Police book recovery agents of 2 loan apps

AFTER REPAYMENT OF THE LOAN, THE RECOVERY AGENTS SHARED VICTIM’S MORPHED PICS WITH FAMILY AND COLLEAGUES

Vijay Kumar Yadav

MUMBAI: The Vikhroli police have registered a case against loan recovery agents of two instant loan applications for allegedly harassing a 28-yearold Mumbai woman by circulating her morphed photographs to her family, relatives, and colleagues to extract money, despite repayment of the loan amount. The victim is a resident of Vikhroli (East) and works at a software solutions company with her husband. On May 8, while browsing Facebook, she came across an advertisement of two mobile applications for providing instant loans.

“As she was in need of money, after consulting her husband, she downloaded two loan applications “Quick Loan” and “Instant Loan.” As part of the loan application, she submitted personal details, like her mobile number, OTP, PAN card number, Aadhaar details, and a photo. The apps captured her photograph without her giving any command. Later, she also submitted her personal and banking details as instructed,” said a police officer. “After submitting all the required details, the woman received ₹3,500 and ₹2,200 loan amounts in her bank account, which she was supposed to pay back in seven days. However, within four days of repayment, she started getting abusive messages from recovery agents,” the officer added. A day later, her father, mother-in-law, husband, and office colleagues received her morphed and obscene photos on their WhatsApp. She was shocked and immediately repaid the entire loan amount taken from the apps on May 16. On the next day, May 19, the woman received threatening phone calls and her morphed pictures were being sent to others on her contact list, the officer said.

On May 20, the woman approached the Vikhroli police and filed a complaint. She submitted the 13 different phone numbers used to circulate her morphed-obscene pictures.