
In a recent Bangkok Post report, the PDPC and the National Cyber Security Agency have widened their investigation to cover other apps, revealing 11 suspicious apps in the Google Play Store, he said.
The agencies have send this information to the Thai central bank for more indepth investigation.
Wetang continues that if the regulator finds these 11 apps as illegal, they can communicate with Google to have these apps’ services immediately halted in Thailand.
40 individuals have already filed complaints against Oppo and its subsidiary Realme, as well as their distributors, for alleged illegal operations of the app, collecting personal data, and breaching the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). The number of complainants has risen from 11 last week.