OPPO, RealMe broke laws by pre-installing money lending apps: CCIB

The Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) ruled on Tuesday that OPPO and RealMe had breached the 2017 Computer-Related Crimes Act by pre-installing money-lending applications without customers’ knowledge.  

The Chinese smartphone manufacturers admitted to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) on Sunday that the loan applications “Fineasy” and "สินเชื่อความสุข" (Happy Loan) were pre-installed on their devices without approval from the Bank of Thailand (BOT).

The companies issued an apology to affected users and assured them that future phone models would not include such apps.

CCIB chief, Pol Lt-General Trirong Phiwphan, said on Tuesday that the companies had violated the act’s Section 13, which prohibits the sale or dissemination of instructions designed to facilitate offences under Sections 5 to 11. 

Violators of this section face imprisonment of up to one year and/or a fine of 20,000 baht, he added. 

Trirong also noted that the CCIB will investigate further to determine if the companies had committed any other legal violations and is encouraging affected users to file complaints to help build the case. 

Consumers had reported to the Thailand Consumers Council that the irremovable apps had been installed on their phones without their knowledge and could send notifications as well as access their personal information, including contacts.

The council quoted consumers as saying that they could not prevent access to their personal information due to the embedded application, adding that installing software without a user’s consent is a violation of their rights. 

In a follow-up statement on Tuesday, OPPO and RealMe said no third-party loan apps will be pre-installed in new devices from January 14 onwards.

Existing users will receive a system update on Thursday, which will effectively remove the apps from their phones permanently, the companies said.