Woman threatened, cheated, defamed by loan app sharks

Recovery agents threatened to circulate her morphed photos and extorted Rs 4.5 lakh in a span of two weeks

A 24-year-old woman from Charkop had a horrific experience in a loan app scam, as she ended up losing Rs 4.5 lakh for repaying a loan that she never availed. She lost the money in two weeks owing to the threat of being defamed before family and friends, and when she was left with nothing more to give, fraudsters circulated her photograph and phone number as a prostitute among her family members. The Charkop police have launched an investigation and suspect that it’s the handiwork of a syndicate as the complainant was harassed by almost nine different loan apps.

The woman had taken a Rs 5,000 loan in August last year, and her last date for repayment was April 18. While taking this loan, she had allowed access of her contact list to the app. On March 30, she received a WhatsApp (WA) message from another online loan app, informing her that her loan repayment is overdue. She replied that she had never taken the loan from them. Soon, she received a similar WA message from at least eight other such apps. Some of them even threatened her that if she didn’t pay they would circulate her obscene photographs among friends and relatives. The Charkop police said to make the demand legitimate some apps even transferred money into her account.

Fearing defamation, she agreed to pay and transfer Rs 6,500 to one app. However, the others persistently threatened her and extorted Rs 4.5 lakh, which was arranged by the complainant through family and friends, citing dire circumstances.

On Tuesday, she pleaded that she had no more money to give and switched off her phone. It was then that her friends and family started receiving WA messages that she had taken a loan from apps and was not repaying it. Fraudsters even shared her photograph with her sister, calling her a ‘call girl’. The friends and family members who contacted the agents to stop harassing her also faced abuses.

The police have registered an offence for cheating, defamation and criminal intimidation along with the relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and started their probe.