As it ensures the public that their private data on the internet is secure, the National Privacy Commission (NPC) issued an immediate takedown order for four online lending apps from app stores, citing that these apps allegedly use their borrowers’ personal data excessively and without proper consent.

Privacy Commissioner Raymund Liboro said the orders banning the four apps “are crucial to prevent serious privacy risks and protect and preserve the privacy rights of data subjects.”

The four online lending apps that NPC flagged are JuanHand, Lemon Loan, CashJeep, and Pesopop. All four apps are flagged for violating the Data Privacy Act. “The apps have gained access to a trove of information in the borrowers’ mobile devices, including contacts and social media data, that are excessive and may be weaponized to shame and harass delinquent borrowers before persons in their mobile devices’ contact list to collect debts,” NPC said in its statement.

In one example, NPC said that JuanHand has an invasive way of accessing user data such that “it can read a borrower’s calendar of events and confidential information, add, and modify calendar events, and send emails to contacts without the borrower’s knowledge.”

Because of this NPC directed Wefund Lending Corporation, Joywin Lending Investor Inc., Cash8 Lending Corporation, and Populus Lending Corporation – operators of Juan Hand, Lemon Loan, CashJeep, and Pesopop, respectively – to halt the processing of their borrowers’ personal data. As of press time, NPC said that two apps did not file position papers, while the other two failed to convince the Commission why it should not impose the ban – but did not specify which of the four online lending apps submitted a response.

According to statistics from Google Play, JuanHand has been downloaded more than 1 million times, while Lemon Loan and Pesopop, have been downloaded more than 500,000 times each. CashJeep, on the other hand, has been downloaded over 100,000 times.

Aside from the four mentioned, the NPC is also looking into 200 other online lending apps and will issue orders and other actions based on their findings.